# Latin for beginners (1911)/Part II/Lesson LII

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LESSON LII
THE INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
296. The indefinite pronouns are used to refer to some person or some thing, without indicating which particular one is meant. The pronouns quis and quī, which we have learned in their interrogative and relative uses, may also be indefinite; and nearly all the other indefinite pronouns are compounds of quis or quī and declined almost like them. Review the declension of these words, §§221, 227.
​297. Learn the declension and meaning of the following indefinites:
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. |
| quis | quis | quid, some one, any one (substantive) |
| quī | qua or quae | quod, some, any (adjective), <a href = "LatinBegin2.html#sec483">§ 483</a> |
| aliquis | aliquis | aliquid, some one, any one (substantive), <a href ="LatinBegin2.html#sec487">§ 487</a> |
| aliquī | aliqua | aliquod, some, any (adjective), <a href ="LatinBegin2.html#sec487">§ 487</a> |
| quīdam | quaedam | quoddam, quiddam, a certain, a certain one, <a href ="LatinBegin2.html#sec485">§ 485</a> |
| quisquam | quisquam | quicquam or quidquam (no plural), any one (at all) (substantive), <a href = "LatinBegin2.html#sec486">§ 486</a> |
| quisque | quisque | quidque, each one, every one (substantive), <a href ="LatinBegin2.html#sec484">§ 484</a> |
| quisque | quaeque | quodque, each, every (adjective), <a href ="LatinBegin2.html#sec484">§ 484</a> |
Transcriber’s Note: I.the original text, the combined forms (masculine/feminine) were printed in the “masculine” column.
Note. The meanings of the neuters, something, etc., are easily inferred from the masculine and feminine.
a. In the masculine and neuter singular of the indefinites, quis-forms and quid-forms are mostly used as substantives, quī-forms and quod-forms as adjectives.
b. The indefinites quis and quī never stand first I.a clause, and are rare excepting after sī, nisi, nē, num (as, sī quis, if any one; sī quid, if anything; nisi quis, unless some one). Generally aliquis and aliquī are used instead.
c. The forms qua and aliqua are both feminine nominative singular and neuter nominative plural of the indefinite adjectives quī and aliquī respectively. How do these differ from the corresponding forms of the relative quī?
d. Observe that quīdam (quī + -dam) is declined like quī, except that in the accusative singular and genitive plural m of quī becomes n (cf. § 28
quandam, quōrundam, quārundam; also that the neuter has quiddam (substantive) and quoddam (adjective) in the nominative and accusative singular. Quīdam is the least indefinite of the indefinite pronouns, and implies that you could name the person or thing referred to if you cared to do so.
e. Quisquam and quisque (substantive) are declined like quis.
f. Quisquam, any one (quicquam or quidquam, anything), is always used substantively and chiefly in negative sentences. The corresponding adjective any is ūllus, -a, -um (§ 108). ​298.
EXERCISES
First learn the special vocabulary, p. 295.
I.
servātus est.
fortūna.
I.castrīs mānsit.
potest.
cōpiās suās trāns pontem trādūxerat.
armātus in fluctūs dēsiluit et incolumis ad alteram rīpam oculōs vertit.
* Quisque illī fortī mīlitī aliquid dare dēbet.
* Tanta vērō
virtūs Rōmānus semper placuit. 1
magna et paene par Rōmae ipsī; nunc vērō moenia dēcidērunt et pauca vestīgia urbis illīus reperīrī possunt. 1
amat, et aliquibus vērō nōmen rēgis est invīsum.
II.
unharmed.
* I myself was eager to tell something to some one.
* Each
one was praising his own work.
country? I did not see any one.
the bridge with Horatius, the commonwealth will be in the greatest danger.
words.
299. How Horatius held the Bridge (Concluded)
Mox, ubi parva pars pontis mānsit, Horātius iussit comitēs discēdere et sōlus mīrā cōnstantiā impetum illius tōtius exercitūs sustinēbat. Dēnique magnō fragōre pōns in flūmen dēcīdit. Tum vērō Horātius tergum vertit et armātus in aquās dēsiluit. In eum hostēs multa tēla iēcērunt; incolumis autem per fiuctūs ad alteram rīpam trānāvit. Eī propter tantās rēs gestās populus Rōmānus nōn sōlum alia magna praemia dedit sed etiam statuam Horāti in locō pūblicō posuit.
Sixth Review, Lessons XLV-LII, §§ 521-523
References