Overview
There are two basic types of closed question - simple and alternative. The
simple question is one that is asking for a yes / no answer, e.g. 'Did you go to the film last night?' The
alternative questions is one that suggests a range of answers, e.g. 'Did you see Harry Potter or James Bond last
night?'There is also the open question, 'What did you think of the film last night?'. .
Simple questions
There are four key ways of constructing / marking simple direct questions:
- nonne at the beginning of a sentence implying the answer 'yes', most easily translated as 'surely'.
- numat the beginning of a sentence implying the answer 'no', most easily translated as 'surely not'.
- -ne at the end of the first word with no implication.
- using an interrogative - a question words to focus what the question
is asking:
quis who quod what cur why ubi where quo to where unde from where quando when quantus how much qualis of what sort quot how many quotiens how often quomodo how
Alternative questions
These are usually marked by one of three structures:
- utrum ...an utrum te laudavit an punivit?
- utrum ...anon utrum adhuc vivit an non?
- ...an canem an felem emisti?
