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- "Where are you?"
"Where are you?"
Translation:Vos ubi estis?
22 Comments
1142
2019-11-15 It seems to me that Vos is here for emphasis, as in, "I am in the forum where we said we would meet. Where are you?"
Timor mortis conturbat me.
I agree with you. Latin is a very analytic language. "Vos" is unnecessary given the verb "estis" already encapsulates the second person singular.
It's a synthetic language, not an analytic one.
Synthethic language: word ending changing according to the grammar role in the sentence, less prepositions, and fewer words.
Analytic language: more words, as the word ending doesn't change, and it's the word order that convey the meaning, not the ending.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/synthetic-language
"Vos ubi estis?" is certainly right when you want to insist on the "you", like it's the case in Spanish and Italian.
I used "Vos estis ubi" and was marked wrong; is there a reason this does not work?
The question word "ubi" should precede the verb "estis", although not strictly
How unstrictly? I made the same error as James, and would like to know the limits of possible word rearrangements.
To my understanding, adverbs (like ubi) should usually precede verbs (like estis) in Latin. You should try to follow the various word order conventions in Latin (like adverb before verb, noun before adjective, preposition before object, etc.) in everyday sentences like this—the reason "not strictly" was used (I would guess) is because the conventions are often broken in certain forms of writing (like poetry). Latin can technically be understood in pretty much any word order, unlike English, but normal sentences just sound a bit odd if conventions aren't followed.
As on a previous sentence, vos is not needed also has been observed by Dscpp. The verb alone suffices. Hence, Ubi estis, and not vos ubi estis. THis is a word to word translation of the English
This phrase was probably uncommon before the invention of long range communication tools because for one to communicate they must be in hearing range if eachother.
Our your sending an epistula out to your milites on campaign. You tell the tabellerius to travel the route until you find them. In the letter you right. Quo estis. They then reply what their urbe proxima is. Letting the patrones back in Roma know when to expect their adveniunt.
No, it's simply the subject pronoun, so, nominative. It's not a complement for "to be", that has no complement anyway.
- 538
Why is my answer wrong? I would have preferred Ubi estis? Since the Vos was capitalized, I put Vos estis ubi? (placing the verb next to estis) I agree that the vos is unnecessary and it is misleading because the ubi should be first, not the Vos.
Since when are we allowed to put the interrogative pronoun somewhere else than at the beginning of the sentence? Can we put it wherever we want?
So, a pronoun can be placed before "ubi"? That sounds so unnatural to me.
