this is a prose comp question
the english is: Tell me in what land liberty is found.
Bennissimus’s : “Dic mihi in quibus terris libertas inveniatur”
My translation : “Diceas mihi in quo patria libertas inveniat”
What did I do wrong?
You need the imperative, not the second person of dico here. (Also, check your endings – I think this would be 2nd person subj. if dico were 2nd (-eo) conjugation, but it is 3rd)
inveniat – you need the passive here, not the active.
in quo patria / in quibus terris – grammatically these are both correct. “Patria” tends to mean “fatherland” specifically, not “land/country” in general. Also, notice that Benissimus used the plural here, which is not technically what the English asks for.
Note also that patria is feminine, so if you want to use that word, the phrase should be in quā patriā. I think, however, that terra is better here, because patria has more the idea of one’s “birthplace” or “native land.” Terra is often used in the plural; see, for instance, Lewis & Short online:
http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.12:582.lewshort
Ah, I had a suspicion that might be the case (I know there are a number of other words where Latin uses the plural when English would use the singular), but didn’t want to say anything along those lines without evidence.
I don’t know whether you meant to use “Diceas” as the present subjunctive, or if you just got mixed up, but if it’s the former, then I think both you and Benissimus are correct. “Diceas” can be looked at as a jussive subjunctive, and thus “Let you tell me…”
Ooops, I’m wrong. The 2.per.sing.pres.subj.act of “dicere” is actually “dicas”, not “diceas”. So your trnaslation wouldn’t make sense as a jussive subjunctive.