Difference between "-que" and "et" when connecting sentences

Felipe Canever

Member

Location:
Araranguá, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Salvēte, omnēs!

I'm trying to figure out what would be the difference between using "-que" and "et" when connecting sentences. For example, in chapter 8 of "Familia Rōmāna", both are used in the same paragraph:

"Albīnus nōn respondet, sed nummōs sūmit Mēdōque ānulum dat. Albīnus pecūniam accipit et Mēdō ānulum vēndit sēstertiīs nōnāgintā."

I think I have a good grasp when it comes to nouns. As a bonus, a discussion on the use of "atque"/"ac", still on the topic of sentences, would also be helpful, but it's not a priority at the moment.

Thanks for reading! Grātiās!
 

Notascooby

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

My understanding is that que combines things which can be considered as a whole such as senatus populusque, igne ferroque etc or where the two sentences are closely connected Et is used where the two sentences are different or not as closely connected. et is also frequently adverbial.

Atque is more emphatic than et "and what's more" etc. Ac is the same as atque but never used before vowels. Ac/atque is also used in comparisons and some set phrases.

My understanding on this is chiefly from Bradley's Arnold. Unfortunately it doesn't take much reading to find examples that do not conform to the above but that's life/Latin.
 

Tlepolemus

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Döderlein (1875):
Et (ἔτι) is the most general copulative particle; que and et—et connect opposites; que (καί), simply because they are opposites, as terra marique; but et—et, in order to point them out emphatically as opposites [and closely connected notions of the same kind], as et terra et mari; whereas ac and atque connect synonymes, atque before vowels and gutturals; ac before the other consonants; as, for example, vir fortis ac strenuus.
 
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