18
votes
Accepted
Why isn't "Puto deus fio" grammatically incorrect?
In this case I would read puto more as a side remark to the clause deus fio.
You could emphasize this with punctuation:
Puto: deus fio.
I think: I'm becoming a god.
The verb puto is indeed ...
- 116k
13
votes
Accepted
Can a gerund introduce a subordinate clause?
It has been my experience that gerunds can pretty freely introduce subordinate clauses.
For example, in Livy, Ab urbe condita 3.39.2, the ablative of the gerund introduces an indirect command (as in ...
- 20.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Can the subjunctive alone form a conditional's protasis?
Yes, it's possible. This is covered in Gildersleeve's Latin grammar, §598:
598. Omission of the Conditional Sign.—Occasionally the members of a Conditional sentence are put side by side without a ...
- 20.8k
7
votes
Accepted
A type of subordinating construction governing the dative?
Yes, I would by all means supply est. The phrase fas est is a fixed combination either introducing an a.c.i. or governing a complementary/supplementary infinitive plus the latter's arguments. The est ...
- 20.3k
7
votes
Accepted
On the syntax of 'Cogitate quantis laboribus fundatum imperium (...) una nox paene delerit' (Cic. Cat. 4, 19)
Summary: the reason why this sentence seems unusual after translation is only because of the limits of English syntax, not because anything odd in the Latin.
A short form of expression combining two ...
- 20.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Conjunctive "cum" + indicative in Menaechmi
My answer will be about the printed text:
Pol profecto haud est dissimilis, meam quom formam noscito.
quom is just an archaic spelling of the conjunction and preposition cum, so your question still ...
- 42.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Subjunctive with adverb “quam”
This is an indirect question and indirect questions always use the subjunctive (also known as conjunctive) mood.
If you want more examples and details, please the linked discussion in Allen and ...
- 116k
6
votes
Choosing conjunctive tenses in a clause subordinate to a subordinate clause
This is what Adolf V. Streng (Latinan kielioppi, 5th edition, 1936) says in §161.2:
Finnish: Toisen tahi kolmannen asteen konjunktiivinen sivulause mukautuu predikaattinsa tempuksen puolesta sitä ...
- 116k
6
votes
Consecutio temporum et praesens historicum
In English, your consecutio temporum is usually called the ‘sequence of tenses’. There is a general rule that in the principal sentence (i) a primary tense is followed in the subordinate clause by a ...
- 18.2k
5
votes
Choosing conjunctive tenses in a clause subordinate to a subordinate clause
If we have a subordinate clause depending on superordinate conjunctive clause, we must consider the tense of the conjunctive:
(A) present or perfect "logic" (assimilable to a present), it should be ...
- 2,906
5
votes
Jenney's Second Year Latin, Lesson 12, exercise E: Ut clauses and how to translate English infinitives
Here are some comments:
1a: The infinitive cannot express purpose in Latin like it can in English. See this earlier question, for example.
1h&i: The rules of consecutio temporum require that a ...
- 116k
5
votes
Accepted
Why does this sentence have an ablative subject for an indirect subordinate clause?
The accusative subject of the sentence you highlight is actually tot miracula. Let's go through it step by step:
Vix scit...
He hardly knows that... [setting us for an accusative + infinitive]
...
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4
votes
Accepted
(Informal) Indirect Speech
No, that does not explain the subjunctive, because no reason or explanatory fact is introduced by the quod. Therefore Allen & Greenough's § 592 does not apply. Please note that the section you ...
- 36.1k
4
votes
Superlatives In Subordinate Clauses
Their “superlative” here is just a convenient way of saying “the word primus”. Or, you might well think, an unnecessarily elegant way of saying it. It is not the superlativeness of the word which ...
- 1,609
4
votes
Accepted
Deploying "Ut"/ "Quod"/ "Quin" plus Subjunctive
non quidem est dubium quin ceteros duces aspernandi causa hoc dixerit...
"There is indeed no doubt that he said this in order to upset the other generals."
You could translate it thus, but a (...
- 20.3k
4
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between cum, quia and quod in a causal clause?
This is only a partial answer and in need of further substantiation, but I'll post it for what's it's worth.
First, as to the difference between quod and quia. Though these are often treated as ...
- 31.5k
4
votes
"nemo aliquid facit nisi qui" + indicative or subjunctive
About your question 2, yes, in nemo... nisi constructions, nisi indicates a restriction to the exception. The reference of the qui... clause (see below) can receive either a generic or a specific ...
- 428
4
votes
Why does this sentence have an ablative subject for an indirect subordinate clause?
In this sentence, hoc anno is not the subject of esse. The subject of this infinitive is tot miracula (Acc. pl.). I'm afraid what you're missing is the following fact: you should not expect ...
- 9,121
3
votes
What are the differences between conditional and proviso clauses?
I suppose they're pretty similar: dum here means 'provided that'/'so long as'; si just means 'if'. They might sometimes be interchangeable, but not always: imagine Caligula saying oderint si metuunt? [...
- 481
3
votes
Why isn't "Puto deus fio" grammatically incorrect?
As Joonas noted, puto is parenthetical. I'll just add, by way of comparison, that Claudius's ultima vox in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis was 'vae me, puto, concacavi me.'
- 20.8k
3
votes
A type of subordinating construction governing the dative?
In addition to Cerberus' answer, I would rather make the following slicing:
fas [est] nulli casto
insistere limen sceleratum
As far as I know, it is very common to omit esse in Latin: e.g. some ...
- 2,342
3
votes
Accepted
Confusion between Direct Speech / Subordinate Clause(s) / Indirect Speech
I am not sure whether you mean that these words are uttered by Pilate or a narrator.
Let us build the sentences in both cases.
Whichever you intended, I hope the differences are illuminating.
I will ...
- 116k
2
votes
Accepted
Why the Perfect Subjunctive?
Tense
The perfect conjunctive (= subjunctive) of reverti would be reversi sint, not reversi fuerint.
The perfect forms of deponent verbs are typically formed with present and imperfect forms of esse, ...
- 116k
2
votes
Is active periphrastic conjugation compulsory in consecutio temporum?
Just came across this, sorry to see no answers. From my reading only the indirect question takes a periphrastic future in the subordinate,. Fear, Purpose and Final classes mostly take incomplete ...
2
votes
Consecutio temporum et praesens historicum
Tuomo Pekkanen's Ars Grammatica – Latinan kielioppi (§116, lisäys 3) mentions that the historical present can be treated as either a present tense or as a past tense when consecutio ...
- 116k
2
votes
What is the difference between cum, quia and quod in a causal clause?
The best answer that I can give is to adapt the notes I made years ago during instruction in prose composition [which I am doing by inserting comments in square brackets].
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES — CAUSAL
...
- 18.2k
2
votes
On the syntax of 'Cogitate quantis laboribus fundatum imperium (...) una nox paene delerit' (Cic. Cat. 4, 19)
There is little to add to the wonderful answer by @Cerberus, but I though it might be useful to add another possible way of translating this sentence into English by rendering the occurrences of ...
- 3,004
1
vote
Oblique cases and 'si quis'
I found this statement in an Oxford Latin Syntax Volume I, 11.137 "the anaphoric pronoun is":
For the anaphoric pronoun a distinction must be made between the oblique forms and the ...
- 1,411
1
vote
"nemo aliquid facit nisi qui" + indicative or subjunctive
THIS ANSWER IS WRONG, but might be useful as it contains some important discussions in the comments thus is still open
Thanks to @Vincent Krebs answer and investigating many example, I would like to ...
- 11.8k
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