01/10/93


                             CHAPTER 31

                  "Cum with the Subjunctive; Fero"


CUM AS A SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION

You're already well-acquainted with the preposition "cum" +
ablative case, meaning "with".  There is also a word "cum" which
is not a preposition at all, but a subordinating conjunction.
Even though "cum" the conjunction looks exactly like "cum" the
preposition, the two words actually have different histories.
They are not the same word at all.  The difficulty with
translating the conjunction "cum" is that it has a wide variety
of meanings and can take either the indicative or the subjunctive
mood in its clause.

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) strictly
temporal (when); (b) circumstantial (as, whereas, since, because,
although).  When "cum" is temporal, the mood of the verb in its
clause is often indicative.  It is almost always indicative when
the tense of the verb in the main clause is present or future
tense.  When the tense of the main verb is one of the past
tenses, then the mood of the "cum" clause is most often
subjunctive.  But when the "cum" clause is circumstantial, then
the mood of its verb is always subjunctive.

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.


(a)  "Cum responderit [fut. perf.], omnia intellegetis".

     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".

(b)  "Cum respondisset, omnia intellexistis".

     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..".

(c)  "Cum respondisset, non tamen intellexistis".

     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".

(d)  "Cum responderet, non aderatis".

     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".

(e)  "Cum responderit, omnia iam intellegitis".

     In primary sequence the perfect subjunctive shows time
     prior. Tr. "Because he answered, you now understand
     everything".


THE IRREGULAR VERB FERO, FERRE, TULI, LATUS


"Fero" is a very widely-used verb in Latin, as its stem shows up
in more than a dozen compound verbs.  It's important to master it
thoroughly right now, otherwise it will haunt you for as long as
you read Latin.  Just by looking at the principal part of the
verb, you can tell that the verb "fero" is going to be unlike any
verb you've seen before.  The verb is third conjugation, so the
stem of the verb in the present system is "fere-", with a short
"-e-" thematic vowel.  For the most part, the verb conjugates
just like a regular third conjugation verb.

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.


I.   PRESENT SYSTEM

     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      _______________                           _______________



II.  PERFECT SYSTEM

The perfect system, because it is formed from the third and
fourth principal parts, is enitrely regular (except that third
and fourth principal parts are themselves unusual suppletive
forms).  For the sake of thoroughness, and to prove to you that
the verb is not so irregular as you may think, write out the
perfect system for the verb "fero".


     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    ____________________       ____________________



VOCABULARY PUZZLES

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.

