Aemilia: “Quid agunt Marcus et Quintus?”
“Where are Marcus and Quintus going?”
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Can Quid? Mean where? Also?
“Where are Marcus and Quintus going?”
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Can Quid? Mean where? Also?
Quid agunt
- Thread starter john abshire
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This one has has me stumped.
Since quid is neuter of quis, quid; and collectively the words mean “who?, what?, which?; I assume the neuter means which? Or/ what?;
and then
Ago = move, go, steal, live, ,,,,(almost anything), do, …….
So, Quid agunt Marcus et Quintus; could mean “what are Marcus and Quintus doing?”
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Except, if that were it, why wasn’t facere used in place of agere?
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Quis usually means "who?", sometimes "which?" or "what?" but only in combination with a masculine noun (e.g. quis homo? = "which/what man?").
Quid usually means "what?", sometimes "why?", but never "which?"
That's correct. It can also be an idiomatic way to ask how they're doing, but I can't tell if that's the case here because I don't know the context.
Well... because. If the question is how they're doing, facere isn't used that way. If it's really asking what they're doing, then either verb could have been used.
Which tree….?
Quid arborem…..?
I know you said that quid never meant “which” but why not? Quid gradus……? Would be another example.
The reasoning that quid is used and not quis is that the subject is not a person.
Quid arborem and quid gradus are wrong for two reasons:
1) Quid can't be used as an adjective (i.e. together with a noun).
2) Even if it could, it, being neuter, wouldn't agree with arborem (feminine) or gradus (masculine).
The usual word for "which [insert noun]?" is qui, quae, quod (in agreement with the noun, of course). Sometimes, as I mentioned above, quis is used that way too, but only with masculine nouns. Quid never is.
1) Quid can't be used as an adjective (i.e. together with a noun).
2) Even if it could, it, being neuter, wouldn't agree with arborem (feminine) or gradus (masculine).
The usual word for "which [insert noun]?" is qui, quae, quod (in agreement with the noun, of course). Sometimes, as I mentioned above, quis is used that way too, but only with masculine nouns. Quid never is.
I have that “quis, quid” is an interrogative pronoun. Does this term only apply to “who”? (And “what” and “which” are interrogative adjectives? A serious question, I thought both words and their definitions were pronouns before now).
The definitions of "pronoun" and "adjective" maybe aren't the same for everyone, but here I'm going to define "pronoun" as a word that stands on its own in lieu of a noun, and "adjective" as a word that is used together with a noun and somehow describes or modifies it.
By that definition, therefore:
English "who" is only ever a pronoun ("who" stands on its own: you can say "who is that?" but not "who person is that?"). English "what" and "which" can be either pronouns (you can say "what is that?" or "which of these do you want?") or adjectives (you can also say "what book is that?" or "which person did you see?").
Latin quis can be a pronoun or an adjective (but only with masculine nouns, as explained above). Quid is only ever a pronoun.
By that definition, therefore:
English "who" is only ever a pronoun ("who" stands on its own: you can say "who is that?" but not "who person is that?"). English "what" and "which" can be either pronouns (you can say "what is that?" or "which of these do you want?") or adjectives (you can also say "what book is that?" or "which person did you see?").
Latin quis can be a pronoun or an adjective (but only with masculine nouns, as explained above). Quid is only ever a pronoun.
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Which rock
Quid saxum?
I know you said that quid can’t be used as an adjective, which (no pun intended) is the reason for the question.
I guess so but the interrogative pronouns are quis, quid. The relative pronouns are qui, quae, quod. So if I wanted to ask “which rock did you throw?” it seems that “which rock” would be quid saxum. If you said “I don’t know which rock it was.”, then “which rock” is quod saxum.
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Edit; I am probably getting pronouns and adjectives confused?
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Yes!
Qui, quae, quod can also be an interrogative adjective-pronoun.
It's quod saxum in both cases, and in both cases quod functions as an interrogative adjective (the first time in a direct question, the second time in an indirect one).
I wrote a post a few years ago explaining the different uses of quis, quid and qui, quae, quod. You may have read it already (at least I think I've given you the link before) but I'll still give the link again in case the above explanations aren't sufficient:
"Qui, quae, quod" vs. "quis, quid" | Latin D (latindiscussion.org)
I did my best to explain things clearly in that post, but you can still come back and ask questions if any part seems unclear.
Which is the same as with English which: Which pen did he use, the blue or the red on? = interrogative adjective; The pen which he used is blue. = relative pronoun.
And which can also be an interrogative pronoun, maybe by ellipsis, and then it's further muddled by the distinction between which and that. I'd say that is far more common.