[Yes or No Questions.]
[1775.] Indirect Yes or No questions are introduced by the same interrogative particles that are used in direct questions ([1503]). But in indirect questions, num and -ne are used without any essential difference, in the sense of whether, if. nōnne is used thus only by Cicero, and by him only with quaerō: as,
quaeris num disertus sit? Planc. 62, do you ask whether he is a good speaker? quaesīvī cōgnōsceretne sīgnum, C. 3, 10, I asked if he recognized the seal. quaerō nōnne tibī̆ faciendum idem sit, Fin. 3, 13, I ask whether you ought not to do the same. vidēte num dubitandum vōbīs sit, IP. 19, consider whether you ought to have any hesitation.
[1776.] The combinations -ne . . . -ne, and an . . . an, introducing two separate questions, are rare; -ne . . . -ne is mostly confined to poetry. In a few instances such questions can hardly be distinguished from alternatives.
[1777.] A conditional protasis with sī, if, to see if, or sī forte, if perchance, sometimes takes the place of an indirect question in expressions or implications of trial, hope, or expectation: as, ībō, vīsam sī domīst, T. Hau. 170, I’ll go and see if he’s at home. Usually with the subjunctive: as, exspectābam, sī quid scrīberēs, Att. 16, 2. 4, I was waiting to see whether you would write anything. circumfunduntur hostēs, sī quem aditum reperīre possent, 6, 37, 4, the enemy came streaming round, to see if they could find any way of getting in.
[Alternative Questions.]
[1778.] Indirect alternative questions are introduced like direct questions ([1519]). But when the second member is negative, it has oftener necne than an nōn: as,
hoc quaerāmus, vērum sit an falsum, Clu. 124, let us ask this question, whether it is true or false. quaesīvī ā Catilīnā in conventū fuisset, necne, C. 2, 13, I asked Catiline whether he had been at the meeting or not. permultum interest utrum perturbātiōne animī, an cōnsultō fīat iniūria, Off. 1, 27, it makes a vast difference whether wrong be done in heat of passion, or with deliberate intent. quaerō, eum Brūtīne similem mālīs an Antōniī, Ph. 10, 5, I ask whether you would rather have him like Brutus or like Antony.
[1779.] An introductory utrum preceding an alternative question with -ne and an occurs a few times in Plautus and Cicero; utrumne . . . an occurs once in Cicero, and twice in Horace and Tacitus each; compare 1522. After utrum, a second alternative is sometimes suppressed, as in the direct question ([1523]).