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Verbs

Verbs are words that inflect for person, number, tense, mood, and voice.


Agreement

A verb and its subject agree in person and number. AG 316

A participle, which is a verbal adjective, agrees with the noun it modifies just as any other adjective does. AG 488

Infinitives and gerunds are verbal nouns. They are always neuter singular. AG 452, 501-502


Tense

The tense of a verb form indicates whether the action it describes takes place in the past, the present, or the future. AG 464


Tenses of the present system

The present system includes the present, the imperfect, and the future. Often the tenses of the present system are used for continuing or repeated action, as opposed to action that happens once and is done with. This is, in particular, the main difference between the imperfect and the present perfect. AG 465, 470, 472


Tenses of the perfect system

The perfect system includes the present perfect (often just called "perfect"), the past perfect or pluperfect, and the future perfect. These tenses generally indicate completed action. It is convenient to think of these tenses as the present, past, and future of the perfect system. AG 473, 477, 478


Tenses of infinitives and participles

Infinitives and participles also have tenses, though not all possible tenses. These tenses show the relationship of the infinitive or participle to the time of the main verb of the clause. AG 486, 489


Tenses of the subjunctive; sequence of tenses

The tense of a verb in the subjunctive in a subordinate clause depends on its relationship to the time of the main clause. When the main verb refers to the present or the future (a "primary" tense), the subjunctive is a present tense. When the main verb refers to the past (a "secondary" tense), the subjunctive is in a past tehse. If the action described by the subjunctive verb comes before the action of the main verb (that is, it is completed action at the time of the main verb), the subjunctive comes from the perfect system. If the subjunctive desribes an action at the same time as that of the main verb, or an action that comes after that of the main verb (that is, action that is not completed), the subjunctive comes from the present system. So:

Main verb primaryMain verb secondary
Subjunctive happens before (complete)Perfect subjunctivePluperfect subjunctive
Subjunctive happens after (incomplete)Present subjunctiveImperfect subjunctive

AG 482-483


Mood

Latin has three finite moods: the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. The verbal nouns and adjectives are non-finite moods: the infinitives, participles, gerund, gerundive, and supine. AG 154-155


Indicative

The indicative is the usual mood of ordinary statement. Most independent clauses are in the indicative. AG 437

Clauses with “cum” take the indicative when the “cum-”clause says when the main clause happens or happened. AG 545

Simple conditional sentences take the indicative in both protasis and apodosis. These include the "future more vivid." AG 514, 515, 516

Relative clauses normally take the indicative. AG 304

Causal clauses with “quia” or “quod” normally take the indicative. AG 540


Subjunctive

The subjunctive is the mood of subordination. AG 438 See also sequence of tenses, above.

Clauses with “cum” take the subjunctive when the “cum-”clause tells something about the circumstances around the main action. AG 546

Concessive and causal “cum-”clauses also take the subjunctive. AG 549

Subordinate clauses in indirect discourse take the subjunctive, though clauses that are not actually part of the quotation take the same mood as they would in direct discourse. AG 580, 585

Indirect questions take the subjunctive. AG 574

Conditional sentences take the subjunctive when the protasis is false; these are "contrary to fact" conditionals. "Future less vivid" conditionals, where the protasis gives a supposition or hypothesis that might or might not be true, also use the subjunctive. Sometimes general or "whenever" conditionals take the subjunctive, but these may also be treated as simple conditionals. AG 514, 516, 517, 518

  • Nostri, si ab illis initium transeundi fieret, parati in armis erant.Caesar, BG 2.9 Our troops were ready in case theirs might begin to cross. The protasis is a hypothesis and the apodosis a fact; the protasis uses the imperfect subjunctive for subsequent action in secondary sequence.
  • Si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset.Catullus 83.3-4 If Lesbia will forget about us and be quiet (which is not what she is doing), she will be OK (but instead she's going to fall in love). The protasis and apodosis are both contrary to fact; the imperfect subjunctive is used for continuing action, because the entire poem is cast in the present tense (cf. “dicit”, line 1).

Purpose clauses, sometimes called "final" clauses, take the subjunctive. AG 531

Result clauses, sometimes called "consecutive" clauses, take the subjunctive. AG 537

Relative clauses "of characteristic" also take the subjunctive; these give a general rule characterizing the antecedent. AG 534-535

Relative clauses can take the subjunctive when they are equivalent to purpose clauses; here “qui” is equivalent to “ut is”. AG 531

The subjunctive can also be used in independent clauses, though this is relatively rare. Independent clauses with the subjunctive include commands ("hortatory" or "jussive" subjunctive, AG 439-440), wishes ("optative" subjunctive, AG 441-442), or doubtful questions ("deliberative" subjunctive, AG 444).

Negative commands are also independent clauses with the subjunctive, except of course those that use “noli” with the infinitive. AG 450


Imperative

The imperative is the mood of command. AG 448

Commands or requests can also be expressed with the subjunctive. Negative commands often take the subjunctive; positive requests may. AG 450, 439-440


Voice

Voice indicates whether the grammatical subject is the agent. AG 156


Active

In the active voice, the grammatical subject does the action of the verb.


Passive

In the passive voice, the grammatical subject receives or suffers the action of the verb.

The agent of a passive verb appears in a prepositional phrase using the preposition “ab”. AG 405


Infinitives

The infinitive is most often used for indirect statement. AG 580

Some verbs require a complementary infinitive. AG 456

The infinitive is also a verbal noun that can be the subject or object of another verb. AG 452-455


Participles

Participles are verbal adjectives. AG 488

The perfect passive participle forms the perfect passives as compound tenses: the (present) perfect indicative and subjunctive passive, the pluperfect indicative and subjunctive passive, and the future perfect indicative passive. In these tenses the participle agrees with the subject.

The gerundive forms the passive periphrastic as a compound tense. The gerundive agrees with the subject, and is neuter singular when the subject is impersonal. AG 500

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