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Subjunctives

The Subjunctive is one of the three different moods a Latin verb can take. The two other moods are the Indicative and the Imperative. The subjunctive is perhaps the most common and also most difficult to grasp, and there is a great number of different subjunctive uses.

The subjunctive mainly expresses doubt or potential and so is called 'jussive,' which is from 'iubere' - to command, bid. Whereas the indicative declares "this happened" or "that happened," the subjunctive expresses what could have been or what could be.

Example: "Let me go" and "May I go?" are statements of potential; the speaker is not entirely certain his/her command will be followed. Example: "Were I a king, I would have a golden toilet" expresses what could be but in fact, what is not. Speaker is not a king, and so will not get the toilet. Example: "Fortune be with you" expresses the hope/potential that Fortune will favor you. The unstated but essential word here is 'may' - "[May] Fortune be with you."

"If this were to happen," or "May this happen!" or "I ask you to make this happen" are all possible uses of the subjunctive.

There are four subjunctives: present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect. There are no subjunctives in the future tense, which already incorporate an element of doubt.

The Present Subjunctive

The present subjunctive is similar to the present indicative, except marked by a change of the theme vowel.

present stem + theme vowel change + ending

Form

In the present subjunctive, the theme vowel for every conjugation changes; in effect, the first conjugation masquerades as the second conjugation and all the other conjugations take on the appearance of the first.

Some ways to remember this are:

We beat a liar.

We beat all liars.

We eat a friar

Never Fear a Liar

Let's eat caviar.

She wears a diamond.

We eat caviar

We Fear a liar

She Wears a tiara

We beat a giant.

She reads a diary.

She wears a diamond tiara.

Let's beat that giant.

Few Fear Fat Friars.

Her Breasts are giant.

Clem Steams Clams in Siam

Example Conjugation

porto, portare, portavi, portatum (1st conjugation - to carry)

Present Indicative

This is the present active indicative form of portare.

Present Subjunctive

The present active subjunctive of portare would be conjugated as follows:

Present Subjunctive, Sum

The present active subjunctive of sum, the verb to be, is conjugated as follows:

Imperfect Subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by adding the personal endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt to the present infinitive (or second principal part). In other words, for

voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum

The imperfect subjunctives are formed thus:

For deponent verbs, whose second principal part is the passive infinitive (e.g., noli, pati) a pseudo present infinitive is used (e.g, nolere)

The imperfect subjunctive of the verb to be (sum, esse) is conjugated regularly, as follows:

Uses of the Subjunctive

Verbs in the subjunctive mood may assume special meaning in specific constructions.

Volitive Clauses

Subjunctives in independent clauses are often translated as volitive. Volitives show an intention for an action to occur; e.g. "amet" may be translated in volitive context as "may he love," or equally "let him love."

Hortatory

The volitive in first person(most often plural); e.g. "cedam" as an hortatory subjunctive is "may I depart."

Jussive

The volitive in second or third person; e.g. "canat" as a jussive subjunctive is "let her sing."

Purpose Clauses

A purpose clause is a dependent clause used, of course, to show purpose. Often initiated by an indicative verb, the clause contains a subjunctive verb in either the present or imperfect tense. Present and imperfect verbs in purpose clauses should be translated with the auxiliary verbs "may" and "might," respectively. For example, "Marcus urbem condidit ut regeret" should be translated as "Marcus built the city so that he might rule."these appear frequently in latin.