quis

French

Etymology

From Old French quis, past participle of querre. Displaced Latin quaesitus, which would have yielded *quist or *quésit.

Participle

quis (feminine quise, masculine plural quis, feminine plural quises)

1. past participle of quérir

Participle

quis m pl

1. masculine plural of qui

Verb

quis

1. first/second-person singular past historic of quérir

Galician

Verb

quis

1. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular preterite indicative of querer

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *kʷis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷís. See there for cognates.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷis]

Pronoun

quis or quī (feminine quae or qua or quis, neuter quid); relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds)

1. (interrogative pronoun, usually clause-initial)
   1. (in the masculine singular, not agreeing with any other word) who?

      Quis custōdiet ipsōs custōdēs? ― <But> who will watch the watchmen themselves?

      • c. 186 BCE, Plautus, Aulularia 809:

        Quis mē est dītior?

        Who's richer than me?

      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Pro S. Roscio Amerino 76.10:

        Nuntium misit. Quem aut ad quem?

        • 1903 translation by C. D. Yonge

          He sent a messenger—whom? or to whom?

   2. (in the neuter singular, not agreeing with any other word) what?

      Quid accidit? ― What happened?

      Quid agis? ― How are you?

      Quid agitur? Quid fit? ― What is going on? How are you getting on?

      Quid tibi animi est? ― What sort of humour are you in?

      Quid tibi vis? ― What do you mean to do?

      Quid illo fiet? ― What will become of him?

      Quid huic homini (/hoc homine) faciam? ― What am I to do with this fellow?

      Dic quid sentias ― Give me your opinion

      Quid censes?/Quid tibi videtur?/Quid de ea re fieri placet? ― What is your opinion?

      Quid causae fuit cur...? ― How came it that...?

      incertus sum, quid consilii capiam ― I am undecided...

      Quid hoc sibi vult?/Quid hoc rei est? ― What is the meaning of this?

      Quid attinet? ― What is the use of?

      Quid mirum? ― no wonder

      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, De Domo Sua 72.3:

        Quid est enim exsul?

        For what is an exile?

      • 54 BCE, Cicero, Pro Plancio 80.5:

        Quid est pietas nisi voluntas grata in parentes?

        • 1923 translation by N. H. Watts

          What is filial affection, if not a benevolent gratitude to one’s parents?

   3. (agreeing in gender with a noun in a copular sentence) what?
      • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.4.7.6-7:

        Pro deum hominumque fidem! Quid hoc est? Quae haec causa est? Quae ista impudentia?

        For heaven's sake! What is this? What is the cause? What is this impudence of yours?

      • 44 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Philippicae 6.14:

        Quis est iste ordo?

        • 2010 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey

          What category is this?

      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 4.70.6:

        Quis est enim iste amor amicitiae?

        What is this love of friendship then?

      • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca Minor, Hercules furens 1138:

        Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga?

        What (is) this place? What area? What region of the world?

   4. (as predicate agreeing in gender and number with subject) who?

      Quis es? ― Who are you? (with the default emphasis on you)

      Quis es tū? ― Who are you? (with the marked emphasis on are)

      Quī sumus? ― Who are we?

      • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.2.188:

        Ego instare ut mihi responderet quis esset, ubi esset, unde esset

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   5. (often agreeing in gender with a genitive pronoun, etc.) which (of)? (mainly out of three or more, vs. uter "which of two?")
      • 84 BCE, Cicero, De inventione 1.17.10:

        Ex comparatione, in qua per contentionem, utrum potius aut quid potissimum sit quaeritur

        • 1949 translation by H. M. Hubbell

          The case involves comparison when various actions are contrasted and the question is which one is more desirable or which is most desirable to perform

      • 55 BCE, Cicero, De oratore 3.28:

        suavitatem Isocrates, subtilitatem Lysias, acumen Hyperides, sonitum Aeschines, vim Demosthenes habuit. Quis eorum non egregius? Tamen quis cuiusquam nisi sui similis? Gravitatem Africanus, lenitatem Laelius, asperitatem Galba, profluens quiddam habuit Carbo et canorum. Quis horum non princeps temporibus illis fuit? Et suo tamen quisque in genere princeps.

        • 1942 translation by H. Rackham

          Isocrates had grace of style, Lysias precision, Hyperides penetration, Aeschines sonorousness, Demosthenes force: which of them is not eminent? and yet which resembles anyone but himself? Africanus had weight, Laelius smoothness, Galba harshness, Carbo a kind of flow and melody: which of these in the old days was not eminent? and yet each eminent in his own particular style.

      • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 1.851-853:

        Nam quid in oppressu valido durabit eorum,
        ut mortem effugiat, leti sub dentibus ipsis?
        Ignis an umor an aura? Quid horum? Sanguen an ossa?

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 65 CE, Seneca Minor, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 88.3.3:

        Grammaticus circa curam sermonis versatur et, si latius evagari vult, circa historias, iam ut longissime fines suos proferat, circa carmina. Quid horum ad virtutem viam sternit?

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   6. (in the neuter quid) why, what for?
      • 163 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Heauton Timorumenos 831:

        Quid stās, lapis? Quīn accipis?

        Why are you standing there, stupid? Take it!

2. (indefinite pronoun, never clause-initial) anyone, a person, someone, one; anything, a thing, something
   1. (usually after si, nisi, num, or ne)
      • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 7.9:

        ut si quid etiam de sua salute ab Aeduis iniretur consili

        in order that if any <plot> concerning his own safety should have been organized by the Aedui

      • c. 41 BCE – 39 BCE, Vergilius, Eclogae 6.9–10:

        Sī quis tamen haec quoque, sī quis
        captus amōre leget, tē nostrae, Vāre, myrīcae,
        tē nemus omne canet

        If anyone, if anyone reads this captured by love [for these verses], our tamarisks shall sing of you, Varus, and of you every grove shall sing.

      • 30 BCE – 16 BCE, Propertius, Elegiae 1.2:

        Non ego nunc vereor ne sim tibi vilior istis:
        uni si qua placet, culta puella sat est; […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Evangelium secundum Ioannem.3.5:

        Respondit Iēsūs: āmēn āmēn, dīcō tibi, nisi quis renātus fuerit ex aquā et Spīritū, nōn potest introīre in rēgnum Deī.

        Jesus replied, "verily verily, I say to you, unless a person is reborn out of water and Spirit, that person can't enter into the kingdom of God."

      • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Epistula ad Hebraeos.12.16:

        Nē quis fornicātor, aut profānus ut Esau, quī propter ūnam ēscam vendidit prīmitīva sua.

        Do not let anyone be a fornicator, nor a profane person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

   2. (less often, after another word)
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:quis.

Usage notes

• When used as a question word, quis usually occupies the first position in a clause, regardless of its syntactic function (although it may be preceded by a connector or a pragmatically fronted constituent).
• In a question that does not contain a copular verb, the interrogative pronoun is masculine singular (quis) when asking for the identity of some unknown person(s) and neuter singular (quid) when asking for the identity of some unknown thing. In all periods of Latin, the masculine forms of quis can be used as a generic, epicene interrogative pronoun with a scope that includes both male and female persons despite its masculine grammatical gender. Compare the generic sense of the grammatically masculine noun homo (“man, human being”).
  • The nominative singular form quis is sometimes used as a feminine interrogative pronoun or adjective in the early Latin of Ennius, Pacuvius, and Plautus (see Citations:quis). This use of quis as a feminine (as opposed to epicene) nominative singular form is scarcely attested in authors of later time periods. The feminine nominative singular form quae is also attested in reference to a woman or in agreement with a feminine noun (see Citations:quae), although it can be difficult to determine whether feminine interrogative quae is a form of the pronoun quis (“who”), or a form of the interrogative adjective quī (“which”) (which can be used substantivally).
• In questions that contain a form of esse and a nominative noun in addition to a nominative form of quis, the form of quis may match the gender and number of the noun by attraction. Therefore, in this context, quis (with a masculine noun) or quae (with a feminine noun) can mean "what", rather than "who". However, it is also possible alternatively for neuter singular quid to be used as a predicative pronoun with the sense "what" in a question with a masculine, feminine or plural subject, with no agreement in gender or number between the subject and the predicate. According to Lebreton, agreement is rarer than the use of the non-agreeing neuter interrogative pronoun, but neither is exceptional. In questions with esse, it is not always simple to determine whether a form of quis is acting as an interrogative pronominal subject, an interrogative pronominal predicate, or an interrogative adjective (see also quī), since the same grammatical case is used for all of these functions, and Latin regularly places an interrogative word first regardless of its syntactic function in a clause.
• The indefinite pronoun is frequent in certain constructions, rare in others. It is common immediately after sī or nē and is also used regularly after the less frequent particles num and nisi (the combinations sīquis, nēquis, numquis are sometimes written without spacing). Quis is sometimes separated from these particles by one or more words, and is occasionally found after other words (e.g. cum, mainly in postclassical and Late Latin, sometimes other relative words). In sense, quis/quid has the weakest emphatic force of the various Latin indefinite pronouns, and can refer to a person/thing whose existence is completely hypothetical: in contrast, aliquis (“someone”) has a greater tendency to imply existence, quīdam (“a certain”) refers to someone/something specific known to the speaker, and quisquam (“anyone (at all)”) is used in negative polarity contexts and can optionally be used instead of quis in conditional or prohibitive clauses to emphasize the universality of a condition or prohibition.

Declension

Interrogative and indefinite pronoun.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	quis quī1	quae qua2 quis3	quid		quī1	quae	quae qua2
genitive	cuius1				quōrum	quārum	quōrum
dative	cui1				quibus quīs1
accusative	quem	quam quem3	quid		quōs	quās	quae qua2
ablative	quō quī	quā quī	quō quī		quibus quīs1
vocative	—				—

¹In Republican Latin or earlier, alternative spellings could be found for the following forms of quī/quis and its compounds: the masculine nominative singular or plural quī (old spelling quei), the genitive singular cuius (old spelling quoius), the dative singular cui (old spelling quoi or quoiei), the dative/ablative plural quīs (old spelling queis).
²Qua (with short ă) occurs only as an indefinite pronoun or determiner placed immediately after sī, nē, or num. The combinations sīqua, nēqua, and numqua are sometimes written without spacing (as also are the masculines sīquis, nēquis and numquis). Compare aliquis, aliqua, aliquid. Quae can also be used instead of quă. Quă is never used as an interrogative pronoun/determiner, relative pronoun/determiner, or feminine nominative plural.
³Feminine quis and quem are attested mainly in early Latin authors (Ennius, Pacuvius, and Plautus).

• An archaic form of the nominative plural is quēs (found on the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus).

Determiner

quis or quī (feminine quae, neuter quod); relative/interrogative pronoun

1. (alternative nominative singular form of interrogative determiner quī) which; what
   • 29 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 2.177–178:

     Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis, quae robora cuique,
     quis color et quae sit rebus natura ferendis.

     Now give we place to the genius of soils, the strength of each, its hue, its native power for bearing.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.615, (exclamatory):

     Quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus / insequitur? quae vis immanibus applicat oris?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 3.317:

     heu! quis te casus deiectam coniuge tanto / excipit? aut quae digna satis fortuna revisit, / Hectoris Andromache?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 116 CE, Tacitus, Annales 1.48:

     Tunc signo inter se dato inrumpunt contubernia, trucidant ignaros, nullo nisi consciis noscente quod caedis initium, quis finis.

     Then, passing the signal to one another, they broke into the tents and struck down their unsuspecting victims; while no one, apart from those in the secret, knew how the massacre had begun or where it was to end.

Declension

See quī.

Derived terms

• aliquis
• ecquis
• numquid
• quid est?
• quid tibi est?
• quidquid
• quippe
• quispiam
• quisquam
• quisque
• quisquis
• sīquis

Related terms

• cuiās
• cuius
• quī
• quod

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	demonstrative			anaphoric	identity	interrogative or basic relative	indefinite						alternative
	proximal	medial	distal				relative	irrelative	free choice	universal	negative polarity	negative
basic	hic	iste istic	ille illic	is	ipse īdem	quis quī	quisquis quīcumque	quīdam aliquis, quis aliquī, quī quispiam	quīvis quīlibet	quisque	quisquam hīlum ūllus	nēmō̆ nihil nūllus	alius
ᵇcomparative	huiusmodī huiuscemodī	istī̆usmodī	illī̆usmodī	eiusmodī	eiusdemmodī	cuiusmodī	cuiusmodīcumque	alicuiusmodī cuiusdammodī	cuiusvīsmodī	cuiusquemodī	cuiusquammodī	°nūllī̆usmodī	alterī̆usmodī alīusmodī
dual						uter	utercumque	alteruter	utervīs uterlibet	uterque		neuter	alter
place	hīc	istīc	illīc	ibī̆	ibī̆dem	ubī̆	ubī̆cumque °ubiubī̆	alicubī̆ uspiam	ubivīs ubilibet	ubīque	usquam °ubīquam	nusquam nūllibī	alibī aliās
source	hinc	istinc °istim	illinc °illim	ªim inde	indidem	unde °cum	undecumque °undeunde	alicunde	°undelibet	undique	°undiquam	°nūllunde	aliunde
destination	hūc hōc °hōrsum	istūc istōc ªistō °istōrsum	illūc illōc ªillō °illōrsum	eō	eōdem	quō quōrsum	quōcumque quōquō °quōrsumcumque	aliquō quōpiam °aliquōvorsum	quōvīs quōlibet	quōque	usquam quōquam ªūllō	nusquam ªnihilō ªnūllō °nūllōrsum	aliō aliōrsum
means, way, path, place	hāc	ªistā istāc	ªillā illāc	eā	eādem	quā quārē	quācumque quāquā	aliquā	quāvīs quālibet	quāque	°quāquam ªūllā	nēquāquam ªnūllā haudquāquam	aliā
ᵇdistance	hāctenus	°istātenus °istāctenus	°illātenus °illāctenus	eātenus		quātenus	°quātenuscumque °quāquātenus	aliquātenus quādantenus	°quātenusvīs °quātenuslibet		ūllātenus	nūllātenus	aliātenus
ᵇreason	°hācpropter °hōccircā	°istāpropter	°illāpropter	eāpropter proptereā eōcircā idcircō ideō		ᶜcūr quāpropter quōcircā quārē							°aliāpropter
ᵇmanner	hōc modō	istō modō	illō modō	ita sīc eō modō	item itidem eādem operā eōdem modō	ut prout °quem quō modō quōmodo quemadmodum	utcumque °utut °proutcumque quōmodocumque °quemadmodumcumque	quōdam modō aliquō modō	quōmodolibet	utīque quōque modō	°utiquam ūllō modō	nihil neutiquam °neutī̆que nūllō modō	aliter alterō/aliō modō
instrument, matter, knowledge						quī quīn °quīcum	quīcumque	quī °aliquī	°quīlibet	°quīque	°quīquam	nihilō nēquīquam	aliōquī aliōquīn
time	†num nunc		ōlim	tum tunc	simul	quandō̆ ‡cum	quandōcumque quandōque cumque °quandōnē °quandōquandō °cumcumque	quondam aliquandō̆	°quandōlibet	quandōque	umquam	numquam	aliās
quantity				tam	†tamen †tandem	quam	quamcumque †quamquam	aliquam	quamvīs quamlibet	quamque
size				tantus	tantusdem	quantus	quantuscumque quantusquantus	aliquantus	quantusvīs quantuslibet	quantusque
quality				tālis		quālis	quāliscumque quālisquālis	aliquālis	quālislibet	quālisque
number				tot	totidem	quot	quotquot quotcumque	aliquot	quotlibet
order/fractional				totus		quotus	°quotuscumque	°aliquotus	°quotuslibet	°quotusque °quotusquisque
repetition				totiēns		quotiēns	quotiēnscumque	aliquotiēns	quotiēnslibet	quotiēnsque °quotiēnsquisque		°nūllotiēns
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat changed ° Rare ‡ Only used as a conjunction, not as an interrogative. ª Used almost exclusively to form locutions or compounds. ᵇ All locutions ending in modī, modō, propter, circā or tenus can be univerbalized and vice versa, except de, secus and if another suffix, such as -cumque, -que or -libet, follows them, quemadmodum can also come as a locution in "quem ad modum", quārē can even also come separately especially if accompanied by a preposition, such as dē. ᶜ Used purely and simply as an interrogative in direct questions (then irrelative), its relative meaning is somewhat lost, if it ever had one.

Descendants

See qui.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷiːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷis]

Verb

quīs

1. second-person singular present active indicative of queō

Further reading

• “quis , quid, pron. interrog.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quis , quid, pron. interrog.”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “quis , quid, pron. indef.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quis , quid, pron. indef.”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “quis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Lule

Pronoun

quis

1. I

References

• Antonio Maccioni / Machoni, Arte y vocabulario de la lengua lule y tonocoté (1732)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• quiz (obsolete, now a misspelling)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkis/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkis/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈkiʃ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkiʃ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -is, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -iʃ
• Hyphenation: quis

Verb

quis

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of querer