Direct Questions
A direct statement (or question, or statement) is something that is actually said by
someone. It is useful to think of it as anything you could find in a speech bubble:
Did you break What were you Which slave
that? doing today? stole the money?
It is important to establish two types of direct statement:
1) Yes/No Questions - a question asking if something is the case or not, to which the
answer is yes or no.
equum habes? - do you have a horse?
A question is most commonly signalled in this case by adding -ne to the end of the first
word, just like adding -que to a word means ‘and’:
equumne habes?
A question can be asked in such a way to suggest that the speaker is expecting a
particular answer. This is done by adding
• nonne - surely…?
For example, ‘surely you’ll take your sister to the park?’
(You would expect someone to answer ‘yes’)
• num - surely…not?
for example, ‘surely you’re not going to do that, are you?’
(You would expect someone to answer ‘no’)
Exercises
1) regemne vidisti?
2) nonne hoc iter difficile erit?
3) num totum diem dormiebas?
4) gladium habes?
5) gravissimumne est vulnus imperatoris?
A direct statement (or question, or statement) is something that is actually said by
someone. It is useful to think of it as anything you could find in a speech bubble:
Did you break What were you Which slave
that? doing today? stole the money?
It is important to establish two types of direct statement:
1) Yes/No Questions - a question asking if something is the case or not, to which the
answer is yes or no.
equum habes? - do you have a horse?
A question is most commonly signalled in this case by adding -ne to the end of the first
word, just like adding -que to a word means ‘and’:
equumne habes?
A question can be asked in such a way to suggest that the speaker is expecting a
particular answer. This is done by adding
• nonne - surely…?
For example, ‘surely you’ll take your sister to the park?’
(You would expect someone to answer ‘yes’)
• num - surely…not?
for example, ‘surely you’re not going to do that, are you?’
(You would expect someone to answer ‘no’)
Exercises
1) regemne vidisti?
2) nonne hoc iter difficile erit?
3) num totum diem dormiebas?
4) gladium habes?
5) gravissimumne est vulnus imperatoris?
