How can I say "I am hungry." in Latin? Suggestions:
Sum esuriens.
Habeo fames.
Habeo inedia.
Esurio.
And what about "I am thirsty."?
Context: I study alone Latin.
Thank you.
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3Hey, it's very good that you have come up with several possible translations. What would be even better is if you could add your thoughts to those translations: how do you feel about them, or what are you uncertain about? – Cerberus Dec 06 '21 at 05:05
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In some languages people say "I am hungry." while in some other ones people say "I have hunger.". In Latin there is even a verb - in sentence 4). – Jan Dec 06 '21 at 06:05
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You can probably find various ways to express your degree of hunger using fames; for example, you could say fame laboro (I am suffering from hunger), but that seems rather dramatic. Your suggestions habeo fames and habeo inedia are grammatically wrong; it should be the accusative famem/inediam. And inedia does not mean "hunger," but "fasting," so it seems not very fitting. In any event, both expressions do not seem idiomatic to me.
For simply saying "I'm hungry," esurio seems the most straightforward way.
See for example this dialogue (from Plautus: Casina, 3,6):
Ly. Quid fit?
Ol. Tu amas; ego esurio et sitio.Ly. What's up?
Ol. You are in love; I am hungry and thirsty.
Which also answers the question how to say "I'm thirsty." But remember: Qui amat, tamen hercle si esurit, nullum esurit (he who loves, by God, he won't go hungry, even if he's hungry).
Sebastian Koppehel
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