# I don't know if God exists ....



## francisgranada

Could someone give me a Latin translatation of the following phrase:

English: I don't know if God exists, but I know what kind (?) he is. 
Spanish: No sé si Dios existe, pero sé como (él) es.
Italian: Non so se Dio esiste, però so come (lui) è.
Hungarian: Nem tudom, van-e Isten, de tudom hogy milyen.

Thanks in advance.


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## bearded

Hello Francis
My suggestion:  _Nescio an Deus sit, scio tamen qualis est._

(in English:_ ….but I know what He is like)_


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## francisgranada

Gratias, Bearded.

(Me viene a la mente que en las versiones española e italiana probablemente debía usar el subjuntivo, aunque quería expresar una  constatación)


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## bearded

De nihilo.


francisgranada said:


> en las versiones española e italiana


In Italian it would be:
_Non so se Dio esista, però so com'è _(esist_e_ is a bit more colloquial).


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## Scholiast

Saluete amici!

I hesitate to correct our learned friend bearded (# 2), especially as I have committed some errors of my own here recently.

But (as francisgranada seems to imply in # 3) I am pretty sure that subjunctive verbs would be needed in both parts of the sentence: _nescio an Deus sit, scio tamen qualis *sit*_.

My suspicion is that bearded was slightly put off his stroke because while the first clause indicates a doubt, the second implies a certainty. This does not, however, interfere with the syntactical rules for indirect questions (as set out by e.g. Gildersleeve/Lodge, _Latin Grammar_, § 467).

Σ


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## bearded

Scholiast said:


> My suspicion is that bearded was slightly put off his stroke because while the first clause indicates a doubt, the second implies a certainty. This does not, however, interfere with the syntactical rules (as set out by e.g. Gildersleeve/Lodge, _Latin Grammar_, § 467).


You are quite right, Scholiast.  I had originally written ''qualis sit'', but then I mistakenly changed it. Many thanks for making me ''come back to my senses'':
_Nescio an Deus sit, scio tamen qualis sit 
_is the correct version.

Thank you for 'learned'


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## francisgranada

bearded said:


> In Italian it would be: _Non so se Dio esista, però so com'è _(esist_e_ is a bit more colloquial).


E' esattamente quello che volevo dire 
Grazie anche per questo: 





> (in English:_ ….but I know what He is like)_


(Non mi è venuto in mente - sono stato influenzato dalla versione ungherese  ....)


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## Scholiast

Regarding francisgranada's # 7 above, 'I know what He is like' is perfectly idiomatic modern English, perhaps a shade on the colloquial side. One could more pompously say '...but I know His nature' (or 'qualities').

Σ


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## francisgranada

Scholiast said:


> Regarding francisgranada's # 7 above, 'I know what He is like' is perfectly idiomatic modern English, perhaps a shade on the colloquial side. One could more pompously say '...but I know His nature' (or 'qualities').


Thanks for your _perfect _reaction!  _Perfect_, because it explains exactly my original dilemma (finally, both in Latin and in English).  In my mother tongue (Hungarian) there are separate/different words for _qualis _("of what quality"), _qualis _("which"), _qui _("who, what") and for Sp/It _como/come_ ("how").


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## bearded

I like ''His nature'' very much. One cannot help admiring Scholiast's elegant native English!


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## Sardokan1.0

francisgranada said:


> Could someone give me a Latin translatation of the following phrase:
> 
> English: I don't know if God exists, but I know what kind (?) he is.
> Spanish: No sé si Dios existe, pero sé como (él) es.
> Italian: Non so se Dio esiste, però so come (lui) è.
> Hungarian: Nem tudom, van-e Isten, de tudom hogy milyen.
> 
> Thanks in advance.



In Sardinian, the Romance language closest to Latin it would be :


 No isco si Deus esìstit, ma isco coment'est.


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## francisgranada

Sardokan1.0 said:


> In Sardinian ... it would be : No isco si Deus esìstit, ma isco coment'est.


Thanks, so if I understand correctly, both the verbs _esistit _and _est _are in indicative, not in subjunctive.


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## Sardokan1.0

francisgranada said:


> Thanks, so if I understand correctly, both the verbs _esistit _and _est _are in indicative, not in subjunctive.



Yes, it's indicative. Using the subjunctive it would be :

 No isco si Deus esìstat, ma isco comente sìet.
However, in this kind of phrases we use the indicative.


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