Definition & General Considerations
The subjunctive mood, to put it as broadly as possible, indicates actions that are either unreal or not-yet-real. Here are two examples:
- I wouldn't do that if I were you. (I am not you; this states something that is contrary to known facts--something unreal.)
- I went to Mr. Barnes' room so that I might enjoy a Krispy Kreme® doughnut. (This is a not-yet-real thing because we only know that I intended to do it; but if Mr. Barnes had eaten them all, then I would have been thwarted and the action would, alas, remain in the realm of dashed hopes.)
- Let us never give up the study of Latin. (This is an exhortation--something more than a wish but less than an outright command; in any event, it expresses an action that has not yet happened.)
If it be pointed out that the future indicative must necessarily also refer to not-yet-real actions, then one should conceive of the difference thus: the future indicative refers to a not-yet-real action that admits of greater certainty. For example, any weatherman who's been on the job knows that he should use the subjunctive ("It may rain tomorrow"), unless he's predicting something of which he is pretty sure (e.g., "The sun will rise tomorrow"--future indicative).
Forms
The subjunctive mood comprises four tenses: present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect (if you think about the definition offered above, you can see why the future tenses are missing). For now we restrict ourselves to the first two of these.
Present Subjunctive
The present subjunctive is distinguished by what is known technically as a "mood sign," which is simply a particular vowel which replaces the stem vowel in each of the four conjugations. You can remember these special vowels by this mnemonic device:
The four words in this little sentence correspond to the four conjugations (for present purposes, the 3rd -io behaves just like a 4th). The vowel in each word is the mood-sign for the present subjunctive: "e" in 1st, "ea" in 2nd, etc. To these vowels are attached endings pretty much like the ones you already know and love:
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | -m | -mus |
| 2nd | -s | -tis |
| 3rd | -t | -nt |
NB the 1st singular ending, which is different from that found in the in present indicative. Put it all together, and you get tables like these:
| 1st conj. | 2nd conj. | 3rd conj. | 3rd -io/4th conj. | irregular | |
| 1st sing. | parem | moneam | regam | audiam | sim |
| 2nd sing. | pares | moneas | regas | audias | sis |
| 3rd sing. | paret | moneat | regat | audiat | sit |
| 1st plur. | paremus | moneamus | regamus | audiamus | simus |
| 2nd plur. | paretis | moneatis | regatis | audiatis | sitis |
| 3rd plur. | parent | moneant | regant | audiant | sint |
Imperfect subjunctive
This tense is very easy to form and to identify. It consists of the present active infinitive (i.e. the 2nd principal part) of any verb and the endings tabulated above. This rule covers all verbs, without exception. The first person singular imperfect subjunctive for the conjugations would therefore look like these (the hyphens are inserted only to distinguish the infinitive from the ending):
| 1st conj. | 2nd conj. | 3rd conj. | 3rd -io/4th conj. | irregular | |
| 1st sing. | parare-m | monere-m | regere-m | audire-m | esse-m |
Subjunctive Usage
The subjunctive may frustrate you at first because you cannot rely on one translation that works first time, every time, as is true with indicatives and imperatives. The translation will vary according to the construction of the subjunctive, i.e. the particular syntactical function that the subjunctive verb plays in the sentence. As the year goes on, we shall systematically explore the various constructions of the subjunctive, and with practice you will be able to discern and differentiate them.
To begin it will be useful to distinguish "independent" vs. "subordinate" constructions of the subjunctive, i.e. those in which the subjunctive is the main verb in a sentence, in distinction to those that are in dependent clauses. In chapter 34 we meet two important subjunctive constructions.
Hortatory Subjunctive
Also known as the "jussive subjunctive," the hortatory subjunctive expresses an exhortation--not as strong as an imperative, but intended to spur someone to action. This is an independent subjunctive construction, occurring only in the present tense and in the 1st and 3rd persons. The negative is ne. Translate with "Let..." Examples:
ne felem iterum calcitrem. Let me not kick a cat ever again.
fanum Apollonis intremus. Let us enter Apollo's shrine.
verba Apollonis cum reverentia audiantur. Let the words of Apollo be heard with reverence.This important construction is invariably a subordinate clause that states the purpose why the action described in the main clause has been undertaken. Purpose clauses can be translated into English clauses with the conjunction "so that" and the auxiliary verbs "may" and "might," or, more simply, into English infinitive phrases. The negative is ne. (NB if the purpose clause is thus negated, the simple English infinitive will not work; use "so that..." or the somewhat antiquated conjunction "lest.")
The tense of the subjunctive verb is either present or imperfect, depending on the tense of the verb in the main clause. The relation between the tenses is dictated by the so-called "sequence of tenses," which can be tabulated thus:
| If the verb in the main clause is: | then the tense of the subjunctive verb will be: |
| Present or Future or Future Perfect | Present |
| Imperfect or Perfect or Pluperfect | Imperfect |
Translate the present subjunctive with "may," the imperfect with "might"--or avoid the issue and use the infinitive. For example:
fanum Apollonis intravimus ut verba eius audiamus.
We entered Apollo's shrine to hear his words.
or
We entered Apollo's shrine so that we might hear his words.verbis Apollonis parebimus ne ille nos puniat.
We shall obey Apollo's words so that he may not punish us.
or
We shall obey Apollo's words lest he punish us.