Saturday, May 10, 2025

Level 3: review; direct questions [7]; interrogative adjectives [ii]

Apart from quī, quae and quod, there are other interrogative adjectives to note:

[1] quot?: how many?; quot is indeclinable

Quot erās annōs gnātus*, quom [ = cum] tē pater ā patriā āvehit? (Plautus) │ How many years old were you when your father took you from your native country?

* archaic: nātus

Quot sunt satis? (Plautus) │ How many are sufficient?

Quotiēns et quot nōminibus ā Syrācūsānīs statuās auferēs? (Cicero) │ How often and for how many individuals will you take statues from the Syracusans?

[2] quotus, -a, -um? is a 1st / 2nd declension adjective. It is unusual as it has no specific equivalent in English. The question asks which or what number when referring to a numerical sequence. In English we convey this in different ways, for example:

Which US president was Ronald Reagan? He was the fortieth president.

Similary, we may say “Where did he come in the race?” “He finished third.”

In Latin, it is quotus which expresses this idea:

Quotus imperātor Nerō fuit? Quīntus. │ Which emperor was Nero [i.e. was he the first, second etc.]? The fifth.

The word is used when asking the time since clock time is expressed in Latin using ordinal numbers:

Quota hōra est? Tertia. │ Which hour is it? The third.

Quotā hōrā? │ At what time?

[3] quantus, -a, -um?: how big / large?

Quantus est exercitus Caesaris? │ How large is Caesar’s army?

Quantī eam emit? (Plautus) │ For how much did he buy her?

[4] Both quot and quantus can be used as exclamations:

Quot quantāsque virtūtēs ... collēgit et miscuit! (Pliny the Elder) │ How many and how great virtues he acquired and mixed!

[5] quālis, -e?: what kind / sort of?; a 3rd declension adjective:

Quālis est tibi liber? │ What sort of book do you have?

Quālēs sunt eī librī? │ What sort of books does he have?


[6] uter, utra, utrum?: Which (of two)?

This interrogative adjective was discussed in detail here together with many examples and exercises.

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-6.html

Uter igitur est divitior? (Cicero) │ Which (of the two) is wealthier?

Utra lex antiquior? (Quintilianus) │ Which law (of the two laws) (is)

Utrum librum vīs? │ Which book [i.e. which of the two books] do you want?

Translation practice:

  1. Cum quālibus comitibus iter faciēs?
  2. Hoc mihi dēdit, sed ... post quot labōrēs?
  3. Immō vērō quantus exercitus!
  4. Quālī virō Cloēlia nūbet?
  5. Quot annōs nātus / nāta es?
  6. Quālēs amīcōs habēs?
  7. Uter est pēs dextra?
  8. Quālia sunt haec dōna?
  9. Quot oppida in Syriā, quot in Macedoniā dēvorāta sunt!
  10. Quālis homō es?
  11. Utra est manus sinistra?
  12. Quot estis?
  13. Quot librōs scrīpsit?
  14. Utrī potentiōrēs sunt? Rōmānī aut Carthāginiēnsēs?
  15. Quot mīlitēs pugnāvērunt?
  16. Quot ovēs sunt in agrīs?

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