Questions (Latin)

Yes/no questions in English

A yes/no question in English is a re-arranged statement. We move the helping verb to the front:

• ​The boys are hurrying to school.

• Are the boys hurrying to school?​

Yes/no questions in English

If there is no helping verb, we add one: "do/does/did."

• ​The girls see the boys.

• The girls do see the boys.

• Do the girls see the boys?​

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Yes/no questions in Latin

Since it does not use helping verbs, Latin makes yes/no questions differently: attach the suffix -ne to the first word of a statement.

• ​Puerī ad lūdum festīnant.

• Puerīne ad lūdum festīnant? ​

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Questions expecting Yes

Sometimes in both languages the speaker asks a yes/no question in a way that indicates "Yes" is expected. In English, this is done by adding "not," often contracted to "-n't":

• Are you angry? (Neutral)

• Are you not angry? or Aren't you angry? (Expected Yes)​

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Questions expecting Yes

Yes-expecting questions in Latin are similar: instead of attaching -ne to another word, the sentence starts with the word nōnne (nōn + -ne).

• Esne īrātus? (neutral)

• Nōnne īrātus es? (expected yes)​

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