DI: Lesson - Interrogative Pronouns - Translation

Image: a statue of a Roman man holding busts of family members.

Interrogative Pronouns - Translation

What do you see in the image? The word what is an interrogative pronoun. The image shows a prominent Roman senator holding death masks, which were impressions made of a decedent's face. In this case, the death masks are for two of his ancestors.

As mentioned, the interrogative pronoun can be translated into English as questions starting with either who or what. The most common translations are as follows:

  • Masculine and feminine relative pronouns should usually be translated using who, whom, or whose. The translation will be the same in English whether the pronoun is singular or plural in Latin.
    • Nominative: who?
    • Genitive: whose?, of whom?
    • Dative: to/for whom?
    • Accusative: whom?
    • Ablative: preposition + whom (usually: by, with or from)?
  • Neuter relative pronouns should be translated using which or that. The translation will be the same in English whether the pronoun is singular or plural in Latin.
    • Nominative: what?
    • Genitive: of what/which?
    • Dative: to/for what?
    • Accusative: what?
    • Ablative: preposition + what (usually: by, with or from)?
  • NOTA BENE: A masculine or feminine relative pronoun in Latin may also be translated what depending on normal English usage:
    • Example: Librum habes! Quis est?
    • Translation: You have a book! What is it?  
    • Quis = masculine, but what is the appropriate translation because a book is considered neuter in English.
    • One would not say, "You have a book! Who is it?"

Using Interrogative Pronouns

In Latin, as in English, the interrogative pronoun is placed at the start of the question, regardless of what case or use it is:

Interrogative Pronoun Examples
Case/Usage English Latin
Nominative/Subject Who attended the funeral? Quis ad funus venit?
Genitive/Possessive Whose friend was here? Cuius amicus erat ibi?
Dative/Indirect Object To whom did you give the gifts? Cui dona dedisti?
Accusative/Direct Object What did they see? Quid viderunt?
Ablative/Object of Preposition With whom did Selene sit? Quocum Selene sedit?

In each of these examples, the pronoun could have been plural with the same translation:

  1. Qui ad funus venerunt? - Who (what people - plural) attended the funeral?
  2. Quae viderunt? - What (things) did they see?

The antecedent of an interrogative pronoun is, by the nature of it being a question, unknown. However, you can use the information provided by the pronoun to help in answer the question - the gender and number of the answer is included in the interrogative pronoun!