Ch 7 · Lesson 16Latin · Chapter 7 · Lesson 16 · Grammar primer
When you come: tenses in time clauses
, : when you come, I will tell you, with a future perfect where English has a present. And , after he had taken, with a perfect where English has had.
The short version
After
, .
Why?Hide
English says after he had taken the city; Latin says , with the plain perfect. The same goes after and ac. Translate that perfect with had when it reads better, and keep the true pluperfect for a past before another past.
Latin says when you will have come, and means it
, .
Why?Hide
The pluperfect is the perfect stem plus the imperfect of : , I had said. The future perfect is the same stem plus the future of , with one deviation, -erint in the third plural: , , . Then Latin uses that tense with a precision English has given up on. , is when you come, I will tell you, but the Latin literally says when you will have come, because the arriving finishes before the telling starts.
Latin has six tenses in the indicative. The future (, he will say) is built on the present stem; the pluperfect (, he had said) and the future perfect (, he will have said) are built on the perfect stem. Here are all six on one verb.
| Tense | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| Present | | he says |
| Imperfect | | he was saying |
| Future | | he will say |
| Perfect | | he said |
| Pluperfect | | he had said |
| Future perf. | | he will have said |
dixerat: he had said (before a past moment)
dicebat: he was saying
dixit: he said
dicit: he says
dixerit: he will have said (before a future moment)
dicet: he will say
Timeline from past to future, with now marked.
Three tenses on the present stem -, three on the perfect stem dix-. Learn the perfect and the last three cost almost nothing.
When you come: the future perfect after cum and si
English puts a future action into the present after when and if: when you come, I will tell you. Latin marks the time. If the action will be finished before the main verb, it takes the future perfect.
| After | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| , . | When you come, I will tell you. |
| , . | If you do this, you will be happy. |
| , . | When we reach the port, we will write. |
Catullus invites a friend to dinner with exactly this pattern, and the joke is in the condition: the guest brings the dinner.
Cenabis , Fabulle, ... attuleris cenam.- You will dine well at my house, Fabullus, if you bring a good big dinner with you. (Catullus 13)
Cenabis is a plain future; attuleris is the future perfect of , because the bringing comes first.
After postquam: the perfect, not the pluperfect
In past narrative the habit runs the other way. After (after), (when) and ac (as soon as), Latin normally uses the plain perfect where English says had:
, .- After he had taken the city, he went back home., .- When he had said this, he went away.
The perfect is translated had taken. So do not hunt for a Latin pluperfect behind every English had, and do not force a Latin perfect into a plain past when had reads better. The true pluperfect stands out for that reason: in the section above marks a past before the past.
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| | -e- is the third-conjugation future |
| | -bi- is future, -ba- imperfect |
mittebit | | third conjugation: no -b- (classical) |
| | future perfect plural is -erint |
Going further: The future comes in two shapes and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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