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The subjunctive mood can be very difficult to understand, even in Latin with its systematic approach to grammar. I try to unravel the mysteries of the subjunctive by comparing it to the other moods. It isn't the imperative (used for commands), nor the indicative (used for facts, or things close to facts). The subjunctive is used for untruths, possibilities, things that aren't quite real (or whose truth has yet to be determined).
subjunctive mood verbs
Let's learn how to conjugate a verb in the present active subjunctive. It's as easy as "we fear a liar" or "Wendy wears a giant diaper" (with, of course, a few irregulars). Keep in mind that the present subjunctive actually refers to actions happening at the same time as the main verb (unless it is the main verb, as it would be if it were a jussive, potential, optative, or deliberative).
active voice subjunctive mood verbs
The Perfect Active Subjunctive is an easy combination of the perfect stem, the infix -eri-, and the personal endings. But as you're forming it, keep in mind that it is only used with present tense main verbs to show an action that has been already completed.
The pluperfect subjunctive is similar to the pluperfect indicative, only instead of using as your endings the imperfect indicative of sum, it's the imperfect subjunctive. Just don't forget to change the first e to an i!
The present passive subjunctive is very similar to the present active subjunctive. You still have your vowel shift (We fear a liar or Wendy wears a giant diaper), but instead of the active endings, you use the passive ones. Simple, no? Don't forget that the passive of facio is fio, though. This will help you when you come to words like "fiat".
passive voice subjunctive mood verbs
The conjugation of verbs into the imperfect passive subjunctive is just as easy as into the imperfect active subjunctive. Except now we have to worry about deponents, though, and that might make life just a little bit more complicated. Don't worry, though: it's easy if you know the nuts and bolts of the imperfect tense.
The conjugation of a verb in the perfect passive subjunctive requires just a small change from the indicative mood of the perfect passive. Just change the form of sum to sim (or its other forms for other persons and numbers), and you're all set.
The pluperfect passive subjunctive is linked to the indicative conjugation of the pluperfect - swap out the imperfect indicative of sum with the imperfect subjunctive, and the conjugation falls easily into place.
This is the easiest of all Latin conjugations: take the 2nd principal part and just add your personal endings. No ifs, ands, or buts. No exceptions. This video looks a little bit deeper into how the imperfect active subjunctive is actually formed, and knowing what exactly makes up this conjugation will benefit you.
Conditions are if-then statements, and Latin has a very concrete set of regular conditions, both those that are likely to happen (using the indicative mood) and those that are more of a hypothetical nature (using the subjunctive mood). This video explores the six major real and unreal conditions.
subjunctive mood
The jussive subjunctive, also known as the hortatory, is commonly understood as an urging, or gentle command. Let us explore this concept in greater detail with this video! lettuce by Oliver Gomez from the Noun Project
91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood verbs
This video continues our look at some of the independent uses of the subjunctive. The optative subjunctive is used when you wish to convey a wish. Look for the utinam as a clue for when this subjunctive is being used!
What should we learn next? The deliberative subjunctive is used in questions where the speaker expresses some doubt or even generally a bit of self-reflection. It likely arose from the jussive, another main clause subjunctive use, which is discussed in this video.
We wrap up the final of four uses of the subjunctive in the main clause with the potential subjunctive. This is used when expressing a conceivable or potential action, and takes either the present or perfect subjunctive for future actions, and the imperfect subjunctive for past actions. You could perhaps learn a lot from these rules videos, and when you have watched them all, you might have spent your time wisely!
There are four tenses of the subjunctive (present, perfect, imperfect, pluperfect), but in any given sentence, you have just two to choose from. Welcome to the concept of sequence of tenses, which exposes the relativistic nature of the subjunctive mood, where the present and imperfect subjunctive show an action happening at the same time as the main verb, while the perfect and pluperfect subjunctive show an action that is already completed when the main verb takes place. This video will teach you how to know what each tense means, and how to parse and Latin sentence to understand this relationship between the main and subordinate clase.
A proviso is a type of condition that must be fulfilled for the event of the main clause to happen. Latin introduces a proviso clause with one of three conjunctions, dum, modo, or dummodo (a combination of the other two words), and the verb in the proviso clause must be in the subjunctive mood. We can translate each of these with the simple "provided that". This video will explore this clause in its different forms, including negative provisos, as well as the origin of this clause.
91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood
Latin expresses purpose in a multitude of ways, including using the gerund/gerundive and supine. But perhaps the most common way to show purpose is the purpose clause, a clause with a verb in the subjunctive mood introduced by ut, nē, the relative pronoun, or a relative adverb like ubi. These clauses give the reason why the main clause was done and answer the question "why?" This video explores the different types of purpose clauses, and shows how we can translate these into English properly.
The relative clause with a verb in the subjunctive can show a general characteristic, especially when the antecedent (that is, the word the qui, quae, quod is referring to) is general or unknown. This video explores this concept of general characteristic in relative clauses, including phrases like sunt qui, there are those who, and quis est qui, who is there who.
The adjectives dignus, indignus, aptus, and idōneus can take a relative clause with the subjunctive - this is really an extension of the relative clause of characteristic, which we will explore in greater detail in this video. While poets might prefer to use an infinitive phrase, this specific type of relative clause is common in prose.
The result clause is just one of many introduced by ut. As its name suggests, a result clause shows the result of the action in the main clause. In Latin, you will often look for an intensifying word in the main clause that will suggest that a result clause will come. This video also compares the result clause to the purpose clause, which shows the purpose of the action in the main clause.
Causal clauses are those that tell the reason why the main clause happened or was done. In Latin, these are introduced by quod, quia, and quoniam (among others). This video discusses when the indicative mood is used in these clauses, and when the subjunctive verb. Hint: it all comes down to how much you can trust the information given in the clause!
91 rules of grammar indicative mood subjunctive mood
The conjunction cum can introduce clauses that show the general circumstances surrounding an action. When it does so, we still can translate it as "when" (although "after" or "while" can sometimes work) and the verb in the clause is in the subjunctive mood, usually the imperfect or pluperfect. This video looks at the so-called circumstantial cum clause, and explores how this clause differs from a temporal cum clause, which takes its verb in the indicative mood.
Rounding out our discussion of cum clauses are the causal and concessive (or adversative). While cum often means "when", a cum clause can also show the cause of the main clause, and in this case we would translate cum as "since". And sometimes the cum clause operates in opposition to the main clause, often with a tamen, "still" in the main clause. In this case, we translate cum as "although". This video will discuss these two uses, and summarize all four types of cum clauses at the end.
The last few rules have been discussing indirect statements, and this video covers how questions are relayed in indirect speech. Unlike indirect statements which use an infinitive, indirect questions use a verb in the subjunctive mood, even when operating in extended indirect speech. But if the question is rhetorical and no real answer is expected? Then we use the standard accusative plus infinitive construction.
