Salvēte, sodālēs.
People stopped saying whom in the 1820’s. I don’t mean, of course, that nobody ever says whom any more, just that that was when it began falling out of fashion. Before the 1820’s, who and whom were as common as he and him, I and me, they and them. And just like those other pairs, who was the subject and whom the object.
Last lesson we saw that quī and quae are the masculine and feminine forms of who. Similarly, quem and quam are the masculine and feminine forms of whom.
Let’s look at some sample sentences.
Quis est vir quem Quīntus vocat. Vir quem Quīntus vocat est Iūlius . Who is the man whom Quintus is calling? The man whom Quintus is calling is Julius.
Quae est fēmina quam Iūlia vocat? Fēmina quam Iūlia vocat est Aemilia. Who is the woman whom Julia is calling? The woman whom Julia is calling is Aemilia.
Quis est puer quem Quīntus videt? Puer quem Quīntus videt est Mārcus. Who is the boy whom Quintus sees? The boy whom Quintus sees is Marcus.
Quae est puella quam Marcus audit? Puella quam Marcus audit est Iūlia. Who is the girl whom Marcus hears? The girl whom Marcus hears is Julia.
Like whom, quem and quam can also start a question at the beginning of a sentence. In today’s reading you will see;
Quem vocat Quīntus? Quīntus Iūlium vocat. Whom does Quintus call? Quintus calls Julius.
Now READ lines 72-82. Congratulations. You have reached the end of Capitulum Tertium.
The final sentence of Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, Capitulum Tertium, page 23.