# Need an English to Latin translation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404 "2004-04-05T18:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/1 "2004-04-05T18:50:59Z")
A friend of mine asked me to supply him with a translation, but my command of Latin is beyond rusty. So how best to render to following in a Latinate manner? “You want fries with that?” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/2 "2004-04-05T19:28:06Z")
My Latin is non-existent, so I can’t help you I’m afraid. Instead, I’d like to add a request, in hopes that a latinophone will be along shortly. What’s the plural of the Latin word “Factum”? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/3 "2004-04-05T21:10:56Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > A friend of mine asked me to supply him with a translation, but my command of Latin is beyond rusty. So how best to render to following in a Latinate manner? > > “You want fries with that?” You can’t. The Romans didn’t have potatoes. 😃 Seriously, you need the sense behind the statement as well. If you mean a direct, literal translation, then ‘oles cenare vis?’ probably fits - ‘Do you want to dine on vegetables?’ (I think olus is 2nd declension). You can shorten this to ‘oluum ceneres? - Will you eat vegetables?’ However, if you want to suggest that the person is in or heading for a low-paying job, you need to think laterally - ‘Servus es? Are you a slave?’ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/4 "2004-04-05T21:35:59Z")
Oh, it can be done. It just won’t be idiomatically correct classical (or even medieval) Latin. Henry Beard’s _Latin for All Occasions_ translates French Fries as _solana tuberosa in modo Gallico fricta_. But I’m horrible with my declensions and don’t know whether the case endings are correct for the sentence I want. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/5 "2004-04-07T18:26:20Z")
Bumping this one, as I was boasting to my friend that The Dope was the place to get ANY question answered. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/6 "2004-04-07T19:11:48Z")
There are several ways you could translate it. I’d go with _Optas fricta?_ which means, more or less literally, “Do you opt for the fried things?” If you’re speaking to more than one person, it would be _Optatis fricta?_. I suspect that if any time-travelling ancient Romans ever regularly dined at Mickey-D’s, they would understand what “fried things” were on the menu. They wouldn’t normally order _solana tuberosa in modo Gallico fricta_ (“tuberous nightshades fried in the French manner”) any more than we would normally order “French-fried potatoes” (as opposed to “fries”). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/7 "2004-04-07T19:34:58Z")
Huzzah! Thanks, **bibliophage** for coming through. This place rocks. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/8 "2004-04-07T19:45:10Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > My Latin is non-existent, so I can’t help you I’m afraid. Instead, I’d like to add a request, in hopes that a latinophone will be along shortly. What’s the plural of the Latin word “Factum”? _Facta_ is the plural of the noun _factum_ (a deed, an act) or of the participle _factum_ (having been done or made). Both are derived from the verb _facere_ (“to do” or “to make”). This is probably not what you’re after, but _factum_ is also the accusative supine of _facere_. There is no separate plural form. The supine is a verbal noun that can be translated “to do/make”, “with the intention of doing/making”, “for the purpose of doing/making”, etc., depending on context. ---
**Author:** ![back\_online](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@back\_online](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/back_online)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/9 "2004-04-07T20:30:03Z")
Spanish: ¿usted desea rebanado potatoed cocinado en aceite caliente? French: voulez-vous les pommes de terre coupées en tranches frites avec cela ? This is cool! [You gotta try Babble Fish](http://babel.altavista.com/babelfish/tr) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/10 "2004-04-07T20:42:19Z")
I forgot the -ne enclitic that is normally attatched to the first word of a yes-no question. The correct phrasing is _Optasne fricta?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/11 "2004-04-07T21:02:01Z")
I took the liberty of adding the -ne ending. I also added _cum illo_ at the end. I hope that is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/12 "2004-04-08T03:17:22Z")
Thanks, **bibliophage**. I’ve always used “factum/facta” by analogy to “datum/data”, but didn’t know if it was acceptable. The context is that in Canadian-English law-speak, one’s written submission is called a “factum” instead of a “brief” when appearing before the higher courts (Courts of Appeal, Supreme Court). I can see that being an extension of the “deed” meaning. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/13 "2004-04-08T04:06:17Z")
The second half of **Kizarvexius** sounds Latin. What does it mean? MaryEFoo (the Foo deriving from the programmer’s ‘gotta call it something’ usage) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/14 "2004-04-08T04:17:01Z")
> [@back\_online](#): > > Spanish: ¿usted desea rebanado potatoed cocinado en aceite caliente? > French: voulez-vous les pommes de terre coupées en tranches frites avec cela ? > > This is cool! > [You gotta try Babble Fish](http://babel.altavista.com/babelfish/tr) Um, **back\_online** , you might want to know that online translators are really not the best source for how to say things in another language. You can plug something written in another language in them, to get the gist of it, but if you actually said what popped out to a native speaker, they’d laugh their butts off at you. A Spanish speaker would be more likely to say, “¿Quiere Ud. las papas fritas con eso?” As far as I know, _potatoed_ isn’t a word in any language. Unless you’ve just whooshed me entirely. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/15 "2004-04-08T05:23:26Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > I took the liberty of adding the -ne ending. I also added _cum illo_ at the end. I hope that is correct. That would work, but I might choose the neuter ablative _illa_ instead (with that thing). _Illo_ is masculine or feminine ablative, so it would be appropriate if a masc. or fem. noun were understood, like _cena_ (with the meal). ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/16 "2004-04-08T05:58:19Z")
> [@lillalette](#): > > As far as I know, _potatoed_ isn’t a word in any language. Sure it is. It’s the past particle of “to potato”. Christ in a cream cheese sauce, the linguistic ignorance in this thread amazes me! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/17 "2004-04-08T07:24:48Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > That would work, but I might choose the neuter ablative _illa_ instead (with that thing). _Illo_ is masculine or feminine ablative, so it would be appropriate if a masc. or fem. noun were understood, like _cena_ (with the meal). Aargh. With all the mistakes I’ve made in this thread, I should give up my license to practice Latin. _Illo_ is masculine or neuter, _illa_ is feminine. The best choice I think is _Optasne fricta cum illo?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-an-english-to-latin-translation/238404/18 "2004-04-08T14:47:19Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > The second half of **Kizarvexius** sounds Latin. What does it mean? > > MaryEFoo (the Foo deriving from the programmer’s ‘gotta call it something’ usage) Not a thing, as far as I know. It’s a name of a dragon in a comic strip called _SnarfQuest_ that used to appear in _Dragon_ Magazine back in the 80s. Something of an inside joke among my circle of friends, it’s been my nickname for many years.