Breakdown of Puella rogat utrum acus satis longa sit, ut tunicam laceram consuat.
esse
to be
puella
the girl
longus
long
rogare
to ask
Questions & Answers about Puella rogat utrum acus satis longa sit, ut tunicam laceram consuat.
What is utrum doing in this sentence?
Utrum introduces an indirect yes/no question after rogat.
So rogat utrum... means she asks whether...
A native English speaker may expect something more like she asks if..., and that is exactly the job of utrum here.
A few useful notes:
- utrum can introduce a simple whether clause by itself.
- It does not need an unless there is an explicit whether...or... contrast.
- Latin can also use other ways to introduce yes/no questions, but utrum is very common and very clear.
Why is it sit instead of est?
Because this is an indirect question, and Latin normally puts the verb of an indirect question in the subjunctive.
So:
- direct question: estne acus satis longa? = is the needle long enough?
- indirect question: rogat utrum acus satis longa sit = she asks whether the needle is long enough
The change from est to sit is not changing the basic meaning from English is; it is showing that the statement is being reported as a question inside another sentence.
Why is consuat also subjunctive?