# Patriam amare debemus



## bluetoonwithcarrotandnail

Three questions 
*
Moderator Note: Other questions snipped.  Please ask one question at a time.*

2.  The complementary infinitive does not need a subject repeated. 

This is like saying that the following sentence, 'Patriam amare debemus' 
does not need the word Patriam repeated, correct?


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## brian

I don't understand your question........  How else would you say it??


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## Anne345

It's not a complementary infinitive ! 

debeo : 
*With inf.*, to be bound, in duty bound to do something; I ought, must, should, etc., do it (in class. prose always in the sense of moral necessity... 
(Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary)


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## Flaminius

bluetoonwithcarrotandnail said:


> 2.  The complementary infinitive does not need a subject repeated.
> 
> This is like saying that the following sentence, 'Patriam amare debemus'
> does not need the word Patriam repeated, correct?


I am not sure what the construction of _patriam amare debemus_ is called (*Anne345*, maybe you could kindly help?   ) but it is true that this construction "does not need a subject repeated."

The subject of both _amare_ and _debemus_ is "we" (this is represented as the first person plural conjugation _-mus_ and does not have any separate form).  _Patriam_, which is cast in the accusative form, is the object of _amare_; it cannot be the subject of either verb.

If the subject were to be repeated, we would get something like;
debemus nos amare patriam.

However, _nos_ here does not sound very well and perhaps is ungrammatical.


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## Cagey

I admire Flaminius' clear explanation. 



> I am not sure what the construction of patriam amare debemus is called....



_Amare_ in the construction _amare debemus_ is indeed what is called a 'complementary infinitive'  according to the terminology commonly used in by Latin textbooks and grammars in the US.    

I assume that Anne uses other terminology.


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## rainbowizard

The whole sentence with _debeo_ is unusual... To evidence the logical subject (_Patria)_ and the people who have to love it (_nos)_ I think it's better a passive periphrases:

Patria nobis amanda est


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## Cagey

rainbowizard said:


> The whole sentence with _debeo_ is unusual... To evidence the logical subject (_Patria)_ and the people who have to love it (_nos)_ I think it's better a passive periphrases:
> 
> Patria nobis amanda est



Yes, that is another way to express the idea and you might prefer it for stylistic reasons. 

However, the construction being discussed is perfectly good Latin:
_quem omnes amare meritissimo debemus,_ Cic. de Or. 1, 55, 23​


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## Anne345

_Omnes debemus ? _


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## Flaminius

Anne345 said:


> _Omnes debemus ? _


Of which an implied construction is _nos omnes debemus_.  I have merrily called subjects of this type "appositional subjects" but authoritative references may have a different name for it.


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