CHAPTER 28
"Subjunctive: Present Active and Passive;
Jussive; Purpose"
In this chapter, you begin your study of the subjunctive mood of
verbs by learning the subjunctive in the present tense and two of
the uses of the subjunctive mood: the jussive (JUH siv or JEW
siv) subjunctive and the purpose (or final) clause. The first
real difficulty for students to overcome when beginning the
subjunctive is to realize that there is no one way to translate a
Latin verb in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is one
primarily of syntax and is almost always used in subordinate
clauses. What you must do is (1) learn the morphology
(formation) of the subjunctive mood, and then (2) study the
different ways the subjunctive is used in Latin to express what.
Once you've understood the intent of the Latin sentence, then
you're prepared to bring that meaning over into an appropriate
English construction. This all may sound rather metaphysical and
frightening, but it isn't really. It just means that the method
of assigning one to one correspondences from Latin to English and
vice versa, which may have served you so well in the past, can't
help you anymore. You'll learn to form the subjunctive in the
different tenses, while you collect and study the different uses
of the subjunctive. Let's start.
FORMATION OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE: PRESENT TENSE
The subjunctive is one of the moods of a Latin verb. The moods
you know so far are: indicative, imperative, infinitive, and
participial. The subjunctive mood is limited to finite forms
(forms with person) of the verb. Hence you'll not have to worry
over the subjunctive infinitive, the subjunctive participle, et
cetera.
I. Subjunctive of the First Conjugation Present Tense
To form the subjunctive, present tense, a first conjugation verb
simply substitutes the normal stem vowel long "-a-" with a long
"-e-". The personal endings, active and passive, are not changed
(except that the first person singular ending is the variant "-m"
instead of "-o-"). Write out the present subjunctive active and
passive of the first conjugation verb "laudo" in the present
tense.
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
This wasn't so difficult, but look at these forms again. If you
didn't know that these forms were derived from a first
conjugation verb, you might think that some of the forms were
forms of the indicative from a second or third conjugation verb.
The form "laudetis," for example, looks like it could be a
present tense from a second conjugation verb, or a future tense
of the third conjugation non i-stem verb. The only way to be
sure, if you're not totally familiar with the verb you're
examining, is to look the verb up and make sure you note its
conjugation. When you seen "laudo (1)" in the dictionary, then
you can be sure that the form "laudetis" is subjunctive present
tense. Let's move on.
II. Subjunctive of the First Conjugation Present Tense
As you're about to see, the way a first conjugation verb forms
the subjunctive present tense is actually an exception to the
general rule verbs follow to form the present subjunctive mood.
All other conjugations form the present subjunctive by inserting
a long "-a-" between the stem and the personal endings. This
rule is easily seen in the second conjugation: "mone + a + m =
moneam"; "mone + a + r = monear"; etc. Write out the present
subjunctive, active and passive, of "moneo, -ere".
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
III. Subjunctive of the Third Conjugation Present Tense
When you insert the long "-a-" between the stem and the personal
endings on a third conjugation verb, the stem vowel short "-e-"
drops out entirely, leaving only the "-a-" between the personal
endings. Note that many of the resulting forms look exactly like
first conjugation forms in the indicative mood. Again, you need
to take care from now on and look at your dictionary entries
thoroughly. Write out the subjunctive present tense, active and
passive, of "duco, -ere".
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
IIIi. Subjunctive of the Third Conjugation i-stems Present
Tense
In the present tense, the extra "-i-" of a i-stem verb is present
throughout the forms: "capi + a + m = capiam" etc.
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
IV. Subjunctive of the Fourth Conjugation Present Tense
The stem vowel of a fourth conjugation verb is a long "-i-" so it
stays part of the stem after the addition of the long "-a-" sign
of the subjunctive: "audi + a + m = audiam".
ACTIVE PASSIVE
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
1st ____________________ ____________________
2nd ____________________ ____________________
3rd ____________________ ____________________
Don't forget that there are no subjunctive infinitives,
imperatives, or participles. These are all the possible forms of
the Latin subjunctive mood in the present tense. There is no
present subjunctive participle, or present subjunctive
infinitive. You now know all the subjunctive forms of the
present tense.
USES OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: THE JUSSIVE SUBJUNCTIVE
The first use of the subjunctive you'll learn is the only use of
the subjunctive in the main clause of a sentence (except for
conditional sentences). All other uses of the subjunctive are
restricted to subordinate clauses. The jussive subjunctive is
used when a command or exhortation is directed to a first or
third person. (When a command is directed toward a second
person, as you recall, Latin uses the imperative mood.) To issue
a prohibition or negative command in the first or third persons,
the negative particle "ne" is used, not "non". We direct
commands to first and third persons with our construction
"let..". and negate them with "let...not..".
INDICATIVE JUSSIVE SUBJUNCTIVE
Viros bonos laudamus Viros bonos laudemus.
(We are praising good men.) (Let's praise good men.)
Veniunt. Veniant.
(They are coming.) (Let them come.)
Libros malos non legimus. Ne libros malos legamus.
(We don't read bad books.) (Let's not read bad books.)
THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN PURPOSE CLAUSES
A purpose clause is, as the name tells us, a subordinate clause
which explain the purpose for which the action in the main clause
was undertaken. English has basically two way to show purpose:
(1) infinitive, sometimes supplemented with "in order," and (2) a
subordinate clause introduce by "so that" or "so" or "in order
that" often with the conditional mood of the verb. Let's look at
the infinitive showing purpose first.
- "She is coming to help (or in order to help)".
- "They are sending him to tell you what to do".
- "The dog has a long nose to smell better".
- "In order to serve you better, our store has installed anti-theft devices".
Now let's rewrite these sentences using method (2) -- as full
subordinate clauses with finite verbs:
- "She is coming so that she may help".
- "They are sending him so that he may tell you what to do".
- "The dog has a long nose so that it may smell better".
- "In order that we may serve you better, our store has installed anti-theft devices".
Some of these may sound rather over-blown; our native English
sense leans toward simplicity. But there are many cases where we
must we the subordinate clause to show purpose. For example,
there is no way, short of considerable re-writing, to simplify
these purpose clauses down to infinitives.
- "We are coming so that you won't have to work so hard".
- "She is writing the paper so that you can leave early".
The Latin prose you're studying has only one way to show purpose:
a full subordinate clause introduced by "ut" or "ne" (the
negative) plus a finite verb in the subjunctive mood. It never
uses the infinitive to show purpose, the way English does. We
can translate the Latin purpose clause in whichever of the two
English purpose construction seems most natural to us, but never
try to translate an infinitive showing purpose in English
directly into a Latin infinitive.
Id facit ut eos adiuvet.
(He is doing it to help them [or in order to help them,
or so that he may help them].)
Veniunt ne civitates deleantur.
(They are coming so that the cities will not be
destroyed.)
Haec dicit ut discipuli omnia intellegant.
(He is saying these things so that the students will
understand everything.)
Multos libros legit ne stulta videatur.
(She reads many books so that she won't seem foolish.)
A FINAL WORD
"Real" Latin uses the subjunctive mood nearly as often as the
indicative mood, so, obviously, you must thoroughly master the
forms and the uses of the subjunctive. But beyond that, you must
also begin to read Latin, not word by word, but letter by letter.
You must strive to understand every tiny twist and turn of the
morphology of the verbs. As you know, the difference between an
indicative and subjunctive mood is very often just one letter; it
seems like a microscopic difference, but if you fail to note it,
your entire sentence will come grinding to a halt. I strongly
recommend that you first throw this book down for a few hours and
let it "cool" off. Next look over the vocabulary briefly, write
down the entire entry for each verb, and turn to the self-help
tutorials for this chapter, constantly checking the answers.
Then throw the book down. After a few hours -- or the next day -
- look over the vocabulary again, and start the assignment. You
simply must slow down some and watch your steps carefully as you
begin the subjunctive. If you get off the path now, you'll get
more and more lost in the future. By the end of Chapter 30,
you'll have studied all the forms of the subjunctive and many of
its most common uses -- and that's a pretty quick pace.
01/10/93