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I am curious about the best way to translate this sentence into Latin:

"If anyone asks what you are now learning tell them they are unworthy"

Thanks in advance! -Sue

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    Hi Sue. Did you try to translate it? Could you include in the questions what you tried?
    – Quidam
    Commented Dec 3, 2019 at 5:55

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  1. Si quis quid studeas roget, dic eum indignum esse. "If anyone should ask what you study, tell them that they are unworthy."

  2. Si quis quid studeas rogabit, dic eum indignum esse. "If anyone asks what you study, tell them that they are unworthy.

(1) and (2) are different in that 'rogo's mood changes; (1) subjunctive, (2) indicative. The subtlety here is whether you (1) don't expect somebody to ask you, or (2) do expect somebody to ask you.

Note that this translation may not be perfect without being given more context.

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    A couple of grammatical errors to be aware of: aliquis needs to become quis after si; studes needs to be subjunctive because it's in an indirect question; and although the switch from singular 'anyone' to plural 'them' may be acceptable in English, the use of plural eos in the 'then' clause to refer to the singular aliquis in the 'if' clause doesn't work in Latin; both pronouns need to be either singular or plural.
    – cnread
    Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 21:42
  • Wow thank you cnread! I will make those changes forthwith.
    – Nickimite
    Commented Dec 3, 2019 at 23:28

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