Disjunctive questions give at least two alternatives: Was Mozart from Austria or Australia? Do you prefer me or the cat? You will come across the terms double or alternative question since very often only two alternatives are given.
[3] utrum … an …
[i] utrum … an …:
introduces an alternative or double question e.g. Is it X or Y? Do you
have A or B? In this type of direct question utrum is not translated
into English.
Utrum ēsūrīs an sītīs? │
Are you hungry or thirsty?
Utrum [i] nescīs, … an [ii]
prō nihilō id putās (Cicero) │ Is it that [i] you don’t know or [ii]
do you think nothing of it?
Utrum tū prō ancillā mē habēs an prō
fīliā? (Plautus) │ Do you regard me as your slave or
as your daughter?
Sed utrum
tū māsne an fēmina es … (Plautus) │ But are you
male or female …?
Sed utrum
nunc tū caelibem tē esse māvīs līberum an marītum (Plautus) │
But now would you prefer yourself to be single and a free man, or a
married man …?
[ii] Alternative
questions such as these may not be introduced by utrum and there are
many permutations as to how they are expressed; the main aim is to recognise the
key words:
Dīcam huic, an nōn
dīcam? │ Shall I tell him, or not tell him?
Quaerō servōsne an līberōs
(Cicero) │ I ask (you) were they slaves or free men?
Optā ōcius: rapī
tē obtortō collō māvīs an trahī? (Plautus) │ Choose quickly: Do you
prefer to be seized by your twisted neck or dragged?
[iii] annōn (an nōn);
necne: or not
Sunt haec tua
verba necne? (Cicero) │ Are these your words, or not?
Hōcine agis
annōn? (Terentius) │ Are you attending to this, or not?
Isne est
quem quaerō an nōn? (Terence) │ But is it the person I'm in search of or
not?
[iv] The example
below shows that the alternatives may not be confined to two:
Utrum [1] hostem an [2] vōs
an [3] fortūnam utrīusque populī īgnōrātis? (Livy) │ Is it [1] the
enemy, or [2] yourselves, or [3] the fortune of the
two peoples, that you do not know?
See also:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-62.html
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:sec,00002:335
Translation practice:
- Canis nōnne similis est lupō?
- Estne tibi liber?
- Pater eius rediit an nōn?
- Utrum ea vestra an nostra culpa est?
- Tūne id dīcere audēs?
- Sītīsne?
- Rōmamne veniō, an hic maneō, an Arpīnum fugiō?
- Utrum ēsūrīs an sītīs?
- Vocēsne frātrum tuōrum audīvistī?
- Vēnēruntne ex urbe?
- Utrum in urbe es, an in agrīs?
- Vōsne L. Domitium an vōs Domitius deseruit?
