Main tenses

The main Latin tenses can be put in a table as follows:^[7]

The infectum tenses usually refer to events which are or were in progress, or which have not yet happened, while perfectum tenses describe events which have happened already or which will have happened at some future time.

Substituting the verb dūcō 'I lead' in the table gives the following forms:

To these must be added three participles, present participle (dūcēns), future participle (ductūrus), and perfect participle (ductus), a gerundive (dūcendus), and two imperative tenses, present (dūc!) and future (dūcitō!).

In verbs such as dūcō, the future indicative and present subjunctive are the same in the 1st person singular (dūcam), but differ in the other persons. Other verbs, such as amō 'I love', form the future in a different way:

Shortened forms, such as amāsse and amāssem, are frequently found.

The verb sum 'I am' is exceptional, since it has a future infinitive fore, which makes an additional subjunctive, forem (described below):

Passive and deponent verbs

Passive and deponent verbs are constructed as follows. The perfect tenses are made using the perfect participle of the verb together with part of the verb sum 'I am'. There are two forms of the perfectum tenses. In the classical period, ductus sum is much more usual than ductus fuī, but the latter gradually became more common:

Deponent verbs such as loquor, locūtus sum 'I speak, I spoke' form their tenses in the same way as the above, but the meaning is not passive.

The difference between the two sets of perfect tenses is sometimes one of time, the second set referring to an earlier time than the first, as in this example from Caesar which contains both kinds:

pōns, quī fuerat tempestāte interruptus, paene erat refectus^[8]

'the bridge, which earlier on had been broken by a storm, had now almost been rebuilt'

Ductum habeō

Another set of tenses can be made with habeō combined with a perfect participle, e.g. ductum habeō 'I have led'. These, rare at first, gradually became the regular way of forming the perfect tense in some Romance languages:

The participle part of the tense changes according to gender and number (ductam, ductos, ductās, ducta).

The following example comes from the de Bello Hispaniensi, believed to have been written by one of Julius Caesar's cavalry officers:

in montibus castra habuit posita Pompeius in cōnspectū utrōrumque oppidōrum^[9]

'Pompeius had placed a camp in the mountains within sight of both towns'

Ductūrus sum

Another set of tenses can be formed periphrastically with the future participle combined with different tenses of the verb 'to be', as follows:

An example of the perfect subjunctive of this set is the following from the historian Livy:

dīc agedum, Appī Claudī, quidnam factūrus fuerīs, sī eō tempore cēnsor fuissēs?^[10]

'tell us, Appius Claudius, what exactly you would have done, if you had been censor at that time?'

A similar set of tenses can be constructed using the gerundive, for example dūcendus sum 'I am needing to be led'.

Forem

The verb sum has a future infinitive fore (equivalent to futūrum esse), allowing the possibility of an imperfect subjunctive with future reference forem, and compound tenses such as ductus forem and ductūrus forem. These tenses are often used in conditional clauses. The following example is from Livy:

obsessaque urbs foret, nī Horātius cōnsul esset revocātus^[11]

'and the city would have been besieged, if the consul Horatius had not been recalled'

Faxō, faxim

Finally mention should also be made of the archaic future (or future perfect) tense made with -s-, found in certain verbs such as faxō, together with a corresponding subjunctive ending in -sim (e.g. faxim). An example of the indicative is iussō in the following line from Virgil's Aeneid, which Seneca informs us has the same meaning as iusserō:

cētera, quā iussō, mēcum manus īnferat arma^[12]

'the rest of the group should bring their weapons with me, where I shall have ordered.'

An example of the subjunctive of this tense is ausim in the preface to Livy's history:

nec satis scio nec, sī sciam, dīcere ausim^[13]

'I do not know sufficiently, nor, if I knew, would I venture to say'

Present meaning

There is no distinction of aspect in the present tense: faciō can mean 'I do (now)', 'I do (regularly), or 'I am doing'; that is, it can be perfective, habitual, or progressive in aspect.

Current situation

The present tense can refer to a current situation:

senātus haec intellegit; cōnsul videt; hic tamen vīvit (Cicero)^[14]

'the Senate understands this; the Consul sees it; yet this man is still alive'

tū fortasse vērum dīcis (Cicero)^[15]

'perhaps you are telling the truth'

ubi nunc fīlius meus habitāt? (Plautus)^[16]

'where is my son living currently?'

unde īs? quid fers? quid festīnās? (Plautus)^[17]

'where are you coming from? what are you carrying? what are you hurrying for?'

Habitual meaning

The present tense can also be used for habitual actions:

haec egō patior cōtidie (Cicero)^[18]

'I suffer these things every day'

General truths

The present, as in English, can also describe a general truth:^[19]

sōlēs occidere et redīre possunt (Catullus)^[20]

'suns can set and return again'

Perfective present

It can also be used performatively to describe an event which takes place at the moment of speaking or immediately after it:

veniō nunc ad Dorylēnsium testimōnium (Cicero)^[21]

'I come (I'll come) now to the testimony of the Dorylensians'

Perfect continuous meaning

The present can sometimes mean 'has been doing', referring to a situation that started in the past and is still continuing. In some sentences a length of time is given and the adverb iam 'now' is added:^[22]

is Lilybaeī multōs iam annōs habitat (Cicero)^[23]

'he has been living in Lilybaeum for many years now'

sex mēnsēs iam hīc nēmō habitat (Plautus)^[24]

'no one has been living here for six months now'

cīvis Rōmānus iam diū est (Cicero)^[25]

'he has been a Roman citizen for a long time now'

The present tense can also be used in this meaning when combined with a temporal clause using postquam:^[26]

tremō horreōque postquam aspexī hanc (Terence)^[27]

'I've been trembling and shivering ever since I caught sight of her'

Sometimes the postquam clause itself has the present tense:

postquam meus est, nullā mē paelice laesit (Martial)^[28]

'ever since he has been (lit. 'is') mine, he has never harmed me with a mistress'

plānē relēgātus mihī videor posteā quam in Formiānō sum (Cicero)^[29]

'I've been feeling completely out of touch ever since I've been in Formiae'

Another idiom is the following using the conjunction cum:^[30]

multī annī sunt cum in aere meō est (Cicero)^[31]

'he has owed me money for many years now' (lit. 'there are many years that he is in my bronze')

Historic present

The present tense is often used in narrative in a historic sense, referring to a past event, especially when the writer is describing an exciting moment in the story. This is known as the 'historic present':

videt imminēre hostēs ... capit arma ā proximīs ... (Caesar)^[32]

'he sees the enemy threatening ... he immediately seizes weapons from those next to him ...'

According to Pinkster, the historic present is the most frequent tense used in narrative in both prose and poetry.^[19]

In Caesar when a verb is placed initially in the sentence, as in the first example above (videt imminēre hostēs), it is very frequently in the present tense.^[33]

Another situation where the use of the historic present is frequent is in utterance verbs, such as fidem dant 'they give a pledge' or ōrant 'they beg'. More than half the historic presents in Caesar are of this kind.^[34]

In biographical writing, however, the perfect is used much more often than the present.^[35]

Historic present with imperfect meaning

The present tense can replace not only the perfect tense, but also the imperfect tense:^[36]

tōtīs trepidātur castrīs (Caesar)^[37]

'in the whole camp there is panic' (i.e. people were panicking)

After dum

After dum 'while', the present indicative also has the meaning of an imperfect tense:

dumque fugit, tergō vēlāmina lāpsa relīquit (Ovid)^[38]

'while she was fleeing, her cloak (vēlāmina) slipped from her back (tergō) and she left it behind'

Potential meaning

Another idiom that can be mentioned is the phrase longum est, which means 'it would take a long time' or 'it would be tedious'. It is frequently used by Cicero as well as other writers:^[39]

longum est omnia ēnumerāre proelia (Nepos)^[40]

'it would be tedious to recount all the battles'

Formation

The future perfect active originally had a short -i-, while the perfect subjunctive had a long -ī-, but by the time of Cicero the two forms had become confused. It seems that Catullus and Cicero usually pronounced the future perfect with a long ī.^[162] Virgil has a short i for both tenses; Horace uses both forms for both tenses; Ovid uses both forms for the future perfect, but a long i in the perfect subjunctive.^[163]

• 1st conjugation: amāverō (-erō, -eris/erīs, -erit, -erimus/erīmus, -eritis/-erītis, -ērint)
• 2nd conjugation: vīderō
• 3rd conjugation (-ō): dūxerō
• 3rd conjugation (-iō): cēperō
• 4th conjugation: audīverō/audierō

Irregular verbs:

• 'I give': dederō
• 'I bear': tulerō
• 'I go': ierō (rarely īverō)
• 'I want': voluerō
• 'I am': fuerō
• 'I am able': potuerō

Passive and deponent verbs

• 1st conjugation: amātus erō (rarely amātus fuerō)
• 2nd conjugation: vīsus erō (vīsus fuerō)
• 3rd conjugation (-ō): ductus erō (ductus fuerō)
• 3rd conjugation (-iō): captus erō (captus fuerō)
• 4th conjugation: audītus erō (auditus fuerō)

Independent use

The future perfect is usually used in a sentence with sī 'if' or cum 'when' referring to future time, but it can sometimes be used on its own, as in the following sentences where it follows an imperative:

nōn sedeō istīc, vōs sedēte; ego sēderō in subselliō (Plautus)^[164]

'I'm not sitting there; you sit there, I'll sit on the bench.'

Pompōnia, tū invītā mulierēs, egō virōs accīverō (Cicero)^[165]

'Pomponia, you invite the women, and (meanwhile) I will have summoned the men'

In the following passage with a future perfect is the call of Julius Caesar's eagle-bearer to his men when their boat reached the shore of Britain in 55 BC:

'dēsilite', inquit, 'mīlitēs, nisī vultis aquilam hostibus prōdere; egō certē meum reī pūblicae atque imperātōrī officium praestiterō (Caesar)^[166]

'Jump down, soldiers,' he said, 'unless you want to betray the eagle to the enemy. I will certainly have done my own duty for the republic and the commander!'

Sometimes both halves of a sentence (main clause and subordinate) can have the future perfect:^[167]

quī Antōnium oppresserit, is bellum cōnfēcerit (Cicero)^[168]

'whoever will have crushed (i.e. crushes) Antony, will have finished the war'

satis erit dictum, si hoc ūnum adiūnxerō (Nepos)^[169]

'enough will have been said, if I add this one thing'

There is also an idiom using the future perfect of videō, where the future perfect is almost equivalent to a command:^[167]

vōs vīderītis quod illī dēbeātur (Livy)^[170]

'you must see to it what is due to that man'

In temporal and conditional clauses

More frequently the future perfect tense is found after sī 'if' or cum 'when' in clauses referring to a future time. In such sentences English uses the present tense:^[171][138]

moriēre, sī ēmīserīs vōcem! (Livy)^[172]

'you will die, if you utter a sound!' (lit. 'if you will have uttered')

dein, cum mīlia multa fēcerīmus, conturbābimus illa (Catullus)^[173]

'then, when we have made many thousands (of kisses), we will muddle up the accounts'

sī quid acciderit, tē certiōrem faciam statim (Cicero)^[174]

'if anything happens, I'll let you know at once'

sī profectus erit, faciam tē certiōrem (Cicero)^[175]

'if he sets out (lit. will be having set out), I will let you know'

ut sēmentum fēcerīs, ita metēs (Cicero)^[176]

'as you sow (lit. will have sown), so shall you reap'

Future perfect of meminī and ōdī

The future perfect of meminī and ōdī has a simple future meaning:

meminerō, dē istōc quiētus estō (Plautus)^[177]

'I'll remember, don't worry about that'

ōdī hominem et ōderō (Cicero)^[178]

'I hate the man, and I always will'

Archaic future perfect (faxō, amāssō)

An ancient future or future perfect is sometimes found in early Latin ending in -sō: faxō, capsō, iūssō, amāssō, occepsō.^[85][179] The form faxō is often found in Plautus and Terence. It means something like 'I will make sure' or 'assuredly'. In Plautus it is often followed by a future indicative:

faxō iam sciēs (Plautus)^[180]

'assuredly you will know now'

But it can also be followed by a present subjunctive:

faxō ut sciās (Plautus)^[181]

'I will see to it that you know'

The 2nd person ends in -is. The metre in the following example (a repeated u u – u –) shows that the -i- is short in the indicative, whereas the subjunctive has a long -i-:^[182]

si effexis hoc, soleās tibī dabō, et ānulum in digitō aureum (Plautus)^[183]

'if you manage this, I'll give you some slippers, and a gold ring on your finger'

Apart from faxō the tense is rarely used in later Latin; but iussō occurs in Virgil:

cētera, quā iussō, mēcum manus īnferat arma (Virgil)^[184]

'the rest of the group should come with me and bring their weapons where I shall have ordered'

Quoting the above line, Seneca comments that iussō is equivalent to a future perfect:

dīcēbant antīquī "sī iussō", id est "iusserō" (Seneca)^[185]

'people in the old days used to say sī iussō, that is, iusserō'

According to Lindsay, this tense ending in -sō corresponds to the Greek future tense ending in -σω.^[186] It is connected with the subjunctive ending in -sim and the future infinitive in -āssere, described below.

Ductus fuī

The perfect passive or deponent tense with fuī in some cases refers to an earlier time than the time of another event mentioned. Woodcock quotes the following example:^[209]

prior nātus fuit Sophoclēs quam Eurīpidēs (Gellius)^[211]

'Sophocles was born before Euripides (was born)'

In the following examples, the double perfect refers to a situation which existed a long time earlier, before Ovid was exiled:

mōvit amīcitiae tum tē cōnstantia longae, ante tuōs ortūs quae mihi coepta fuit (Ovid)^[212]

'you were moved at that time by the constancy of a long friendship, which began for me even before you were born'

utque fuī solitus, sēdissem forsitan ūnus dē centum iūdex in tua verba virīs (Ovid)^[213]

'and as I was once accustomed (before I was exiled), I would perhaps have sat, one of a hundred men, as a judge of your words'

However, according to de Melo^[214] it is not always possible to tell from the context whether the tense with fuī refers to an anterior time or is merely a stylistic variation of an ordinary perfect passive. He contrasts the following two sentences, the first of which is made with sum and refers to a very recent time; the second is made with fuī and may refer to a time earlier than the following verb but this is not certain (the speaker goes on to say that after sailing to Egypt he sailed round the most distant coasts, ōrās ultimās sum circumvectus):

vectus hūc sum; etiam nunc nauseō (Plautus)^[215]

'I came here on a boat; I am still feeling seasick'

in Aegyptum hīnc vectus fuī (Plautus)^[216]

'I (originally) sailed from here to Egypt'

In the following examples, both from the same scene, the meaning of the double perfect seems to be the same as an ordinary perfect:

quod fuī iūrātus, fēcī (Plautus)^[217]

'what I swore that I would do, I have done'

quod mandāstī, fēcī (Plautus)^[218]

'what you ordered, I have done'

Similarly, the following two examples use different tenses, although the context is very similar and the meaning is the same:

est quod domī dīcere paene fuī oblītus (Plautus)^[219]

'there's something which I almost forgot to say (earlier) in the house (i.e. before we left the house)'

oblītus intus dūdum tibi sum dīcere (Plautus)^[220]

'I forgot to tell you when we were inside just now'

There is a difference, however, since only the sum form can be used in sentences like the following where the verb has a present perfect meaning:

nesciõ ... oblītus sum omnia (Plautus)^[221]

'I don't know ... I've forgotten everything'

In some cases, the perfect participle accompanied by fuī is merely adjectival, and does not describe any particular event. Thus in the following example, according to the 19th-century grammarian Madvig,^[222] the words clausus fuit do not describe an event but the state in which the temple of Janus was in:

bis deinde post Numae regnum clausus fuit (Livy)^[223]

'since Numa's reign the temple of Janus has been in a closed state only twice'

The perfect indicative with fuī is not used by Cicero except in the following example,^[224] where the participles are adjectival. It refers to a previous situation which has now changed:

omnia ferē, quae sunt conclūsa nunc artibus, dispersa et dissipāta quondam fuērunt (Cicero)^[225]

'almost all the things which have now been included in the Arts were once dispersed and scattered'

Often, especially from the Augustan period onwards, this tense had no particular anterior meaning but was a mere variation of the perfect passive with sum. De Melo cites the following example, where the second verb is obviously not anterior to the first:

pictūrae excīsae inclūsae sunt in ligneīs fōrmīs et in comitium ... fuērunt allātae (Vitruvius)^[226]

'the pictures having been cut out were packed in wooden crates and were brought into the comitium'

In the Vulgate Bible (4th century A.D.), just as with Cicero, the perfect indicative with fuī is only very rarely used compared with the other double tenses. An example is the following:

neque ausus fuit quisquam ex illā diē eum amplius interrogāre^[227]

'and after that day no one dared to ask him any questions any more'

Ductus fuerō

The following example, quoted by Woodcock, contrasts the two passive future perfect tenses. There is a clear difference in time between the two verbs:

quod tibī fuerit persuāsum, huīc erit persuāsum (Cicero)^[228]

'whatever has (first) proved acceptable to you will be acceptable to him'

Ductus fueram

In the following examples, a distinction is made between an earlier situation, expressed by the pluperfect with fuerat, and a later situation, expressed by the ordinary pluperfect with erat:^[229]

pōns, quī fuerat tempestāte interruptus, paene erat refectus (Caesar)^[230]

'the bridge, which earlier on had been broken by a storm, had now almost been rebuilt'

frūmenta enim, quae fuerant intrā mūnītiōnēs sata, consūmpserant (Caesar)^[231]

'for by this time they had used up the corn which had earlier been sown inside the defence walls

tumultus quidem Gallicus et Ligustīnus, quī prīncipiō eius annī exortus fuerat, haud magnō cōnātū brevī oppressus erat (Livy)^[232]

'indeed a rebellion in Gaul and Liguria, which had arisen earlier on at the beginning of that year, had soon been suppressed without much effort'

nec enim adhūc exciderat cocus ille, qui oblītus fuerat porcum exinterare (Petronius)^[233]

'nor had that cook yet slipped my mind, who had earlier on forgotten to gut the piglet'

In the following examples, the pluperfect with fuerat is used similarly to refer to an earlier situation which later changed, while the later situation is expressed by the perfect tense:

arma quae fīxa in pariētibus fuerant, ea sunt humī inventa (Cicero)^[234]

'the weapons which had (previously) been fixed on the walls were found on the ground'

parte alterā pugnae Paulus, quamquam prīmō statim proeliō fundā graviter ictus fuerat, tamen occurrit saepe cum cōnfertīs Hannibalī (Livy)^[235]

'in the second half of the fight, Paulus, although (earlier on) right at the beginning of the battle he had been seriously wounded by a sling-shot, nonetheless several times went on to attack Hannibal, with his soldiers in close formation'

quod Īdibus fuerat dictum dē agrō Campānō āctum īrī, nōn est āctum (Cicero)^[236]

'as for what had been said (earlier) on the Ides that a debate would be held on the Campanian farmland, in the end it didn't take place'

The following example looks back to a conversation which had taken place at an earlier time and in another place:

ex quō ego vēnī ad ea quae fuerāmus ego et tū inter nōs dē sorōre in Tusculānō locūtī (Cicero)^[18]

'after this I came to those things which (earlier on) you and I had spoken about together in my Tusculan villa concerning your sister'

The following refers to a time in the distant past:

domō eādem fuit contentus, quā Eurysthenēs, prōgenitor maiōrum suōrum, fuerat ūsus (Nepos)^[237]

'he was content to live in the same house that Eurysthenes, the forefather of his ancestors, had once used'

Usually with this tense it is unnecessary to add an adverb meaning 'earlier', since it is implied in the tense, but in the following it is made explicit with the words superiōre tempore:

vultū atque sermōne quō superiōre tempore ūsus fuerat dum dormītum īsset, ferrum intrō clam in cubiculum tulit atque ita sē trāiēcit ([Caesar])^[238]

'and with the same facial expression and manner of speech which he had been accustomed to use previously whenever he went to bed, he secretly took a sword into his bedroom and stabbed himself with it'

In the following the meaning 'previously' or 'earlier on' is not explicit, but would fit the context:

lūcernam forte oblītus fueram exstinguere (Plautus)^[239]

'by chance (earlier on) I had forgotten to extinguish the lamp'

vīdī tē ... quaecumque in mē fuerās mentīta fatērī (Propertius)^[240]

'I saw you (in a dream) confessing all the things which you had previously lied to me about'

Ductum habeō

Occasionally a perfect tense is made using the perfect participle combined with various tenses of the verb habeō 'I have'. This became the regular way of forming the perfect tense in French and Italian.^[241]

According to Gildersleeve and Lodge, this form of the perfect 'is not a mere circumlocution for the Perfect, but lays particular stress on the maintenance of the result'.^[115] However, in some cases it can be translated simply as a perfect tense in English:

ratiōnes Erōtis, etsī ipsum nondum vīdī, tamen ex litterīs eius prope modum cognitās habeō (Cicero)^[242]

'As for Eros's accounts, although I haven't seen him in person, I have more or less learnt what they say from his letter'

Clōdī animum perspectum habeō, cognitum, iūdicātum (Cicero)^[243]

'I have now thoroughly examined, learnt, and judged Clodius's mind'

In later Latin this construction became more common, for example:^[244]

ecce episcopum ... invītātum habēs et vix nōbīs supersunt quattuor vīnī amphorae (Gregory of Tours, 6th century)^[245]

'you have invited the Bishop, and we have scarcely four jars of wine left!'

A variation with teneō 'I hold or keep' is also sometimes found, but usually with emphasis on the idea of holding:

populī Rōmānī exercitus Cn. Pompeium circumsedet, fossā et vallō saeptum tenet, fugā prohibet (Cicero)^[246]

'an army of the Roman people is besieging Gnaeus Pompey, is keeping him fenced in (has fenced him in) with a ditch and wall, and preventing him from fleeing'

Ductum habēbō

The future perfect of this idiom is made with habēbō:

sed iam dē epistulīs satis dictum habēbō, sī hoc ūnum addiderō (Apuleius)^[247]

'but I will have said enough about the letters if I add this one thing'

Ductum habēbam

A pluperfect can similarly be made using one of the three past tenses of habeō:^[248]

Caesar equitātum omnem quem ex omnī prōvinciā coāctum habēbat praemittit (Caesar)^[249]

'Caesar sent ahead all the cavalry which he had gathered together from the whole province'

cultrum, quem sub veste abditum habēbat, eum in corde dēfīgit (Livy)^[250]

'a knife, which she had hidden / was keeping hidden under her clothing, she stabbed it in her heart'

ad eās mūnītiōnēs Caesar Lentulum Marcellīnum quaestōrem ... positum habebat (Caesar)^[251]

'Caesar had placed Lentulus Marcellinus the quaestor in charge of those defences'

Ductum habuī

in montibus castra habuit posita Pompeius in cōnspectū utrōrumque oppidōrum (de Bello Hispaniensi)^[252]

'Pompeius had placed a camp in the mountains within sight of both towns'

Ductum habueram

itaque nāvīs omnīs quās parātās habuerant ad nāvigandum prōpugnātōribus īnstrūxērunt (de Bello Alexandrino)^[253]

'and so they drew up and manned with fighters all the ships which they had earlier got ready for sailing'

Ductum habēre

Infinitives formed with habēre and habuisse are also possible, again with stress on the maintenance of the result. These are used in indirect speech:

sē ita triennium illud praetūrae Siciliēnsis distribūtum habēre, ut ... (Cicero)^[254]

'(Verres is said to have claimed that) he had divided up that three-year period of his Sicilian praetorship in such a way that...'

Ductum habuisse

tē ... fatēris ... aurum occultum habuisse (Quintilian)^[255]

'you confess that you had hidden the gold / were keeping it hidden'

pollicērer tibī ... mē sēgregātum habuisse, uxōrem ut dūxit, ā mē Pamphilum (Terence)^[256]

'I would promise you that, as soon as he got married, I split up with Pamphilus and was keeping him away from me'

Cauniī praetereā dēbent, sed aiunt sē dēpositam pecūniam habuisse (Cicero)^[257]

'the people of Caunus also owe him money, but they say that they had already deposited a sum of money'

Ductūrus sum

The future participle with the present tense of sum is known as the periphrastic future. It describes a person's intention at the present time. It can be translated with 'going to', 'planning to', 'intending to', or by using the future continuous 'I'll be doing':

Paulla Valeria ... nūptūra est D. Brūtō (Cicero)^[258]

'Paulla Valeria is going to marry Decimus Brutus'

nisī explicātā solūtiōne nōn sum discessūrus (Cicero)^[242]

'I'm not going to leave until the money is paid'

Ductūrus erō

Despite its name, the future periphrastic tense factūrus sum is really a present tense, describing a person's present intentions. For this reason, it can have a future form ductūrus erō, used for example in future conditional or future temporal clauses:

tu tamen sī quid cum Sīliō, vel illō ipsō diē quō ad Siccam ventūrus erō, certiōrem mē velim faciās (Cicero)^[259]

'but if you come to any arrangement with Silius, even if it is on the very day I'll be arriving at Sicca's house, please let me know'

clāmābat tumidīs audāx Lēandros in undīs: / "mergite mē, fluctūs, cum reditūrus erō" (Martial)^[260]

'daring Leander was shouting in the swelling waves: "drown me, waves, when I'll be coming back"'

Ductūrus eram

A past version of the periphrastic future can be made with the imperfect tense of sum, describing what someone's intentions were at a moment in the past:

posterō diē ille in Italiam versus nāvigātūrus erat (Servius to Cicero)^[261]

'on the next day he was intending to sail to Italy'

ut vērō vultūs et cornua vīdit in undā, 'mē miserum!' dictūrus erat: vōx nūlla secūta est (Ovid)^[262]

'when she saw her face and horns in the water, "o poor me!" she was going to say, but no words came out'

In a conditional sentence this tense can mean 'would have done':^[82]

ēmendātūrus, sī licuisset, eram (Ovid)^[263]

'I was going to remove the faults (i.e. I would have removed them), if I had been free to do it'

Ductūrus fuī

Although less common than the periphrastic future with eram, the perfect tense version of the periphrastic future is also found:^[264]

quō diē repulsus est, lūsit, quā nocte peritūrus fuit, lēgit (Seneca)^[265]

'on the day Cato was defeated in the election, he played; on the night he was going to die, he read'

This tense can also be potential, expressing the meaning 'would have done':

sī tibī nōn pāruissem, iūre datūrus fuī poenās (Curtius)^[266]

'if I had not obeyed you, I would rightly have paid the penalty'

Ductūrus fueram

An example of this tense is the following:

quem senātus dictātōrem dīcī iussūrus fuerat (Livy)^[267]

'... whom the Senate had been intending to order should be declared dictator'

Dūcendus sum

The gerundive of the verb (an adjectival form ending in -ndus) can be combined with the verb sum 'I am' to make a passive periphrastic tense. This usually expresses what is needing to be done:

ego nec rogandus sum nec hortandus (Pliny)^[268]

'I don't need to be asked or encouraged' (i.e. I will do it willingly)

hī tumōres incīdendī sunt (Celsus)^[269]

'tumours of this kind need to be lanced'

Negative meaning

The negative gerundive usually means 'not needing to be', as in the first example above or the first example below. However, sometimes the interpretation 'ought not to be' or 'it isn't possible for it to be' is more appropriate:

illud enim iam nōn es admonendus nēminem bonum esse nisī sapientem (Seneca)^[270]

'you do not need to be reminded now that no one is good except the wise man'

Callimachī numerīs nōn est dīcendus Achillēs (Ovid)

'the story of Achilles shouldn't (or can't) be told using the metre of Callimachus'

Impersonal construction

Very often the passive periphrastic is used impersonally, together with a dative of the agent:

vōbīs hodiernō diē cōnstituendum est (Cicero)^[271]

'a decision needs to be made by you today'

The impersonal form of this tense can also be made using intransitive verbs such as eō 'I go' and verbs such as persuādeō 'I persuade' and ūtor 'I use' which do not take an accusative object:^[272]

nōn est respondendum ad omnia (Cicero)^[273]

'there is no need to reply to everything'

mihī Arpīnum eundum est (Cicero)^[274]

'I have to go to Arpinum'

tuō tibī iūdiciō est ūtendum (Cicero)^[275]

'you must use your judgement'

Dūcendus erō

An example of a future gerundive periphrastic is the following:

quoniam id quidem non potest, ōrandus erit nōbīs amīcus meus, M. Plaetōrius (Cicero)^[276]

'since that isn't possible, we will need to ask my friend, Marcus Plaetorius'

Dūcendus eram

An example of the imperfect passive periphrastic is the following:

timēbat, nōn ea sōlum quae timenda erant, sed omnia (Cicero)^[277]

'he was afraid not only of those things which needed to be feared, but everything'

Dūcendus fuī

As with the active perfect periphrastic, in a conditional sentence the perfect gerundive periphrastic tense can mean 'would have done':^[278]

sī ūnum diem morātī essētis, moriendum omnibus fuit (Livy)^[279]

'if you had delayed just one day, you would all have died'

Another meaning of the perfect passive is 'ought to have been done':

aut exercitus adimendus aut imperium dandum fuit (Cicero)^[280]

'either his army should have been taken away or the command should have been given to him'

In the following result clause, this tense becomes subjunctive:

dē Pomptīnō rēctē scrībis. est enim ita ut, sī ante Kal. Iūniās Brundisī futūrus sit, minus urgendī fuerint M. Anneius et L. Tullius (Cicero)

'what you write about Pomptinus is correct: for the fact is that, if he is going to be in Brundisium before the 1st June, it wasn't so necessary for Marcus Anneius and Lucius Tullius to have been urged to hurry'

Dūcendus fuerō

The active future perfect periphrastic tense is not found, but the passive occurs:

cum aedificandum fuerit, ante biennium ea saxa eximantur (Vitruvius)^[281]

'whenever (at some future time) it is necessary for a building to be made (using local stone), the stones for it should be quarried two years in advance'

Gerundive of time only

Occasionally the gerundive has the meaning of a simple future passive, without any sense of obligation. However, this is generally only found in post-classical Latin, as in the following examples from Eutropius (4th century AD) and the Historia Augusta (4th or 5th century AD):^[282]

Hannibal, cum trādendus Rōmānīs esset, venēnum bibit (Eutropius)^[283]

'when Hannibal was about to be handed over to the Romans, he drank poison'

comperit adoptandum sē ā Trāiānō esse (Hist. Aug.)^[284]

'he found out that he was going to be adopted by Trajan'

For other examples of gerundive infinitive tenses see #Gerundive infinitives below.

Formation

Active verbs form their present subjunctive in -em, -am, or -im, depending on the verb, as follows:

• 1st conjugation: amem (-em, -ēs, -et, -ēmus, -ētis, -ent)
• 2nd conjugation: videam (-am, -ās, -at, -āmus, -ātis, -ant)
• 3rd conjugation (-ō): dūcam
• 3rd conjugation (-iō): capiam
• 4th conjugation: audiam

Irregular verbs:

• dō 'I give': dem
• ferō 'I bear': feram
• eō 'I go': eam
• volō 'I want': velim (-im, -īs, -it, -īmus, -ītis, -int)
• nōlō 'I don't want': nōlim
• mālō 'I prefer': mālim
• sum 'I am': sim
• possum 'I am able': possim

Passive and deponent verbs:

• 1st conjugation: amer (-er, -ēris/-ēre, -ētur, -ēmur, -ēminī, -entur)
• 2nd conjugation: videar (-ar, -āris/-āre, -ātur, -āmur, -āminī, -antur)
• 3rd conjugation (-ō): dūcar
• 3rd conjugation (-iō): capiar
• 4th conjugation: audiar

The subjunctive mood has a variety of uses in Latin. It can be optative (used in wishes), jussive ('should', 'is to'), or potential ('would', 'could', 'may', 'might').^[285][286] It is also frequently used in indirect speech, in causal clauses, in circumstantial clauses after cum 'when' in past time, and when imagining a hypothetical situation. The negative of the potential subjunctive is nōn, and the negative of the optative and jussive subjunctive is nē.

Wishes and commands

The present subjunctive very frequently describes an event which the speaker wishes, commands, or suggests should happen at a future time:

utinam illam diem videam! (Cicero)^[287]

'I hope I may see that day!'

vīvāmus, mea Lesbia, atque amēmus (Catullus)^[288]

'let's live, my Lesbia, and let's love'

sedeat hīc (Gellius)^[289]

'let him sit here!'

The negative of this meaning is nē:^[290]

nē vīvam sī sciō (Cicero)^[291]

'may I not live if I know!'

exeant, proficīscantur, nē patiantur dēsideriō suī Catilīnam miserum tābēscere (Cicero)^[292]

'let them go out, let them depart; let them not allow poor Catiline to waste away with desire for them!'

Usually, the jussive subjunctive is used in the 2nd person only when the person is indefinite:^[293]

exoriāre, aliquis nostrīs ex ossibus ultor! (Virgil)^[294]

'may you arise, some avenger, from our bones!'

However, in the following example from Plautus, the 2nd person is used for politeness when a young slave girl is talking to a man:

(Trachāliō:) ego eo intrō, nisi quid vīs. – (Ampelisca:) eās. (Plautus)^[295]

'I'm going inside, unless there's anything you want.' – 'Please go.'

In the following, the speaker is talking to himself:

miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre! (Catullus)^[296]

'wretched Catullus, you should stop being foolish!'

The present subjunctive is also used in deliberative questions (which are questions which expect an imperative answer):^[297]

dē Pompeiō quid agam? (Cicero)^[298]

'what action should I take about Pompey?'

Another use of the present subjunctive is concessive:^[299]

sit fūr; ... at est bonus imperātor (Cicero)^[300]

'he may be a thief; nonetheless he is a good general!'

In philosophical discourse, the present subjunctive represents a hypothetical situation which is imagined as happening at an indefinite time:

vēndat aedēs vir bonus (Cicero)^[301]

'let us suppose that a good man is selling a house'

Potential use

In an 'ideal' conditional clause, the speaker imagines a hypothetical event or situation in the future. The negative of this meaning is nōn:

hanc viam sī asperam esse negem, mentiar (Cicero)^[302]

'if I were to deny that this road is a rough one, I would be lying'

haec sī tēcum patria loquātur, nōnne impetrāre debeat? (Cicero)^[303]

'if your country were to say this to you, wouldn't it be right for her to be granted her request?'

In early Latin, a present subjunctive can also be used to make an unreal conditional referring to the present:^[304]

haud rogem tē, sī sciam (Plautus)^[305]

'I wouldn't be asking you, if I knew'

However, there was a gradual shift in usage, and in the classical period, and even sometimes in Plautus, the imperfect subjunctive is used in such clauses.

Occasionally in poetry a present subjunctive can be used to refer to an unreal past event, where in prose a pluperfect subjunctive would be used in both halves of the sentence:^[306]

nī docta comes admoneat, inruat et frūstrā ferrō dīverberet umbrās (Virgil)^[307]

'if his learned companion had not warned him, Aeneas would have rushed in and would have beaten aside the ghosts with his sword in vain'

In a conditional clause of comparison ('as if...') the use of tenses is different from the normal unreal conditional clause. Here the main clause is in the indicative or imperative, and the 'if'-clause follows the sequence of tenses rule, with present or perfect subjunctive for an imaginary present situation, and imperfect or pluperfect for an imaginary past one:

nōlī timēre quasi assem elephantō dēs (Quintilian)^[308]

'don't be nervous as if you are giving a penny to an elephant'

ūtor tam bene quam mihī parārim^[309]

'I use them just as well as (if) I had bought them for myself'

When a conditional sentence expresses a generalisation, the present subjunctive is used for any 2nd person singular verb, whether in the subordinate clause or the main clause:^[310]

ferrum sī exerceās conteritur (Cato)^[311]

'if you use iron a lot, it gets worn away'

(senectūs) plēna est voluptātis, sī illā sciās ūtī (Seneca)^[312]

'old age is full of pleasure, if you know how to enjoy it'

quom inopia est, cupiās (Plautus)^[313]

'whenever there's a shortage of something, you want it'

In indirect speech

One of the most common uses of the subjunctive is to indicate reported speech (or implied reported speech). After a present tense main verb, the present subjunctive is usual, for example in the following indirect command:

nūntium mittit ut veniant (Livy)^[314]

'she sends a messenger (to say) that they should come'

When a question is made indirect, the verb is always changed into the subjunctive mood, as in the following example:

quārē id faciam, fortasse requīris? (Catullus)^[133]

'do you perhaps ask why I do that?'

After dubitō quīn, if the context is clearly future, a present or imperfect subjunctive can sometimes represent a future tense or potential subjunctive:^[315]

haec sī ēnūntiāta Ariovistō sint, nōn dubitāre quīn dē omnibus supplicium sūmat (Caesar)^[316]

'they said that if these things were reported to Ariovistus, they didn't doubt that he would put them all to death'

Similarly in the protasis ('if' clause) of a conditional sentence in indirect speech, a present subjunctive can represent an original future indicative:^[317]

nisī dēcēdat atque exercitum dēdūcat, sēsē illum prō hoste habitūrum (Caesar)^[318]

'(Ariovistus told Caesar that) if he did not retreat and withdraw his army, he would treat him as an enemy'

In other examples in reported speech, the subjunctive in the 'if' clause represents an original present subjunctive with potential meaning:

voluptātem, sī ipsa prō sē loquātur, concessūram arbitror dignitātī (Cicero)^[319]

'I believe that Pleasure, if she were to speak for herself, would give way to Dignity'

Other uses

In Latin a clause of fearing is constructed like a negative wish ("may it not happen!"). For this reason fears usually start with the negative particle nē.^[320] If the speaker fears that something may not happen, the two negatives nē and nōn can be combined:

timeō nē nōn impetrem (Cicero)^[321]

'I am afraid that I may not be granted my wish'

The present subjunctive is also used in purpose clauses with ut such as the following:^[322]

oportet ēsse^[323] ut vīvās, nōn vīvere ut edās (Rhētorica ad Herennium)^[324]

'you should eat so that you can live, not live so that you can eat'

The present subjunctive may also be used in consecutive clauses following a present tense verb:

ā dūcendā autem uxōre sīc abhorret ut līberō lectulō neget esse quicquam iūcundius (Cicero)^[325]

'he finds the idea of marrying so abhorrent that he denies there is anything more pleasant than a single bed'

After the word forsitan 'perhaps' and occasionally after fortasse 'perhaps', the present subjunctive can mean 'may' or 'could', expressing a possibility. The first example below uses the present subjunctive, and the second the perfect:^[326]

dūrum hoc fortasse videātur (Cicero)^[327]

'this may perhaps seem harsh'

A relative clause which is indefinite uses the subjunctive mood in Latin. This is known as a generic relative clause:

at etiam sunt quī dīcant, Quirītes, ā mē ēiectum in exilium esse Catilīnam (Cicero)^[328]

'but there are also some who are saying, Roman citizens, that it was by me that Catiline was sent into exile'

The subjunctive mood is also used in clauses which have a causal meaning ('in view of the fact that'), such as after causal cum. Any tense can be used including the present:

quae cum ita sint (Cicero)^[329]

'since these things are so'

Ductus fuerim

The perfect subjunctive with fuerim is more common than the perfect indicative with fuī. In the Augustan-period writers Hyginus and Vitruvius nearly a third of perfect subjunctives are double ones, and in Egeria's writing (4th century AD) it completely replaced the perfect subjunctive with sim.^[388]

nocēns, nisī accūsātus fuerit, condemnārī non potest (Cicero)^[389]

'a guilty man cannot be condemned unless he has first been accused'

In the following examples, the perfect subjunctives with fuerit contrast with the ordinary perfect subjunctive tenses, and apparently refer to an earlier event:

id utrum parum ex intervallō sit cōnspectum, an dolus aliquis suspectus fuerit, incompertum est (Livy)^[390]

'whether this was noticed too late, or whether (before it was noticed) some trick was suspected, is unknown'

id utrum suā sponte fēcerint an quia mandātum ita fuerit nōn certum est (Livy)^[391]

'whether they did this of their own accord or whether it was because they already had instructions to do so is not certain'

In the following example, however, the tense may have been chosen simply for euphony rather than meaning:

hāc Trōiana tenus fuerit fortūna secūta (Virgil)^[392]

'may it turn out that Trojan ill-fortune has followed us this far, no further!'

Formation

• 1st conjugation: amāssem (less often amāvissem) (-ssem, -ssēs, -sset, -ssēmus, -ssētis, -ssent)
• 2nd conjugation: vīdissem, monuissem
• 3rd conjugation: dūxissem, cēpissem
• 4th conjugation: audīssem (rarely audīvissem)

Irregular verbs:

• dō: dedissem
• ferō: tulissem
• eō: īssem
• volō: voluissem
• sum: fuissem
• possum: potuissem

Passive and deponent verbs:

• 1st conjugation: amātus essem (amātus fuissem)
• 2nd conjugation: visus essem (vīsus fuissem)
• 3rd conjugation: ductus essem (ductus fuissem)
• 4th conjugation: audītus essem (audītus fuissem)

The form with essem is more common than fuissem in the classical period. In some cases there is a difference in meaning between the two forms (see below).

Occasionally a shortened form of the pluperfect subjunctive active is found, e.g. ērēpsēmus for ērēpsissēmus. Scholars are unclear whether this is an archaic survival or whether it is merely a "syncopated" (shortened) form of the usual tense. (For examples, see below.)

Unreal situation or wish

The pluperfect subjunctive can be used to make a wish which cannot now be fulfilled about a situation in the past:

utinam ille omnīs sēcum suās cōpiās ēduxisset! (Cicero)^[393]

'if only he had led out all his forces with him!'

Sometimes velim or vellem 'I would that' is used instead of utinam. In the following sentence, the imperfect subjunctive vellem is used to wish for something that cannot now come true, while the present subjunctive velim leaves open the possibility that it may be true:

dē Menedēmō vellem vērum fuisset, dē rēgīnā velim vērum sit. (Cicero)^[394]

'I wish it had been true about Menedemus; I hope it may be true about the queen'

The jussive pluperfect is also fairly uncommon. The following examples are from Cicero, again using the negative nē:^[395]

nē popōscissēs (Cicero)^[396]

'you shouldn't have asked'

quid facere dēbuistī? pecūniam rettulissēs, frūmentum nē ēmissēs (Cicero)^[397]

'what was it your duty to do? you ought to have returned the money, you ought not to have bought the corn'

In the following sentence, using the pluperfect subjunctive, according to one view, Queen Dido contemplates what 'might have been':^[398]

facēs in castra tulissem implēssemque forōs flammīs (Virgil)^[399]

'I could have carried torches into the camp and filled the gangways with flames'

Others see the pluperfect subjunctive in this sentence as a wish ('if only I had carried!'); others again as jussive ('I ought to have carried!').^[400]

The pluperfect subjunctive in conditional clauses is used for referring to unreal events in past time. This usage is found as early as Plautus:^[336]

sī appellāssēs, respondisset (Plautus)^[401]

'if you had called him, he would have replied'

It is also possible for the protasis to be imperfect subjunctive, and the apodosis pluperfect subjunctive, or the other way round, as in the following examples:

quid facerēs, sī amīcum perdidissēs? (Seneca)^[402]

'how would you react, if you had lost a friend?'

ergō egō nisī peperissem, Rōma nōn oppugnārētur; nisī fīlium habērem, lībera in līberā patriā mortua essem (Livy)^[403]

'therefore if I had not given birth, Rome would not now be being attacked; if I did not have a son, I would have died as a free woman in a free country'

In a temporal clause

Another very common use of the pluperfect subjunctive is in a circumstantial cum-clause. Here cum tends to have the meaning "after X happened", equivalent to postquam with the perfect indicative:

quod cum audīvisset, accurrisse Rōmam dīcitur (Cicero)^[404]

'when he heard this, he is said to have hurried to Rome'

Indirect speech

In indirect speech, the pluperfect subjunctive is often a transformation of a perfect indicative in direct speech.^[315] In the following example, the original direct question would have had the perfect tense (fuistī):

quaesīvī ā Catilīnā, in nocturnō conventū apud M. Laecam fuisset necne (Cicero)^[405]

'I asked Catiline whether he had been at a night-time meeting at Marcus Laeca's house or not'

In some sentences, the pluperfect subjunctive is a reflection of an original imperfect indicative, as in the following example, where the original verbs would have been mīlitābāmus and habēbāmus:^[406]

[dīxit eōs] id tantum dēprecārī, nē īnferiōrēs iīs ordinēs quam quōs cum mīlitāssent habuissent adtribuantur (Livy)^[407]

'[he said] that they begged just one favour, that they should be not assigned lower ranks than those which they had held when they were on military service'

In other sentences in indirect speech, the pluperfect subjunctive is a transformation of a future perfect indicative, put into historic sequence. The original words of the following sentence would have been tū, sī aliter fēcerīs, iniūriam Caesarī faciēs 'if you do (will have done) otherwise, you will be doing Caesar a disservice':

eum, sī aliter fēcisset, iniūriam Caesarī factūrum dīxit (Cicero)^[408]

'he said that if the man were to do otherwise, he would be doing Caesar a disservice'

in hōc discrīmine lūdōs Iovī, sī fūdisset cecīdissetque hostīs, prōpraetor vōvit (Livy)^[409]

'at this critical moment in the battle, the propraetor vowed games to Jupiter, if he routed and slaughtered the enemies'

Syncopated pluperfect subjunctive

A shortened or "syncopated" form of the pluperfect subjunctive ending in -sem instead of -sissem is sometimes found, although it is not very common.^[85] The following comes from Horace's well-known account of his journey to Brundisium:

(montēs) ... quōs nunquam ērēpsēmus, nisi nōs vīcīna Trivīcī vīlla recēpisset (Horace)^[410]

'(mountains) which we would never have crawled to the end of, had not a nearby villa in Trivicum welcomed us'

Another example comes from Plautus:

dīs hercle habeō grātiam, nam ni intellexēs, numquam, crēdo, āmitterēs! (Plautus)^[411]

'thank God you understand, for if you hadn't understood, you would never let the subject drop, I'm sure!'

In the following example, the subjunctive is used to indicate indirect speech:

postquam recessēt vīta patriō corpore, agrum sē vēndidisse (Plautus)^[412]

'he told me that as soon as the life had left his father's body, he had sold his farm'

The following from Virgil describes what might have been, or should have been:

nātumque patremque cum genere extīnxem (Virgil)^[413]

'I could have (or should have) extinguished son and father along with their family!'

R. D. Williams describes the following example as "jussive":

vīxet cui vītam deus aut sua dextra dedisset (Virgil)^[414]

'he, to whom either God or his own right hand had given life, should have lived'

Ductus fuissem

Like the pluperfect indicative with fueram, the pluperfect subjunctive with fuissem sometimes refers to an earlier time, which is now over. In the following example, Cicero contrasts the time when Marcus Claudius Marcellus captured Syracuse (3rd century BC) with the period when Gaius Verres was governor of Sicily (73–70 BC):

portum Syrācūsānōrum, quī tum et nostrīs classibus et Carthāginiēnsium clausus fuisset, eum istō praetōre Cilicum myoparōnī praedōnibusque patuisse (Cicero)^[415]

'the harbour of the Syracusans, which at that time had been closed both to our fleets and to the Carthaginians', in the period of Verres' praetorship was laid wide open to a pirate vessel of Cilicians and to robbers'

However, in the following examples, there appears to be little or no difference in meaning between the pluperfect with fuisset and that with esset, and difference is perhaps only one of style:

quās ego exspectāssem Brundisiī, sī esset licitum per nautās (Cicero)^[416]

'I would have waited for your letter at Brundisium, if it had been permitted by the sailors'

sī per tuās legiōnēs mihi licitum fuisset venīre in senātum ..., fēcissem (Cicero)^[417]

'if it had been permitted to me by your legions to come to the senate, I would have done so'

Because the feminine participle + fuisset makes a suitable ending for a hexameter, it is possible that in the following examples the double pluperfect is merely used for metrical convenience, rather than indicating an anterior time. In the first example, which is spoken by the ghost of Hector to Aeneas, encouraging him to flee from Troy, the tense with fuissent refers to an earlier time when Hector was still alive:

sī Pergama dextrā dēfendī possent, etiam hāc dēfēnsa fuissent (Virgil)^[418]

'if Troy could be defended by anyone's right hand, it would have been defended (while I was still alive) even by this one'

The following unfulfillable wish also uses the double pluperfect subjunctive passive:

vellem haud correpta fuisset mīlitiā tālī, cōnāta lacessere Teucrōs (Virgil)^[419]

'I wish she had never been seized by such love of warfare or attempted to provoke the Trojans!'

Another example comes from Ovid, referring to the time before the Trojan War started:

nisi rapta fuisset Tyndaris, Eurōpae pāx Asiaeque foret (Ovid)^[420]

'if Tyndareus' daughter had not previously been raped, there would be peace between Europe and Asia'

In the following example Ovid describes the fate of the Athenian princess Aglauros, who was turned to stone out of envy for her sister:

nec cōnāta loquī est, nec, sī cōnāta fuisset, vōcis habēbat iter (Ovid)^[421]

'she did not try to speak, nor, even if she had tried, would she have had any way of speaking'

Ductūrus sim

Unlike in clauses following nōn dubitō quīn, in indirect questions referring to a future time the periphrastic future subjunctive is regularly used:

quid ille factūrus sit incertum est (Cicero)^[422]

'it is uncertain what he is going to do'

In indirect statements and questions, the active periphrastic future can represent a future or periphrastic future tense of direct speech in primary sequence. In this case there is not necessarily any idea of planning or intention, although there may be:^[423]

tē ubī vīsūrus sim, nesciō (Cicero)^[424]

'I don't know when I'm going to see you'

quid agātis et ecquid in Italiam ventūrī sītis hāc hieme, fac plānē sciam (Cicero)^[425]

'let me know in detail what you are doing and whether at all you'll be coming to Italy this winter'

This tense can also be used in primary sequence reported speech, to represent the main clause in either an ideal conditional sentence or a simple future one (the distinction between these two disappears in indirect speech):^[426]

quem adhūc nōs quidem vīdimus nēminem; sed philosophōrum sententiīs, quālis hic futūrus sit, sī modō aliquandō fuerit, expōnitur (Cicero)^[427]

'we ourselves have never seen such a (perfectly wise) man; but it is explained in the opinions of philosophers what such a person would be like, if one were ever to exist'

To avoid ambiguity, the periphrastic future can also be used when the meaning is future, although this is not as common as in indirect questions:

nōn dubitō quīn in Formiānō mānsūrus sīs (Cicero)^[428]

'I have no doubt you are going to remain (in the villa) at Formiae'

Ductūrus essem

The same meaning is expressed in indirect questions in a past context:

exspectābant hominēs quidnam āctūrus esset (Cicero)^[429]

'people were waiting to see what exactly he was going to do'

If the main verb is in past time, an imperfect version of the periphrastic future subjunctive is used:

dubitābam tū hās ipsās litterās essēsne acceptūrus (Cicero)^[430]

'I wasn't sure whether you were going to receive this letter'

Ductūrus forem

It is also possible to form an imperfect periphrastic subjunctive with forem instead of essem (the first instance of this is in Sallust):^[264]

dīcit sē vēnisse quaesītum ab eō, pācem an bellum agitātūrus foret (Sallust)^[431]

'he said that he had come to ask him whether he was intending to make peace or war'

Ptolomaeum iussit ... Indōs clāmōre terrēre, quasi flūmen transnātūrus foret (Curtius)^[432]

'he ordered Ptolemy to terrify the Indians with shouting, as if he was about to swim across the river'

Ductūrus fuerim

A perfect periphrastic subjunctive can be used with a conditional meaning ('would have done') in hypothetical conditional clauses in indirect questions in primary sequence. In this case it represents a pluperfect subjunctive in the original direct speech:^[433]

dīc agedum, Appī Claudī, quidnam factūrus fuerīs, sī eō tempore cēnsor fuissēs? (Livy)^[10]

'tell us, Appius Claudius, what you would have done, if you had been censor at that time?'

an potest quisquam dubitāre quīn, sī Q. Ligārius in Italiā esse potuisset, in eādem sententiā futūrus fuerit in quā frātrēs fuērunt? (Cicero)^[434]

'can anyone doubt that if Quintus Ligarius had been able to be in Italy, he would have been of the same opinion as his brothers were?'

In an indirect question, the perfect periphrastic subjunctive can also sometimes reflect a potential imperfect subjunctive:^[433]

cōgitā quantum additūrus celeritātī fuerīs, sī ā tergō hostis īnstāret (Seneca)^[435]

'imagine how much speed you would be putting on, if an enemy were threatening you from behind!'

These tenses can be compared with the similar examples with the perfect periphrastic infinitive cited below, where a conditional sentence made in imperfect subjunctives is converted to an indirect statement.

Ductūrus fuissem

The pluperfect version of the periphrastic subjunctive can be used in a circumstantial cum clause:

cum dē rē pūblicā relātūrus fuisset, adlātō nūntiō dē legiōne quārtā mente concidit (Cicero)^[436]

'when Antony had been about to bring some motion about the republic, a message suddenly arrived about the 4th legion and he lost his composure'

It can also be used in conditional sentences after sī, as in the following sentence from an imaginary letter from Helen to Paris:

hīs ego blanditiīs, sī peccātūra fuissem, flecterer (Ovid)^[437]

'by flatteries such as these, if I had been going to sin, I might have been persuaded'

Once in Cicero it occurs in the apodosis of an unreal conditional, referring to the inevitability of fate:

etiamsī obtemperāsset auspiciīs, idem ēventūrum fuisset; mūtārī enim fāta non possunt (Cicero)^[438]

'even if he had obeyed the auspices, the same thing would have been destined to happen; for the fates cannot be changed'

It can also reflect a potential pluperfect subjunctive ('would have done') in historic sequence in an indirect question:^[433]

subībat cōgitātiō animum quōnam modō tolerābilis futūra Etrūria fuisset, sī quid in Samniō adversī ēvēnisset (Livy)^[439]

'it occurred to them how impossible Etruria would have been, if anything had gone wrong in Samnium'

siem, fuam, duim

An archaic form of the subjunctive of sum is siem for sim, which is very common in Plautus and Terence, but fell out of use later:

scīs ubi siēt? (Terence)^[461]

'do you know where she is?'

Less common is fuam, with the same meaning. This occurs occasionally in Plautus and also once in Lucretius (4.635) and once in Virgil's Aeneid, where the archaic form is presumably appropriate for the speech of the god Jupiter:

Trōs Rutulusne fuat, nūllō discrīmine habēbō (Virgil)^[462]

'whether it be Trojan or Rutulian, I shall make no distinction!'

Another old subjunctive is duim, from the verb dō 'I give'. It occurs mostly in Plautus and Terence, but sometimes also in Cicero, in phrases like the following:

dī tē perduint! (Plautus)^[463]

'may the gods destroy you!'

From tangō, attingō 'I touch' comes a subjunctive attigās used by both Plautus and Terence:

ne attigās mē! (Plautus)^[464]

'do not touch me!'

The idiomatic expression dumtaxat 'only, exactly, as far as concerns' is thought to preserve another archaic subjunctive of tango 'I touch'.^[465]

faxim, servassim, ausim

In old Latin, a form of the subjunctive with -s-, known as the sigmatic aorist subjunctive, is preserved (faxim, servāssim etc.). One use of this is for wishes for the future:^[362]

dī tē servāssint semper! (Plautus)^[466]

'may the gods preserve you always!'

deī faxint ut liceat! (Cicero)^[467]

'may the gods ensure that it be allowed'

id tē Iuppiter prohibessit! (Plautus)^[468]

'may Jupiter protect you from that!'

In Plautus this subjunctive is also used in prohibitions, when it exists:^[469]

nīl mē cūrāssīs! (Plautus)^[470]

'don't worry about me!'

It also occurs once in Terence:

nē mē istōc posthāc nōmine appellāssīs! (Terence)^[471]

'please don't call me by that name again!'

In other phrases it has a potential meaning and can be translated with 'would':

male faxim lubēns (Plautus)^[472]

'I would willingly do him harm!'

nec satis sciō, nec, sī sciam, dīcere ausim (Livy)^[473]

'I do not know exactly, nor, if I knew, would I dare to say'

Present imperative

Future imperative

Latin also has a Future imperative or 2nd imperative,^[509] ending in -tō(te), used to request someone to do something at a future time, or if something else happens first. This imperative is very common in early writers such as Plautus and Cato, but it is also found in later writers such as Cicero and Martial:

crās petitō, dabitur (Plautus)^[510]

'ask tomorrow; it will be given to you'

ubi nōs lāverimus, sī volēs, lavātō (Terence)^[511]

'when we have finished washing, get washed if you wish'

crūdam si edēs, in acētum intinguitō (Cato)^[512]

'if you are (going to be) eating it (cabbage) raw, dip it in vinegar'

sī quid acciderit, ... scrībitō (Cicero)^[513]

'if anything happens, write to me'

rīdētō multum quī tē, Sextille, cinaedum dīxerit et digitum porrigitō medium (Martial)^[514]

'Sextillus, laugh a lot at anyone who calls you a 'faggot' and show them the middle finger'

Some verbs have only the second imperative, for example scītō 'know', mementō 'remember'.^[509] In this case the imperative sometimes has a present rather than future meaning:

fīliolō me auctum scītō, salvā Terentiā (Cicero)^[515]

'know that I have been blessed with a little son, and that Terentia is safe'

in Britanniā ... cavētō et ... illud semper mementō (Cicero)^[516]

'when you're in Britain, take care ... and always remember this...'

There is also a future passive imperative, but it is extremely rare. It can be is either 2nd or 3rd person:^[517]

pār parī iugātor coniūx (Ausonius)^[518]

'A spouse should be joined equal to equal' (or: 'Be joined as a spouse equal to an equal')

3rd person formal imperative

Related to the colloquial future imperative is the formal imperative (usually used in the 3rd person) of legal language, as in this invented law from Cicero's de Lēgibus:

rēgiō imperiō duo suntō, iīque ... ā cōnsulendō cōnsulēs appellāminō; nēminī pārentō; ollīs salūs populī suprēma lēx estō (Cicero)^[519]

'there shall be two men with royal power; and from consulting they are to be called 'consuls'; they are to obey nobody; for them the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law'

According to J.G.F. Powell, appellāminō is not a genuine archaic form; in early Latin -minō is used only in deponent verbs and is 2nd or 3rd person singular.^[520]

Compound infinitives

The compound infinitives are usually found in the accusative case, as in most of the examples below. Occasionally, however, they are found in the nominative, for example with dīcitur 'he is said' or vidētur 'he seems':

ventūrus esse dīcitur (Cicero)^[521]

'he is said to be planning to come'

The participle can also change to show gender and plurality, as in the following where factās is feminine plural:

īnsidiās factās esse cōnstat (Cicero)^[522]

'it is agreed that an ambush was made'

However, the passive future infinitive (ductum īrī) is made using the supine of the verb. The -um therefore stays constant and does not change for gender or number.

The future infinitive is used only for indirect statements.^[523]

Omission of esse

Often the esse part of a compound infinitive is omitted when combined with a participle or gerundive:

frātrem interfectum audīvit (Seneca)^[524]

'he heard that his brother had been killed'

cōnandum sibī aliquid Pompeius exīstimāvit (Caesar)^[525]

'Pompey reckoned that it was necessary for him to attempt to attempt something'

cōnfīdo mē celeriter ad urbem ventūrum (Cicero)^[526]

'I am sure that I will come to the city soon'

Historic infinitive

The present infinitive is occasionally used in narrative as a tense in its own right. It usually describes a scene in which the same action was being done repeatedly. There are often two or more historic infinitives in succession.^[527] When the subject is expressed, it is in the nominative case (distinguishing the historic infinitive from the accusative and infinitive of reported speech).

tum spectāculum horribile in campīs patentibus: sequī, fugere, occīdī, capī (Sallust)^[528]

'then there was a ghastly spectacle on the open plains: people kept chasing, fleeing, being killed, being captured'

clāmāre ille, cum raperētur, nihil sē miserum fēcisse (Cicero)^[529]

'the poor man kept shouting, as he was being dragged away, that he had done nothing'

iste tum petere ab illīs, tum minārī, tum spem, tum metum ostendere (Cicero)^[530]

'he by turns kept begging them, then threatening, now offering hope, now fear'

'Could have done'

The perfect tense potuī with the infinitive can often mean 'I was able to' or 'I managed to':

Scīpio P. Rupilium potuit cōnsulem efficere, frātrem eius Lūcium nōn potuit (Cicero)^[531]

'Scipio managed to make Publius Rupilius Consul, but he wasn't able to do the same for Rupilius's brother Lucius'

However, it can also mean 'I could have done (but did not)':^[532]

quī fuī et quī esse potuī iam esse nōn possum (Cicero)^[533]

'what I was and what I could have been, I can now no longer be'

Antōnī gladiōs potuit contemnere, sī sīc omnia dīxisset (Juvenal)^[534]

'(Cicero) could have despised Antony's swords (i.e. would have had no reason to fear them), if he had spoken everything in this way!'

quaeris quid potuerit amplius adsequī Plancius, sī Cn. Scīpionis fuisset fīlius (Cicero)^[535]

'you ask what more Plancius could have achieved, if he had been the son of Gnaeus Scipio'

The pluperfect subjunctive after cum also means 'could have':

Aemilius, cum ... ēdūcere in aciem potuisset, intrā vallum suōs tenuit (Livy)^[536]

'although he could have led them out into battle, Aemilius held his troops inside the wall of the camp'

'Ought to have done'

'Ought to have done' is often expressed with a past tense of dēbeō 'I have a duty to' or oportet 'it is fitting' together with a present infinitive:

in senātum venīre illō diē nōn dēbuistī (Cicero)^[537]

'you ought not to have come to the Senate on that day'

ad mortem tē, Catilīna, dūcī iussū cōnsulis iam prīdem oportēbat (Cicero)^[538]

'you ought to have been put to death long ago by order of the Consul, Catiline!'

Sometimes, oportēbat means 'it must be the case that...':

sī multus erat in calceīs pulvis, ex itinere eum venīre oportēbat (Cicero)^[539]

'if there was a lot of dust on his shoes, he must have been coming from a journey'

Sometimes, in familiar style, oportuit can be used with the perfect infinitive passive:^[540]

(hoc) iam prīdem factum esse oportuit (Cicero)^[541]

'this ought to have been done long ago'

The indirect speech form is regularly oportuisse with the present infinitive:

domum negant oportuisse mē aedificāre (Cicero)^[542]

'they say I ought not to have built the house'

Indirect commands with the infinitive

Indirect commands are made with two constructions: either ut (or nē) with the present or imperfect subjunctive, or the accusative and infinitive construction, using the present infinitive. The latter construction is used especially when the main verb is iubeō 'I order' or vetō 'I forbid', but also sometimes after imperō 'I command':^[484]

signum darī iubet (Caesar)^[543]

'he ordered the signal to be given'

quis tyrannus miserōs lūgēre vetuit? (Cicero)

'what tyrant has ever forbidden unhappy people to mourn?'

Indirect statements

The infinitive is very commonly used for the reported verb in indirect statements. Except with passive sentences using dīcitur 'he is said' or vidētur 'he seems' and the like, the subject of the quoted sentence is usually put into the accusative case and the construction is known as an 'accusative and infinitive'.

The rule of tense is that the present infinitive is used for any action or situation which is contemporary with the main verb, the perfect for actions or situations anterior to the main verb, and the future infinitive for actions or situations later than the main verb.^[544] An exception to this rule is the verb meminī 'I remember', which when used of personal reminiscence (e.g. 'I remember being present') is usually followed by a present infinitive.^[545]