Two past subjunctives: dixerim, dixissem

The perfect subjunctive is the perfect stem plus -erim. The pluperfect subjunctive is the perfect infinitive plus -m. Both mark an action earlier than the main verb: the perfect after a present main verb, the pluperfect after a past one.

Both tenses on one screen

Here is amo in both. Look down each column at what stays fixed: amav- and the tense sign.

The same two tenses on the verbs you use most. Only the perfect stem changes:

No irregular forms. The irregular verbs did their irregular work in the perfect (fui, tuli, potui); from there both subjunctives are mechanical.

The perfect subjunctive: stem plus -erim

Take the perfect, drop its -i, and add -erim, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint:

• Nescio cur venerit. - I do not know why he came.

Perfects in -avi and -ivi often shorten, dropping the -v- and sometimes a syllable:

These are spellings, not new tenses. Recognise them and move on.

The pluperfect subjunctive: the infinitive trick again

The imperfect subjunctive is the present infinitive plus an ending. The pluperfect does the same with the perfect infinitive:

If you can say to have done, you can build it: fecisse gives fecissem.

It is the easiest subjunctive to spot: -iss- plus a personal ending is the pluperfect subjunctive and nothing else. St John uses it to set up a scene:

• Et cum hoc dixisset, ostendit eis manus et latus. - And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. (John 20:20, in the Vulgate)