Usages of cur
Pater rogat: "Cur domi manes et cum amicis non curris?"
Father asks: "Why do you stay at home and not run with your friends?"
Magister rogat: "Cur discipuli hodie in schola non manent?"
The teacher asks: "Why do the students not stay in the school today?"
Puer matrem quaerit et rogat: “Cur ad forum festinas?”
The boy looks for his mother and asks: “Why are you hurrying to the forum?”
Hospes rogat cur amphora tam cito vacua facta sit, et caupo dicit vinum hodie deesse.
The guest asks why the jar became empty so quickly, and the innkeeper says that wine is lacking today.
Puer rogat cur ovis lanam tam longam habeat.
The boy asks why the sheep has such long wool.
Mater puerum rogat: “Cur fles?”
Mother asks the boy: “Why are you crying?”
Nescio cur frater tam sero surgat; soror enim ad scholam prima venire solet.
I do not know why brother gets up so late; for sister usually comes to school first.
Magistra rogat cur discipuli hodie sero veniant et utrum mora in vico fuerit.
The teacher asks why the students are coming late today and whether there was a delay in the street.
Postea discipuli de fabula inter se disputant, et magistra rogat cur ita disputent.
Afterward the students discuss the story among themselves, and the teacher asks why they are discussing in that way.
Cur tam diu ante ianuam moramini, cum cena iam parata sit?
Why are you lingering so long before the door, when dinner is already ready?
Puer rogat cur bos, quamquam pastor prope est, adhuc mugiat.
The boy asks why the ox, although the shepherd is nearby, is still lowing.
Puella unum granum in manu tenet et rogat cur tam parvum sit.
The girl holds one grain in her hand and asks why it is so small.
Mater miratur cur puer stilum suum semper amittat.
Mother wonders why the boy always loses his stylus.
Discipula quaedam rogat cur haec lingua tam antiqua adhuc a multis legatur.
A certain female student asks why this language, though so ancient, is still read by many.
Dum magister tacet, discipuli paulatim intellegunt cur haec verba inter se similia sint.
While the teacher is silent, the students gradually understand why these words are similar to one another.
Ventus aulaeum movet, et puella rogat cur fenestra aperta sit.
The wind moves the curtain, and the girl asks why the window is open.
Magistra discipulis explicat cur senatus et magistratus in urbe magni sint.
The teacher explains to the students why the senate and the magistrates are important in the city.
Una discipula consilium novum proponit: “Cur non cras in foro oratorem audimus?”
One female student proposes a new plan: “Why do we not hear an orator in the forum tomorrow?”
Discipula rogat cur lictores fasces gerant; magistra respondet eos imperii signum esse.
The female student asks why the lictors carry the fasces; the teacher answers that they are a sign of power.
Discipula rogat cur infinitivus saepe post verba “possum” et “volo” ponatur.
The student asks why the infinitive is often placed after the words “I am able” and “I want.”
Post lectionem puella domi matri narrat se hodie didicisse cur quaedam praepositiones accusativum, aliae ablativum, quaedam utrumque accipiant, et cur idem verbum in indicativo aut in coniunctivo alium sensum habeat.
After the lesson the girl tells her mother at home that today she learned why some prepositions take the accusative, others the ablative, some both, and why the same verb has a different sense in the indicative or in the subjunctive.
Sic discipuli paulatim discunt non solum verba memoria tenere, sed etiam intellegere cur unus casus potius quam alius, cur singularis potius quam pluralis, et cur indicativus potius quam imperativus in unaquaque sententia ponatur.
Thus the students gradually learn not only to keep words in memory, but also to understand why one case rather than another, why singular rather than plural, and why the indicative rather than the imperative is used in each sentence.
Magistra rogat cur hoc verbum in coniunctivo, non in indicativo, positum sit.
The teacher asks why this verb has been placed in the subjunctive, not in the indicative.
Magistra postea quaerit cur unus liber a bibliopola carius vendi videretur quam alter.
Afterward the teacher asks why one book seemed to be sold by the bookseller at a higher price than the other.
Nondum plane intellego cur hoc verbum in coniunctivo positum sit.
I do not yet fully understand why this word has been placed in the subjunctive.
Marcus rogat cur in sententia passiva obiectum saepe in subiectum vertatur.
Marcus asks why in a passive sentence the object is often changed into the subject.
Discipuli, qui iam sciunt quid sit subiectum et quid obiectum, facilius intellegunt cur “amari” passivum, “amare” activum sit.
The students, who already know what the subject is and what the object is, understand more easily why “amari” is passive and “amare” is active.
Puer corticem arboris tangit et rogat cur cortex quercus tam asper sit.
The boy touches the bark of the tree and asks why the bark of the oak is so rough.
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