Download hortatory subjunctive

Grammar Review
First Catullus Module
Topics for Today:
Independent uses of the Subjunctive
Uses of the Genitive Case
Semi-deponent Verbs
Independent Uses of the Subjunctive
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Remember, the subjunctive mood is normally used in
subordinate clauses (= dependent clauses) - for
instance:
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circumstantial, causal or concessive cum clauses
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some conditional clauses (“if clauses”)
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purpose clauses
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some relative clauses (e.g. of character)
To put it another way:
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We should not expect the main verb to be in the
subjunctive mood
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That’s pretty much what “subjunctive” means - it’s a mood
made for subordinate ideas
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But you have learned several exceptions - instances
where the main verb is indeed subjunctive
Independent use of the
Subjunctive means that the
main verb of the sentence is
subjunctive.
Or: the verb in an
independent clause is
subjunctive
The Uses:
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Jussive / Prohibitive
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Hortatory
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Optative
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Potential / Concessive
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Deliberative
Jussive / Prohibitive
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Jussive subjunctive is used for commands, prohibitive
(negative jussive) to forbid.
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Why not just use the imperative?
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Jussive subjunctive is used for commands in the third
person - something that seems very foreign in English:
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Let him come: veniat
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Let them look: spectent
Prohibitive:
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Jussive subjunctive is negated with ne. This is often
called the prohibitive subjunctive (in case you don’t
have enough jargon to learn)
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He must not come: ne veniat
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They must not look: ne spectent
Note the difficulty of consistently translating
jussive/prohibitive
What about second person?
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In theory, a jussive subjunctive would make sense in the
second person, as a polite alternative to the imperative
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In practice, however, only the prohibitive (negative
jussive) is used in the second person
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Don’t do this: ne hoc facias
Hortatory Subjunctive
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You can think of the hortatory subjunctive as the
jussive applied to the first person (I/We)
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It makes sense to us when it’s plural:
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Hortor: I encourage
Let’s look: spectemus
Singular is possible in theory, but it is usually treated as a
wish rather than a command, and therefore called the
optative subjunctive:
Optative Subjunctive
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Used to express a wish, in any person
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Negated with ne (contrast with hortatory)
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Often introduced by utinam
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Without utinam, can be hard to tell apart from the
jussive or hortatory
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videam patrem / utinam patrem videam: may I
see my father!
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ne perdamus amicos: may we not lose our friends
Potential Subjunctive:
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A&G 445: “the mood represents the action as merely
conceived or possible, not as desired (hortatory, optative)
or real (indicative)”
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Sometimes it’s the protasis of an implied conditional:
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Sometimes it’s part of an indefinite expression:
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haec sanus credas: you’d believe this if you were
sensible
freto assimilare possis (Ovid. Met. 5.6), you
might compare it to a sea. [“you” here isn’t a real
person]
Sometimes it’s a cautious assertion:
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velim in forum ire: I’d prefer to go to the forum
Concessive:
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Used to concede a point in argument:
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sit fur, sit sacrilegus: at est bonus
imperator (Cicero. Ver. 5.4), grant he is a thief, a
godless wretch: yet he is a good general.
Deliberative:
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A way of asking a question of oneself
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Imagine the question prefaced by “I ask myself...”
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quid faciam? what am I to do
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quo eat? where is she to go?
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quem spectetis? whom should you look at?
Independent Subjunctive in
Past Tenses
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quid fecissem? what could I have done?
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ne fecisses: if only you hadn’t done it.
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credo, feceris: I believe you would have done it
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There are many more complicated versions of these
subjunctives: Allen & Greenough 439-447 collects a good
number of them
A Word on Jargon
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Not all scholars or teachers agree on the terminology
used to describe these subjunctives. In particular, don’t
be surprised to see hortatory, jussive and prohibitive used
in slightly different ways. Focus on the main idea:
independent subjunctives express wish, potentiality
or command.
NEXT:
The Genitive Case:
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We are used to seeing the genitive used to denote
possession:
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puellae libellus: the girl’s book
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The genitive case has a much wider range of meaning,
expressing relations that have to do with origin, source,
part or cause
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We’re going to focus on the partitive
Partitive Genitive
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A noun that is a part of another noun (singluar or plural), including time or
place
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pars nautarum: a portion of the sailors
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id loci: that place
A number:
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An adjective that expresses quantity:
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duo militum: two of the soldiers
multae feminarum: many of the women
Superlatives:
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pessimus omnium: worst of all
Semi-Deponent Verbs
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You learned that some verbs lack active forms (they put them aside, or
“depose” them). Those verbs use passive forms to express active meaning.
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Some examples of full deponents:
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sequor, sequi, secutus sum: I follow
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ingredior, ingredi, ingressus sum: I enter
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loquor, loqui, locutus sum, to speak, talk
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patior, pati, passus sum: I suffer
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4 Latin verbs have some active forms, but are deponent
in the perfect:
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audeo, -ere, ausus sum, I dare
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gaudeo, -ere, gavisus sum, I rejoice
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fïdo, -ere, fïsus sum, I trust
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soleo, -ere, solitus sum, I am accustomed to
Note that there is no simple way to make a perfect
passive for these verbs; in particular, do not be tempted
to see fisus sum as passive - it is active in sense.