Latin · Chapter 9 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
The subjunctive: present and imperfect
Amet, amaret. The mood of possibility, purpose and polite command - what the forms look like, and why so much Latin prose lives in it.
The short version
The imperfect subjunctive is the tidiest form in Latin
Take the present active infinitive exactly as the dictionary prints it and add -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. Amare gives amarem, ducere gives ducerem, audire gives audirem, and esse, posse, velle, ferre and ire give essem, possem, vellem, ferrem, irem. There are no exceptions at all. The present subjunctive costs a little more: the first conjugation swaps its -a- for an -e-, and every other conjugation takes an -a-.
ducere, ducerem; amo, amem
On its own, the subjunctive orders, wishes or wonders
In a main clause it does three jobs. It gives an order to somebody who is not you, eamus, let us go, and veniat, let him come, with ne rather than non as the negative. It makes a wish, utinam veniat, may he come, and utinam adesset, if only he were here. And it asks what should be done, quid faciam, what am I to do. Learn the trap early, because ducam is both I shall lead and let me lead.
Utinam veniat.
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