Help with a relative pronoun

Latin Learning Latin
1

Hello all,

I’m trying to properly identify the case of the relative pronoun “qua” in this example from Psalm 19:10 in the Vulgate.

Original: et exaudi nos in die qua invocaverimus te.
My attempt at macrons: et exaudī nōs in diē quā invocāverimus tē.
English translation: and hear us in the day that we shall call upon thee.

So if my understanding is correct, the relative pronoun takes the gender and number from the antecedent noun, but the case depends on how it’s used in the relative clause. I have it in my notes that in the Vulgate Psalms, “dies” is feminine when singular except for a very small number of instances; so the relative pronoun is feminine singular. The tricky part for me is getting the case right; the choices I have for “qua” are nominative (qua) or ablative (quā). I’m guessing it should be ablative since “invocaverimus” is plural, making the nominative option not work, but perhaps I’m misunderstanding something? I tried searching for ablative relative pronoun examples, especially those relating to time, but I didn’t have much luck.

Thanks in advance.

2

It’s ablative singular feminine. As a relative pronoun “qua” could never be a nominative.
Nominative singular feminine: quae
Nominative plural feminine: quae

“Qua” is only nominative singular feminine when it’s an indefinite pronoun (=aliqua) used in some specific constructions.
Hope this helps.

3

Excellent. Thanks!

4

As you said, the case depends on how it’s used in the relative clause. In this case, “the day on which …”