How to make a "Fear for" Question

Latin Learning Latin
1

I hadn’t noticed a “fear for” statement before.
Example
In silvā Nemeā proximā Mycēnis est leō
quī hominibus et bēstiīs nocet.
Agrī omnēs dēvāstātī sunt.
Vītae suae timent agricolae. from Lectiones Primae Artes Latinae A Graded Reader Sweet p 108

I would like to turn “Vītae suae timent agricolae.” into a question.

I’ve never seen a question like this
But I think it should look like this

Quō timent agricolae?
or maybe better
Quae reī timent agricolae?
pl Quibus rebus timent agricolae?

I just want to confirm that this is correct, and that People actually used this sort of phrase at least occasionally.

I don’t think we make the distinction in English (quid timet? quō timet? quā reī timet?)
What are you afraid of?
I am afraid of the fire.
What are you afraid of?
I am afraid the fire will burn my house down.

Thank you
Jim

2

You’re on the way, but you need to identify the case of vitae suae and then use the same case in the question. Hint: it’s not ablative.

If my house is on fire, I could say both “I fear the fire” (naming the thing I’m afraid will cause harm) and “I fear for my house” (naming the thing I’m afraid will be harmed). Vitae suae timent agricolae uses the Latin equivalent of the latter construction.

3

Oh, of course, my bad, cui is dative (not quo)

So it should be, dative to or for.
cui timent agricolae?
cui reī timent agricolae?
pl Quibus rebus timent agricolae?

Now it looks like a question for a verb that takes the dative.
So I could use the verb timeo like a verb that takes the accusative (the thing feared) or like a verb that takes the dative, (in this case the thing that you fear will be harmed).

So you could ask
Quid times?
or Cui rei times? depending on the answer you are looking for :smiley:
Thank you.