01/10/93


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.

