Good news at last: clauses of fearing is one of the simplest of the subjunctive constructions (with perhaps one quirk), for the very good reason that a verb that means "fear" or "be afraid" in the main clauses always alerts you to a clause of fearing. These invariably have their verb in the subjunctive mood, the tense being determined by the sequence of tenses. The following table provides examples of this subjunctive clause as it commonly occurs in Latin.
| Fear for present or future* | Fear for the past** | |
| Primary sequence |
Octavianus timet ne Antonius fugiat. Octavian is afraid that Antony may flee/will flee/is fleeing. |
Octavianus timet ne Antonius fugerit. Octavian is afraid that Antony has fled. |
| Secondary sequence |
Octavianus timuit ne Antonius fugeret. Octavian was afraid that Antony might flee/would flee/was fleeing. |
Octavianus timuit ne Antonius fugisset. Octavian was afraid that Antony had fled. |
Notes:
*The present & imperfect subjunctives are used interchangably to indicate either a fear for a present, real event, or a fear for a possible, future event. English can make this distinction through its auxiliary verbs--hence the possible translations listed between the slashes in the box above.
**The perfect & pluperfect subjunctives are used to represent fear over an actual event that has already happened; for these English has only one translation, a past tense of the indicative.
Unlike purpose clauses and indirect commands, the meaning of the particles ut and ne is reversed in clauses of fearing. So:
To state a "positive" fear, e.g. "I am afraid that I may flunk the test," USE ne.
To state a "negative" fear, e.g. "I am afraid that I may not pass the test," USE ut or ne...non.