Salvēte, sodālēs.
On page 8 of Handy Latin Tables Pars Prima there is a list of the question words that you will meet in Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, Chapters 1-5. These question words include most of the big 5 - who, what, why, (not) when and where - along with a few others. So far you have met only ubi (where). As in Ubi est Rōma? Ubi sunt Sparta et Delphī? In today’s reading you will also meet quid (what). As in Quid est Sparta? Sparta oppidum Graecum est. Finally, you will learn the Latin root of the English word ‘ocean’.
from Handy Latin Tables Pars Prima, page 8.Only ubi and quid are relevant to you at the moment.
You have also seen that the addition of -ne to the end of the first word of a sentence indicates that the sentence is a yes/no question. Esnte Rōma in Italiā? Suntne Sparta et Delphī in Germāniā? (The answers to which are yes and no).
Sometimes, however, we like to ask a yes/no question indicating that we think the answer should be NO. To make this clear, we begin the sentence with the word num. Find the two uses of num in this example:
Līvia: Where are the Nile and the Tiber? Ubi sunt Nīlus et Tiberis?
Scīpio: The Nile and the Tiber are in Africa. Nīlus et Tiberis in Africā sunt.
Līvia: Is the Tiber in Africa? (Making it clear that she is expecting a NO answer.) Num Tiberis in Africā est?
Scīpio: The Tiber is not in Africa but in Europe. Tiberis nōn in Africā sed in Eurōpā est.
Līvia: Is the Tiber a big river? (Making it clear that she is expecting a NO answer.) Num Tiberis fluvius magnus est?
Scīpio: The Tiber is not a big river. Tiberis fluvius magnus nōn est.
Līvia: What is the Tiber? Quid est Tiberis?
Scīpio: The Tiber is a small river in Italy. Tiberis est parvus fluvius in Italiā.
With all this in mind, I hope you enjoy reading lines 49-54 of Capitulum Primum.
Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata : Capitulum Primum : lines 49-54. To be fair to the publisher, after Capitulum Secundum extracts will not be given - you will need a copy of the textbook of your own.
Satis est. See you back here again tomorrow.