How would you translate: "He asked if the the city had been captured?"
Quaerit num civitatem captum esse?
Here I am using an accusative (captum) plus infinitive (esse).
Am I right?
Thank you!
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2 Answers
As an indirect question in subjunctive: "Quaerit an/utrum civitas capta sit."
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Note that this means "he asks whether the city is captured".– Cerberus ♦Commented Oct 12, 2019 at 4:21
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I don't think so: "capta sit" is past perfect passive subjunctive.– NVaughanCommented Oct 12, 2019 at 15:34
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"Perfect" is short for "past perfect". "Quaerit utrum civitas capiatur" is in present subjective passive: "He/she asks whether the city is captured". On the other hand, "Quaerit utrum civitas capta sit" is in past perfect subjunctive passive, and it means "He/she asks whether the city has been captured". (Note that "an" and "utrum" are somewhat equivalent for the purpose of making indirect questions.)– NVaughanCommented Oct 12, 2019 at 21:35
An indirect question always uses subjunctive (also called conjunctive) in Latin. You just write the question as if it were a normal question, and then change indicative to subjunctive.
An accusative with infinitive cannot be used for indirect questions. Unless the question contains a question word (quis, quando, or similar), an indirect question is often introduced with an or utrum.
The translation suggested by NVaughan is great.
answered Oct 9, 2019 at 3:19
