Fearing clauses: timeo ne

After a verb of fearing, ne means that and ut means that not. Timeo ne veniat is I am afraid that he/she will come. That is the reverse of what every other ut and ne has taught you, and it catches almost every learner the first time.

The rule on one screen

The first three lines are the fearing clause proper. The last two are the other things a fear verb can take, further down the page.

Fearing clauses introduced by timeo and ne are on the OCR GCSE Latin prescribed syntax list.

Why ne means that

It is not perverse once you see where it came from. A fearing clause began as two thoughts side by side: a fear, and a wish about the thing feared.

Ne is the ordinary negative of a wish: ne veniat, may he/she not come. Wishing that someone will not come is the same as fearing that they will. Fuse the two thoughts and English turns the wish inside out: I am afraid that he/she will come.

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1. 1Timeo ne canis mordeat.

A cave canem mosaic, beware of the dog, guards the door. The visitor's thought is a fearing clause: timeo ne canis mordeat, I am afraid that the dog will bite (once: I am afraid. May the dog not bite!).

So do not translate the ne at all. Read timeo ne as one unit, I am afraid that, and the clause after it as the thing feared.

ut or ne non?

Both mean that not. The difference is habit, not meaning.

• Non timeo ne non veniat. - I am not afraid that he/she will not come.
• Timeo ne dux non redeat. - I am afraid that the leader will not come back.

The non need not sit beside the ne. And the two do not cancel out: read ne ... non as that ... not, never as a double negative.