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Rule 81: Causal Clauses

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

Rule 82: Temporal Clauses

Temporal clauses are those that relate to time, and in Latin these clauses exclusively have a verb in the indicative mood. This video will cover examples of such clauses, especially those introduced by postquam, ubi, ut, and simul atque, all of which mean "after" or "when".

91 rules of grammar indicative mood verbs

Rule 83: Temporal cum Clauses

The conjunction cum can introduce temporal clauses when the verb in the clause is in the indicative mood. In other words, cum means "when" and shows the precise time of the main clause when the verb is in the mood used for factual actions. This video explores this concept with examples from the ancient world.

91 rules of grammar indicative mood

Rule 84: Circumstantial cum Clauses

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.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

Rule 85: Causal and Concessive cum Clauses

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.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

Rule 86: Indirect Statement

If you want to read ancient works of Latin, you need to understand the concept of indirect statement - when the author reports speech in an indirect way. Latin will put the subject of the indirect speech into the accusative case, and the action will be an infinitive. Any subordinate clause in indirect speech puts its verb in the subjunctive mood. This video explores this idea in a very basic way, and the videos that follow in the 91 Rules series will go more in depth with indirect discourse (oratio obliqua).

91 rules of grammar infinitives

Rule 87: Tenses in Indirect Statement

As we continue exploring indirect speech in Latin, it's important to think about the tense of the verb / infinitive in an indirect statement. Infinitives have only three tenses, and we need to think about these tenses as reflecting relative rather than absolute time. So a present infinitive shows an action happening at the same time as the head verb, a perfect infinitive an action has is already complete with the head verb occurs, and a future infinitive an action that has yet to happen.

91 rules of grammar infinitives

Deponent Verbs

Verbs in Latin come in two different voices, the active and the passive. But then there's this other set of verbs that don't seem to fit nicely into these categories. Deponent verbs are those that have passive forms, but we assign them active meanings in English: the look passive but are translated actively. This video discusses the concept of deponents with examples, and posits a possible explanation for the age old question: why do deponents even exist?

active voice passive voice verbs

The Urine Tax: Vespasian's Great Legacy

Urine was a very precious commodity for the ancient Romans. So precious, in fact, that several emperors, including Nero and Vespasian, placed a tax on urine. In this video, you will learn about the legacy of one of these emperors, who gave his name to public urinals in some parts of the modern world.

culture minutiae

Rule 88: Questions in Indirect Speech

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.

91 rules of grammar subjunctive mood

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