Quid hoc verbum significat?

Quid means what? and is the neuter singular form of the interrogative pronoun quis, quid.

In this sentence, quid is the thing being asked about: What does this word mean? Since the idea is what thing?, Latin uses the neuter form quid.

Grammatically, quid is the direct object of significat.

Because verbum is a neuter singular noun.

The demonstrative hic, haec, hoc means this, and it has to agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.

So:

• hic = masculine singular
• haec = feminine singular
• hoc = neuter singular

Since verbum is neuter singular, the correct form is hoc verbum = this word.

Verbum is in the nominative singular.

It is the subject of the sentence: this word is the thing doing the action of signifying/meaning.

So the structure is:

• hoc verbum = this word → subject
• significat = means / signifies
• quid = what → direct object

Literally: This word signifies what?

Significat is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood

It comes from the verb significo, significare, meaning to signify, mean, indicate.

So significat means it signifies or it means.

Because the subject is hoc verbum (this word), the singular verb form is used.

Latin does not need a separate helping verb like does in this kind of question.

English asks:

• What does this word mean?

But Latin simply uses the main verb:

• Quid hoc verbum significat?

The tense and person are already built into significat, so no extra word for does is necessary.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin uses case endings to show each word’s role.

So Quid hoc verbum significat? is a very natural order, especially in straightforward prose.

A Latin speaker could also rearrange the words for emphasis, for example:

• Hoc verbum quid significat?

That would still mean basically the same thing.

So the verb being at the end is normal and often expected in Latin.

No. Quid is not the subject.

The subject is hoc verbum = this word.

You can tell because significat is 3rd person singular, matching verbum. Also, semantically, the word is the thing doing the signifying.

So:

• hoc verbum = subject
• quid = object

Yes. Very literally, that is close to the Latin structure.

A word-for-word sense is:

• quid = what
• hoc verbum = this word
• significat = signifies

So literally: What does this word signify? or even This word signifies what?

In natural English, though, the usual translation is What does this word mean?

Not always.

In many contexts, verbum means word, as it does here. But in grammatical discussions, verbum can also mean verb.

So context matters.

In Quid hoc verbum significat?, it clearly means word, not verb.

Because quod usually is not the normal interrogative what? here.

For a direct question like What does this word mean?, Latin normally uses quid.

Quod is often used as:

• a relative pronoun: which, that
• or in other special constructions

So for a simple direct question, quid is the expected form.

The dictionary form is usually given as the full demonstrative pronoun/adjective:

• hic (masculine)
• haec (feminine)
• hoc (neuter)

Together, this means this.

In the sentence, the neuter singular nominative form hoc is used because it modifies verbum, which is neuter singular.

In restored Classical pronunciation, a rough guide is:

kwid hok WER-boom sig-nee-fi-kat

A few helpful points:

• qu sounds like kw
• c in hoc and significat is always hard, like k
• v in Classical Latin sounds like w, so verbum is roughly werbum
• the stress in significat falls on fi: sig-ni-fi-cat

If someone uses a more English-style classroom pronunciation, it may sound different, but the spelling and grammar stay the same.