The Relative & Interrogative Pronoun

The Relative Pronoun

SingularPlural

N: quīquaequodquīquaequae

G:cūiuscūiuscūiusquōrumquārumquōrum

D:cuicuicuiquibusquibusquibus

Acc:quemquamquodquōsquāsquae

Abl:quōquāquōquibusquibusquibus

Grammatical Features of the Relative Pronoun

-the relative pronoun “relates” to the antecedent

-the antecedent determines the relative pronoun’s gender and number

-BUT the CASE of the relative pronoun is determined by its own clause

-e.g. Vanessa is the woman whom Mr. Chang married.

  • relative pronoun = whom
  • the pronoun’s antecedent = woman
  • woman = predicate nominative, renaming subject Vanessa
  • whom is direct object of married, hence it is the accusative case
  • Vanessa est mulier/fēminaquam magister in matrimōnium dūxit.

-HINT: Master the inflection of the relative pronoun IN ENGLISH:

  • Nominative: who (m. f.), which(n.)
  • Genitive: whose, ofwhom, ofwhich
  • Dative: to/forwhom, to/forwhich
  • Accusative: whom, which
  • Ablative: by/with/from, etc. whom, which

-NOTE: sometimes the gender differences between Latin and English can be potentially confusing:

  • In English, water is a “which” because it is a neuter inanimate object
  • But what gender of the pronoun is needed in Latin if water is the antecedent?
  • e.g. The water which I drank is too warm.
  • e.g. The mountains in which those bears were living are high.

-Practice 1: Identify the caseand numberin which the relative pronoun should be translated into Latin. Remember, its case depends on how it is used in its own clause, NOT the case of the antecedent.

  1. Mr. Chang lives with Vanessa, who is the most patient woman in the universe.
  2. That telephone which I had purchased yesterday is not working!
  3. The car with which I drive to work is now over ten years old.
  4. Monique, whosesister is a junior, was a freshman.
  5. Call Topher, the student to whom I gave the keys, to open the door.
  6. The individuals whom we saw in the prison were not smiling.
  7. I can smell the food, which you are preparing, burning on the stove.
  8. Those girls whose parents had forgotten to pick them up were shipped off to Siberia to make glue.
  9. The gentleman whom I showed to the door was henceforth considered a persona non grata for the way in whichhe had behaved.
  10. Bring the book that I have not yet read to the party, okay?
  11. That chair on which you are standing is about to break!
  12. The people with whom I live are never home.
  13. These cars, of which the finishes have begun to corrode, may not sell as quickly.
  14. Sally and Sara, to whomwe entrusted our FB passwords, were the ones who posted those scandalous pictures. We were innocent!
  15. Let themwhoare without fault cast the first stones.

-Practice 2: complete the following sentences in English with the appropriate relative pronoun (or prepositional phrase including a relative pronoun), then translate the pronoun into Latin:

  1. Your parents, ______you live every day, love (some of) you without condition (sort of).
  2. Give the pen to my brother, ______is writing those letters.
  3. “The Man ______Knew Too Much” is the title of a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day.
  4. David, ______notebook got tossed in class yesterday, was injured last year and sick, puking his guts out, this year.
  5. That guard, ______I entrusted my safety, is scary.
  6. This school building, ______was built just a few years ago, is one of the nicest in the Northern Virginia area.
  7. The chair ______I am sitting is not high.
  8. The country ______my parents came was Taiwan (but originally China).
  9. My new students, ______several have met me before, are a pretty nice group of kids.
  10. The students ______I see at the mall pretend not to see me!

Relative Pronoun Review– answer “TRUE” or “FALSE”

  1. Relative Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in gender, number, and case
  2. If the English word is neuter, I use the relative pronoun “which.”
  3. Sometimes a relative clause will NOT start with some form of the word “who” or “which.”
  4. The endings of the relative pronoun are entirely like the 2nd and 1st declension.
  5. If the relative pronoun is either the subject or object of its clause, I use “who” in English.

Interrogative Pronoun

singularplural

MFNMFN

N:quisquidquīquaequae

G: cuiuscuiusquōrumquārumquōrum

D: cuicuiquibusquibusquibus

Acc: quemquidquōsquāsquae

Abl: quōquōquibusquibusquibus

Grammatical Features of the Interrogative Pronoun

-The interrogative pronoun is used to ask questions.

  • the masculine and feminine paradigms use the same forms in the singular
  • the plural is identical to the relative pronoun the plural

-Interrogative Adjective

  • it is followed by a noun with which it agrees in gender, case and number – just like regular noun-adjective agreement!
  • declined exactly the same as the relative pronoun passim
  • e.g.
  • quī puer mē oppugnāvit?
  • quam fēminam amāverās?
  • ē quō oppidō vēnit?
  • quod oppidum Rōmānī oppugnābant?

SAMPLE ENGLISH SENTENCES FROM STUDENTS

N: The boy who punched me was a jerk.

quī

G: The girl whose hair is brown was nice.

cuius

D: The girl to whom the question was asked responded.

cui

The girl to whom the teacher asked the question responded.

cui

puella, cui quaestiōnem magister rogāvit, respondit.

Acc:The boy/boys whom I punched cried.

quem/quōs

Abl: The room [in which I study Latin] is dark.

camera [in quā Latīnam studeō] obscūra est.

The room is dark.

In which I study Latin > In the room I study Latin

I study Latin in the room.

studeō Latinam in camerā. Therefore, since camerā is feminine and singular and would be ablative in the above sentence., use the feminine singular ablative form when referring to it with a relative pronoun in the relative clause [in which I study Latin] > quā.

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