Question words are Latin interrogatives (quis, quid, cur, ubi, quando, quomodo, num, -ne, and others) that introduce questions; when one of these words opens a clause whose verb is subjunctive, that clause is an indirect question, a core construction tested in AP Latin (LO 5.4.D).
Question words are the Latin words that ask for information. The big ones are quis/quid (who/what), cur (why), ubi (where), unde (from where), quo (to where), quando (when), quomodo (how), qualis (what kind), quantus (how great), plus the yes/no signals -ne, num, and nonne. In a direct question, they work just like English question words and the verb stays indicative. So far, so easy.
The AP-critical move happens when a question gets folded inside another sentence. The CED's essential knowledge for LO 5.4.D states it plainly. Clauses introduced by question words and having verbs in the subjunctive mood are called indirect questions. Compare cur venit? ("Why is he coming?") with rogat cur veniat ("He asks why he is coming"). Same question word, but now the verb flips to subjunctive because the question is being reported, not asked. When you spot a question word mid-sentence followed by a subjunctive, you've found an indirect question, and you should translate it as a normal statement-style clause in English ("he asks why he is coming," not "he asks why is he coming?").
This term lives in Unit 5 (Vergil's Aeneid), specifically Topic 5.4, where the CED makes indirect questions explicit essential knowledge under LO 5.4.D (describe how Latin verbs and verbals function in context). It also feeds LO 5.4.A and 5.4.B, since you can't define or translate a clause correctly if you misread its question word. Practically, question words are one of your fastest grammar diagnostics. The moment you see quis, cur, or num inside a sentence, you know to check the mood of the next verb. Indicative means a direct question; subjunctive means an indirect question. That one check fixes a huge number of translation errors on sight passages and on the literal-translation free response, where mood errors cost points.
Keep studying AP Latin Unit SL2Apodi9BqlvQoqDkdk
Infinitive (Unit 5)
Indirect statement and indirect question are the two big ways Latin reports speech, and they use opposite machinery. Indirect statement takes accusative plus infinitive (dicit eum venire, "he says that he is coming"), while indirect question takes a question word plus subjunctive (rogat cur veniat). The question word is your tiebreaker. If one is present, expect subjunctive, not infinitive.
Imperative Mood (Unit 5)
There's a clean pattern here. Direct commands use the imperative, and direct questions use question words with the indicative. Fold either one inside another verb of speaking or asking and the verb goes subjunctive. Commands become ut-clauses, questions keep their question word. Once you see reported speech as one system, both constructions get easier.
Perfect Tense (Unit 5)
The tense of the subjunctive inside an indirect question tells you the time of the original question. A perfect subjunctive (rogat cur venerit, "he asks why he came") reports something that happened before the asking. Reading tense correctly inside these clauses is exactly the kind of verb-function analysis LO 5.4.D asks for.
Latinus (Unit 5)
Topic 5.4, where this essential knowledge appears, opens with King Latinus and the omens surrounding his daughter Lavinia. Vergil's narrative is full of characters seeking answers from fate and the gods, so reported questions and their grammar show up naturally in the required Aeneid readings.
Question words get tested two ways. In multiple choice, a stem might quote a clause from the sight or required passage and ask you to identify the construction, where "indirect question" is the answer precisely because a question word introduces a subjunctive verb. In the free response, literal translation passages punish you if you translate an indirect question as a direct one or botch the subjunctive's tense. No released FRQ uses the phrase "question words" verbatim, but the construction they trigger, the indirect question, is named directly in the CED's essential knowledge for LO 5.4.D, which makes it fair game anywhere a Latin passage appears. Your job on test day is concrete. Spot the question word, check the mood, and if it's subjunctive, translate the clause as reported speech with normal English word order.
The interrogative quis/quid and the relative qui/quae/quod look nearly identical and share most of their forms. The difference is the job. A question word asks for information and points forward ("who is coming?"), while a relative pronoun points backward to an antecedent already in the sentence ("the man who is coming"). Quick test. If there's a noun earlier in the sentence that the pronoun agrees with in gender and number, it's relative. If the clause is answering a verb of asking, knowing, or wondering and the verb is subjunctive, you're looking at a question word starting an indirect question.
Question words are Latin interrogatives like quis, quid, cur, ubi, quando, quomodo, num, nonne, and the suffix -ne.
A clause introduced by a question word with a subjunctive verb is an indirect question, which is stated explicitly in the AP Latin CED under LO 5.4.D.
Direct questions keep the indicative; only reported (indirect) questions flip the verb to the subjunctive.
Translate indirect questions with normal English statement word order, so rogat cur veniat becomes "he asks why he is coming."
Indirect questions use question word plus subjunctive, while indirect statements use accusative plus infinitive, and the presence of a question word tells you which one you have.
The tense of the subjunctive (present versus perfect) tells you whether the reported question happened at the same time as, or before, the main verb.
They're the Latin interrogatives that introduce questions: quis/quid (who/what), cur (why), ubi (where), unde (from where), quo (to where), quando (when), quomodo (how), qualis (what kind), quantus (how great), plus the yes/no markers -ne, num, and nonne. They matter most on the exam because they trigger indirect questions.
No. Indirect questions use the subjunctive, never the infinitive. The CED states that clauses introduced by question words with subjunctive verbs are indirect questions, while accusative plus infinitive is reserved for indirect statement (reported declarative sentences).
Quis/quid is the interrogative pronoun and asks a question ("who? what?"), while qui/quae/quod is the relative pronoun and refers back to an antecedent ("who, which, that"). If the pronoun agrees with an earlier noun, it's relative; if it's asking for information or starting an indirect question after a verb of asking or knowing, it's interrogative.
In direct questions, -ne is neutral, nonne expects a yes answer, and num expects a no answer. Inside an indirect question, num and -ne both just mean "whether," so rogat num venerit means "he asks whether he came."
Keep the question word, then translate the clause in normal English statement order, not question order. So rogat cur veniat is "he asks why he is coming," never "he asks why is he coming?" Also match the subjunctive's tense: a perfect subjunctive means the action happened before the main verb.