can't find an answer that sounds correct
2007-02-27 12:50:06 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Jeannie's right, except the donas in the protasis of the sentence should be in the future perfect or future tense - whereas English allows a present in the protasis of a future-more-vivid conditional, Latin demands a future (or future perfect). It would be, si mihi caelum non dederis (or donaveris), inferos excitabo.
Also, it's extremely difficult to tranlate "raise hell" into Latin, since it's an idiom; in a perfect world, one would want to translate it with a Latin idiom that meant "cause a lot of trouble", but I can't think of one off the top of my head. Same thing for "give me heaven", really. It's full of ideas that just aren't in Latin (the Romans didn't have the same understanding of heaven and hell as we do).
2007-03-02 19:57:12 · answer #1 · answered by ithyphallos 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Si caelum mihi non donas, inferos excitabo.
Unlike English, Latin uses the indicative in the if clause when the main clause makes a plain statement of fact.
2007-02-27 23:54:13 · answer #2 · answered by Jeannie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Si mihi coelum non dones valde obiciam
2007-02-27 22:08:47 · answer #3 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Si vos don't tribuo mihi Olympus I'll erigo abyssus
2007-02-27 21:16:11 · answer #4 · answered by cas 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋