# Question for people who know Latin.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337 "2004-07-03T04:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/1 "2004-07-03T04:06:00Z")
I have a friend who is getting a tattoo and she wants to get a latin phrase around it. We’ve found conflicting sites about it and neither of us knows latin… so question. Is the phrase properly “Eram quod des eris quod sum” or “Eram quo des eris quo sum” English translation of course is “I was what you are, you will be what I am” It would be greatly appreciated if the teeming millions could help. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/2 "2004-07-03T04:36:46Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > I have a friend who is getting a tattoo and she wants to get a latin phrase around it. We’ve found conflicting sites about it and neither of us knows latin… so question. > > Is the phrase properly “Eram quod des eris quod sum” or “Eram quo des eris quo sum” > > English translation of course is “I was what you are, you will be what I am” > > It would be greatly appreciated if the teeming millions could help. I think you want ‘quod’ there for the accusative… What is ‘des’? I wonder if it would work as ‘Eram sic esque eris ita sum’ (I was as you are, you will be as I am)? Just musing… ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/3 "2004-07-03T04:39:53Z")
I would say quod, the accusative case. Though I think you want es rather than des. Es is the second person singular of the verb to be. I dunno what des is. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/4 "2004-07-03T05:01:11Z")
I can’t think of a construction where you’d want the non-nominative (since _esse_, IIRC, takes the nominative) for _quod_ there. Then again, it has been something like six years since I took a non-remedial latin class. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/5 "2004-07-03T05:23:27Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > I can’t think of a construction where you’d want the non-nominative (since _esse_, IIRC, takes the nominative) for _quod_ there. Then again, it has been something like six years since I took a non-remedial latin class. :smack: Yes, if you chose to keep the ‘quod’ it _would_ be nominative! Thanks! So, depending on if the ‘I’ is a girl, speaking to a boy, it would be Eram quis esque eris quae sum Boy to a girl: Eram quae esque eris quis sum Two boys: Eram quis esque eris quis sum Two girls: Eram quae esque eris quae sum 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/6 "2004-07-03T05:28:51Z")
Um yeah, what she said. Nominative, that’s what I meant. :smack: I actually did that all the time when I was actually studying Latin. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/7 "2004-07-03T05:39:04Z")
> [@Ms Boods](#): > > So, depending on if the ‘I’ is a girl, speaking to a boy, it would be… Thing is, all we know is that it’s a girl speaking to someone or someones. It’s beyond my recollection whether or not there is a word that would work (be in the same form etc.) for a singular boy as well as, for example, plural girls. I suppose you could make it a plural masculine, since IIRC according to Latin rules of grammar if you were talking to a crowd of 10K and one of the people was male, the endings used were masculine (I might just be thinking of French, where I’m more than reasonably certain that this is the case). You would then be using, assuming you’d go with this plan, the nominative plural for _qui_ (I want to say it’s _quis_, but don’t hold me to that) and the plural verb for for “you will be” but the nominative singular of quae. This is of course assuming in the first place that “what I am” has specific gender and needs to be that gender rather than the neutral _quod_. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/8 "2004-07-03T05:47:50Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > Thing is, all we know is that it’s a girl speaking to someone or someones. I didn’t actually…sorry, Flutterby! 🙂 But I was also powerless not to ring through all the changes. > [@](#): > > It’s beyond my recollection whether or not there is a word that would work (be in the same form etc.) for a singular boy as well as, for example, plural girls. I suppose you could make it a plural masculine, since IIRC according to Latin rules of grammar if you were talking to a crowd of 10K and one of the people was male, the endings used were masculine (I might just be thinking of French, where I’m more than reasonably certain that this is the case). You would then be using, assuming you’d go with this plan, the nominative plural for _qui_ (I want to say it’s _quis_, but don’t hold me to that) and the plural verb for for “you will be” but the nominative singular of quae. I thought it was one person speaking only to another. For ‘you’ plural substitute estis for es, and eritis for eris The plural for quis (masc sing) is ‘qui’ if you are addressing both a crowd of men, or the world in general. Romani ite domum. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/9 "2004-07-03T06:11:42Z")
What horrible Latin! Try Ut es, eram; utque eris, sum. But I really don’t like the use of esse. Is the quote referring to the way the subject dresses, lives, eats, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/10 "2004-07-03T06:18:21Z")
> [@qts](#): > > What horrible Latin! As a mediaevalist, I’ll take that as a compliment! 😃 ---
**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:** [July 3, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/11 "2004-07-03T07:22:25Z")
> [@Ms Boods](#): > > As a mediaevalist, I’ll take that as a compliment! 😃 Alas, I was responding to the OP, not you. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/12 "2004-07-03T14:09:41Z")
> [@qts](#): > > Alas, I was responding to the OP, not you. ☹ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/13 "2004-07-03T19:34:42Z")
It’s translated from a gravestone apparently I was alive, you’ll end up dead too essentially ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-know-latin/253337/14 "2004-07-04T07:14:17Z")
from [http://www.geocities.com/bwduncan/cqd201.txt](http://www.geocities.com/bwduncan/cqd201.txt) Translate this Latin epitaph: Quod eram, tu es. Quod sum, tu eris. Ans: WHAT I WAS, YOU ARE. WHAT I AM, YOU WILL BE. from [http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/latinmottoes2.html](http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/latinmottoes2.html) Quod Sum Eris “I am what you will be,” a motto for a gravestone You really don’t need the pronouns. My guess: “Quod eram es. Quod sum eris.”