Nonne venditor mercem sub hasta vendit?

surely

Breakdown of Nonne venditor mercem sub hasta vendit?

• venditor: the seller
• merx: the merchandise
• sub hasta vendere: to sell at public auction

Questions & Answers about Nonne venditor mercem sub hasta vendit?

What does nonne do at the beginning of the sentence?

Nonne introduces a yes-no question that expects the answer yes.

So Nonne venditor mercem sub hasta vendit? is not just a neutral question like Does the seller sell the goods at auction? It is more like:

• Surely the seller sells the goods at auction?
• Doesn't the seller sell the goods at auction?

A learner should be careful here: even though nonne contains non, it does not simply make the sentence negative. Its main job is to signal a question that expects agreement.

Is this sentence actually negative because it has nonne in it?

No. The sentence is not negative in the ordinary sense.

Compare the idea:

• vendit = he sells / the seller sells
• nonne ... vendit? = doesn't he sell? / surely he sells?

So nonne does not mean not by itself here. It is a question particle that suggests the speaker expects yes.

Why is venditor in that form?

Venditor is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative singular.

It means seller or vendor.

Its dictionary form is:

• venditor, venditoris = seller

This is a third-declension noun. In this sentence, venditor is nominative singular because it is the person doing the action of vendit.