§574. Indirect Questions

An Indirect Question takes its verb in the Subjunctive:

• quid ipse sentiam expōnam (Div. 1.10), I will explain what I think. [Direct: quid sentiō?]
• id possetne fierī cōnsuluit (id. 1.32), he consulted whether it could be done. [Direct: potestne?]
• quam sīs audāx omnēs intellegere potuērunt (Rosc. Am. 87), all could understand how bold you are. [Direct: quam es audāx!]
• doleam necne doleam nihil interest (Tusc. 2.29), it is of no account whether I suffer or not. [Double question.]
• quaesīvī ā Catilīnā in conventū apud M. Laecam fuisset necne (Cat. 2.13), I asked Catiline whether he had been at the meeting at Marcus Lœca's or not. [Double question.]
• rogat mē quid sentiam, he asks me what I think. [Cf. rogat mē sententiam, he asks me my opinion.]
• hōc dubium est, uter nostrum sit inverēcundior (Acad. 2.126), this is doubtful, which of us two is the less modest.
• incertī quātenus Volerō exercēret victōriam (Liv. 2.55), uncertain how far Volero would push victory. [As if dubitantēs quātenus, etc.]