Grote Workbook, Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

"Imperfect Subjunctive; Present and Imperfect
Subjunctive of Sum and Possum; The Result Clause"

FORMATION OF THE IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE

Wheelock tells you that the imperfect subjunctive is an easy form to recognize and to produce. He tells you that it is, in effect, the present active infinitive plus the personal endings, active or passive. Although this may be a convenient way to look at it, it isn't quite true. The actual morphology is just a little more complicated, and, to spare yourself some confusion in the future, you should learn the real history of the imperfect subjunctive. The formula for the imperfect subjunctive is


     1st principal part   +     se   +    personal endings

Because the "s" of the infix "se" will be intervocalic, it changes to an "r," hence giving the appearance of the regular active infinitive ending "-re". The personal endings are those you use in the present system. (Use "-m" instead of "-o" in the first person singular.) So for the first conjugations, the forms look like this:


     lauda      +    se   +     m    =    laudasem   -    laudarem

     lauda      +    se   +     m    =    laudases   -    laudares

Let's have a look at the imperfect subjunctive in all its forms in all the conjugations.


I.   Laudo (1)

                             ACTIVE                    PASSIVE



           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





II.  Moneo, -ere, monui, monitus



                             ACTIVE                    PASSIVE



           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





III. Duco, -ere, duxi, ductus



                             ACTIVE                    PASSIVE



           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





III i.       Capio, -ere, cepi, captus



                             ACTIVE                    PASSIVE



           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





IV.  Audio, -ire, audivi, auditus



                             ACTIVE                    PASSIVE



           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________





           1st        ____________________      ____________________



           2nd        ____________________      ____________________



           3rd        ____________________      ____________________

As you can see by looking back over these forms, the imperfect subjunctive does in fact look like the present active infinitive with personal endings attached. You can think of it this way if you wish, provided that you're aware that this understanding will have to be revised in the near future.

Wheelock also tells you that the imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clause when the verb of the main clause is a past tense. That's ture, but don't worry about it for now. You should just be alerted to the fact that, just like participles and infinitives, verb in the subjunctive mood don't have absolute tense, but rather they express time relative to the tense of the main verb. This will all be explained in Chapter 30. Your task in this chapter is to learn to recognize an imperfect subjunctive when you see it.

SUBJUNCTIVE OF "SUM" AND "POSSUM"

The present subjunctive of "sum" is the stem "si-" plus the active personal endings. (No passive forms, obviously. What would the verb "to be" mean in the passive voice?) The imperfect subjunctive is the first principal part plus "se" plus the active personal endings. Hence


                es   +    se    +    m    =    essem



SUM, ESSE

                       PRESENT             IMPERFECT



           1st     _______________      _______________



           2nd     _______________      _______________



           3rd     _______________      _______________





           1st     _______________      _______________



           2nd     _______________      _______________



           3rd     _______________      _______________

As you no doubt recall, the verb "possum" in Latin is a compound of the adjective "pot-" and the verb "sum". If you add the "pot-" the present subjunctive of "sum," the "t" of "pot-" will always assimilate to "s". Since all the forms of the present subjunctive of "sum" begin with "s". The imperfect subjunctive of "possum" is best thought of as the present infinitive plus personal endings -- the present infinitive of "possum," that is, which is "posse". Write out the present and imperfect subjunctive of "possum".


POSSUM, POSSE

                       PRESENT             IMPERFECT



           1st     _______________      _______________



           2nd     _______________      _______________



           3rd     _______________      _______________





           1st     _______________      _______________



           2nd     _______________      _______________



           3rd     _______________      _______________

THE RESULT CLAUSE

A subordinate clause which shows the consequence or result of something in the main clause is called, naturally enough, a Result (or Consecutive) Clause. We often tip off our listener in English that a Result Clause is comming up by inserting adverbs like "so" or "such" in the main clause, and the result clause itself is introduced by the subordinating conjunction "that".

"The eclipse made the sky so dark that it seemed like night".
"They wrote so badly that no one could read the letter".
"She was such a good athlete that she easily jumped over the fence".

Latin result clauses are also frequently anticipated by adverbs or special adjectives in the main clause -- "ita, sic, tam, tantus, -a, -um". The clause itself it introduced by "ut" when the result clause is positive, and by "ut" with a negative in the clause when the result is negated. The verb is put into the subjunctive mood.

In the positive result clause, when "ut" is used as the subordinating conjunction, you may think that some confusion between a purpose and a result clause is possible: they're both introduced by "ut" and have a subjunctive verb. This is true in theory, but in practice it happens rarely. If you see "ita," "sic," "tam," or "tantus, -a, -um" in the main clause and an "ut" clause, then you know for certain that the "ut" clause is a result clause. In the majority of cases, result clauses are anticipated somehow in the main clause. There is no possibility of confusing a negative purpose clause with a negative result clause. Negative purpose clauses are introduced with "ne;" negative result clauses start with "ut" and then negate the verb in the clause with "non," "numquam" etc., or by using a negative pronoun such as "nemo".

Id sic fecerunt ut omnes metu liberarentur.
("They did it in such a way that everyone was freed from fear".)
Scripserunt ita male ut nemo litteras legere posset.
("They wrote so badly, that no one was able to read the letter".)
Tantum ferrum tenebat ut territi hostes fugerent.
("He was holding such a great sword that the terrified enemy ran away".)

Wheelock gives you several examples in the chapter which show you the difference between purpose and result clauses. You should study them carefully -- and by all means work through his self-help tutorials for this chapter. It takes a while for this all to settle in.

VOCABULARY PUZZLES


ita, sic, tam   	The adverbs which anticipate result clauses are

	                not entirely interchangeable.  "Sic" is used

	                primarily to qualify verbs: "Id sic fecit ut..".

	                The other two, "ita" and "tam" can qualify verbs,

	                adjectives or other adverbs: "Via erat tam [ita]

	                longa ut..". or "Tam [ita] male scripserunt ut..".

	                or "Id tam [ita] fecit ut..".



tantus, -a, -um      	This adjective for some reason always throws

	                students off at first.  It means basically

	                "so great" but some flexibility is required

	                to get this over into smooth English.  Study

	                carefully the way this adjective is used.



quidem          	It's an adverb meaning "indeed, certainly," and is

	                postpositive (it's never the first word in a

	                sentence or clause.) This poses no problem.  But

	                the expression "ne...quidem" is sometimes

	                difficult to spot.  "Ne X quidem" means "not even

	                X".  Watch out for this.  When you see "quidem,"

	                check to see whether there is a "ne" one word

	                back.  If you miss this construction, you'll mess

	                up the sentence badly.