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- "Where do your sons study?"
"Where do your sons study?"
Translation:Ubi student filii tui?
14 Comments
Correct. Your answer is preferable since typically Latin verbs go at the end of the sentence.
By curiosity, I wondered if there were some kind of subject-verb inversion in Latin, to indicate a question, despite of the free order.
If we consider the SOV as the most common way, there's indeed a kind of inversion.
Affirmative (most common)
Caesar inimicum superavit. (Caesar defeated the enemy.)
Turning this sentence into a question (subject-verb inversion to add the "-ne" suffix)
Superavitne Caesar inimicum? (Did Caesar defeat the enemy?)
I think it only works for the yes/no question generated by the -ne suffix.
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Yes. In fact, that is what I put because that is how I was taught, and it is an acceptable answer. "Ubi" indicates that it is a question, so the verb can either be before or after the object.
How are the sentences supposed to be arranged? I've seen it stated that the verb goes at the end, but the verb seems to be at the start. Am I missing something??
Declarative sentences are generally subject object verb. But questions tend to move the focus word to the front.
Puer est. He is a boy.
Estne puer? Is he a boy?
Filii tui Romae student. Your sons study in Rome.
Ubi student filii tui? Where do your sons study?
Searching for how questions are formed revealed the following results: 9- Asking a Question Lesson Latin has three ways of turning a statement into a question. The first way is to place the key word at the start of the sentence and add –ne, so that: Marcus in civitate habitat (Marcus lives in the city) becomes: habitatne Marcus in civitate? (Does Marcus live in the city?) If you want to alter the emphasis of the question, simply attach -ne to a different word and place that at the beginning of the sentence, for example: Marcusne habitat in civitate? (Is it Marcus who lives in the city?) The second way is used when a ‘yes’ answer is expected. Simply place nonne at the start of the sentence: nonne Roma optima civitas est in mundo? (Surely Rome is the best city in the world? / Rome is the best city in the world, isn’t it?) Thirdly, if you expect a ‘no’ answer, begin the sentence with num: num putas barbaros victuros esse? (Surely you don’t think the barbarians will win? / You don’t think the barbarians will win, do you?) http://mylanguages.org/latin_grammar.php
Masculine plural and feminine plural.
The question word comes first, then the focus of the question.
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33856526?comment_id=37494237
