Even though we can distinguish some broad classes of meanings, it is still difficult sometimes to tell just which one of them "cum" is using in a given sentence, and therefore which of our several English conjunctions will best translate it. In this respect, "cum" is is similar to our conjunction "as", which has quite a range of meanings, and at times seems to be using many of them all at once. For example,
"As I was coming in the door, I saw my friend".Does this sentence mean "I saw my friend because I was coming in the door" or does it mean "I saw my friend while I was coming in the door". It's hard to say, and in fact both could be true at the same time. For if I hadn't been coming in the door at that time I wouldn't have seen my friend. This same kind of fusion of meanings exists for the conjunction "cum", so it will take some sensitivity to the context for you to come up with an accurate translation for "cum".
There are two categories of meanings for "cum":
A circumstantial "cum" clause can be translated as "since", "because", and "although". This may seem odd, because "although" indicates that there is an incompatibility between the subordinate and main clauses -- that given the circumstances of the subordinate clause, the event in the main should not take place. We call a clause like this "concessive". "Because" and "since", however, indicate a direct causal link between the subordinate and main clauses. How can the same subordinating conjunction denote two such disparate relations? And how will you know which is being represented in a given "cum" clause?
The answer to the first question isn't easy, but perhaps it will help to remember that a "cum" clause is generally circumstantial -- it merely sets a backdrop for the the action in the main clause -- without spelling out what the relationship is between them. You've already seen in participles and ablative absolute constructions that Latin tends to be much less insistent about specifying the exact logical or temporal relationship between subordinate and main elements in its sentences. The answer to the second question is that you must rely on context to tell you which of the relationships is the more plausible. That is, admittedly, somewhat unsatisfactory, but often that is all we'll have to go by. Very often, however, Latin will help the reader along by inserting a "tamen" or some other such word in the main clause if the "cum" clause is meant to be taken as concessive.
Obviously there's more here than you really need to know to get started with "cum" clauses -- and there is still more you'll have to know to read Latin at advanced levels. For your needs, at your stage in Latin, you should know that "cum" clauses are either temporal or circumstantial, have a range of possible meanings which you must consider, and may take the indicative of the subjunctive mood. But when it does employ the subjunctive mood, "cum" clauses must observe the sequence of tenses, which govern the tenses of subordinate subjunctives. Let's look at several examples of the different "cum" clauses.
This "cum" clause is temporal, and because the subjunctive isn't being used, the sequence of tenses doesn't apply. Tr. "When he answers (will have answered), you will understand everything".
Now the "cum" clause is subjunctive, so we have to bring in the rules governing the tenses of subordinate subjunctives. Since the sentence is in secondary sequence because of the tense of the main verb, the pluperfect subjunctive in thhe "cum" clause show time prior. Tr. "Because he had answered, you understood everything", or "When he had answered..". or "Since he had answered..".
Here the "tamen" tells us that the "cum" clause is not causal or temporal but concessive. Tr. "Although he answered, you still (nevertheless) did not understand".
In secondary sequence -- "ad + eratis" -- the imperfect subjunctive of the subordinate subjunctive "responderet" shows contemporaneous time. Tr. "When he was answering, you were not present".
In primary sequence the perfect subjunctive shows time prior. Tr. "Because he answered, you now understand everything".
If you look at the second principal part, however, the thematic vowel "-e-" is missing: the infinitive ending "-re" is added to "fer-" not to "fere-". Hence the infinitive form "ferre" instead of "ferere". This is the main irregularity of the verb "fero". In the present tense, the thematic vowel is dropped before some endings. The thematic vowel -- a short "e" -- is dropped before endings that begin with the letters "r"",s", or "t". Keeping this in mind, try to write out the present system active and passive.
A. INDICATIVE ACTIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________Did you get them all? As you can see, the irregularity does not apply at all to the future and imperfect tenses, where the intervening vowels and tense signs come between the stem and the personal endings that would have produced the irregularity. Now the passive voice in the present system indicative.
B. INDICATIVE PASSIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________Once again, the irregularity of the disappeaaring thematic vowel is restricted to the present tense where there is no tense vowel between the stem and the personal endings. Let's look now at the present system subjunctive active.
C. SUBJUNCTIVE ACTIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________The present subjunctive uses the vowel "-a-" as its mood sign, so the endings are not added directly to the stem. No irregularities here. It looks just like a normal third conjugation verb in the present subjunctive. But look at the imperfect subjunctive. The formula for all imperfect subjunctives is: stem + "se" + personal endings. The "-s-" of the mood sign becomes intervocalic and turns to an "-r-" and "-r-" is one of those consonants the stem vowel doesn't like. So the base form for the imperfect subjunctive becomes "ferre-". And that looks just like the active infinitive. Now the present system of tenses in subjunctive passive.
D. SUBJUNCTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________
A. INDICATIVE ACTIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ B. INDICATIVE PASSIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ C. SUBJUNCTIVE ACTIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ D. SUBJUNCTIVE PASSIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________Finally, we should have a look at the imperative, participial, and infinitive moods.
III. IMPERATIVES Sing. ____________________ Plur. ____________________ IV. PARTICIPLES ACTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT ____________________ FUTURE ____________________ ____________________ PERFECT ____________________ V. INFINITIVES ACTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT ____________________ ____________________ FUTURE ____________________ [____________________] PERFECT ____________________ ____________________
Confero, conferre, contuli, collatus As I warned you, the verb "fero" is used in a great number of compound verbs -- prepositional prefixes added to verb roots. Here the preposition "cum" is prefixed to the root "fero", rendering the meaning "to bring together", or "to bring together for comparison". Look at the fourth principal part of this verb. It's not "conlatus" as you may expect, but the "-n-" of the prefix assimilates to the "-l-" of the verbal stem. You've got to be on the look out for this, because if you saw the form "collatus" in your reading and tried to look it up under "colfero" you wouldn't find it. You've got to get good at recognizing the stem "lat-" from "fero" and then allowing yourself some flexibility at coming up with the right prefix. Se conferre A verb common idiom with the "confero" is to use the reflexive pronoun to mean "to go" (lit. "to betake oneself"). So "me confero" means "I go", "te confers" means "you go", "nos conferimus" means "We go", "Vos contulistis" means "you went", etc. Offero, offerre, obtuli, oblatus It means "to offer", obviously, but look at the third and fourth principal parts: the prefix has been replaced by "ob-". You must simply remember this.01/10/93