I’m maintaining a blog in Latin/English to practice composition.
One of my sentences is grammatically similar to:
This present is the first of many gifts to come.
Hoc donum est primum donorum multorum venire.
Did I translate it correctly?
Note that I’m only in Chapter 10 of Wheelock’s; I don’t know if this is in later chapters.
maybe ‘donorum multorum VENTURORUM’ - that is, the future participle, thus meaning ‘of many presents that are to come’
I haven’t learned about participles yet, but that certainly translates correctly…
Thanks!
I’ve learned lots about participles since my last post, but participles and what I’ve learned in the first ten chapters of Wheelock’s don’t seem to cover this one. I’ve looked through my grammar for some examples, but couldn’t find any; maybe I need to learn more grammar:
(Altered to fit this context! I had to use a dictionary, though.)
You know that I am not asking you for a new book.
Libr? nov? tē non posc? scīs.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: macrons added.
I’m not familiar with the grammars provided on Textkit and elsewhere on the internet, I prefer to use my own in Danish and German, so examples you can look up, I can’t provide.
About the next sentence: scio can take an accusative with infinitive instead of a subordinate clause (which by the way should have the conjunction ut) and posco takes a double accusative, that is 'demand something (acc) of someone (acc) OR it should be 'demand something (acc) of someone (ab aliquo (ab+ablative)):
ut non poscam librum novum a te/te, scis
me ne poscere librum novum a te/te scis
or with your own word order.
Perhaps this should be posted in the “External Links of Interest” forum, but I found a handy-dandy reference for Latin verb uses.
According to the webpage, you know that I am not asking you for a new book is an example of a sentence where the objective infinitive should be used. Its example:
Objective Infinitive
The main verb and the infinitive have different subjects. The direct object of the main verb is the subject of the infinitive.
Te consilium quam primum capere volumus. We want you to adopt a plan as soon as possible.
Is this correct?
Also, why is it nē poscere and not non poscere?
Thanks again.
Great! Thanks for the link.
It isn’t, actually. I just felt like it, basically, but having looked it up, ne is the original negation used in optative, hortative, jussive and prohibitive main clauses, as a conjunction in final clauses and in objective ut-clauses.
This basically means that the correct answer is ‘ut ne poscam etc.’
non is, on the other hand used in main clauses in the infinitive and potential, dubitative and irreal main clauses in the subjunctive, in questions and all other secondary clauses than the ones mentioned. Also, it is used to specify the part of the sentence that is negated.
And this means: ‘non poscere me etc.’
Earlier, I clearly wasn’t thinking.