Subjunctive

The Subjunctive Mood

• The subjunctive mood is a grammatical mood used to express various states of unreality such as doubt, possibility, necessity, or action that had not yet occurred at the time the action was being discussed.
• It’s one of the three different moods a Latin verb can be in, along with indicative and imperative.
• Unlike the other moods, the subjunctive is not about the verb’s tense or the kind of action that the verb describes.

Forming the Subjunctive

• There are specific vowel patterns for forming the subjunctive in different conjugations and tenses.
• The present subjunctive is signified by the vowel change in the stem: -a- in the 1st and 2nd conjugation, -e- in the 3rd, and -ia- in the 3rd -io and 4th conjugation.
  • For example, the present subjunctive of amo (I love) is amem (may I love).
• The imperfect subjunctive is formed by taking the present infinitive form of the verb and adding personal endings.
  • For example, the imperfect subjunctive of amo is amarem (I would love).

Using the Subjunctive

• The subjunctive is used in a wide range of circumstances and constructions.
• In independent clauses, it’s used for jussive (commands) and deliberative (questions) subjunctives.
• In dependent clauses, it’s used for purpose (final) clauses, result clauses, indirect command, indirect questions, and conditions.
• Understanding and identifying the usage of subjunctives can greatly improve Latin translation skills.

Sequence of Tenses and the Subjunctive

• There are rules that govern which tense of the subjunctive should be used in a dependent clause.
• The rule of sequence of tenses determines whether to select present or imperfect subjunctive based on whether the main verb is in a primary or secondary tense.
• The number of past tenses and future tenses in English makes learning the sequence of tenses particularly challenging, but mastering the sequence can lead to significant improvement in translating complex Latin sentences.