Grammar: Imperative and Subjunctive
Commands
In Latin, there are lots of ways to "make" things happen, using
both the imperative mood but also the subjunctive mood.
You need to be able to recognize when commands are given both in the imperative
and using the subjunctive. You also need to understand how to make negative
commands, using noli + infinitive or using ne + subjunctive.
Imperative Mood
You are familiar with the imperative, which is used to issue direct
orders in the second person singular and the second person plural.
Tace!
Shut up! (you!)
Tacete!
Shut up! (all of you!)
Make sure that you are familiar with both the active and passive imperative
forms for all the verb conjugations. Passive commands are rare, but since
deponent verbs takes passive forms, this means that the imperative form
of deponent verbs will take the passive endings. (Notice how the second
person singular passive form sure looks a lot like the infinitive form!)
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Conj. I |
Conj. II |
Conj. III |
Conj. III-i |
Conj. IV |
active |
ama, amate |
mone, monete |
duce, ducite |
cape, capite |
audi, audite |
passive |
amare, amamini |
monere, monemini |
ducere, ducimini |
capere, capimini |
audire, audimini |
Negative imperatives. The easiest way to form the negative imperative
is to use the imperative of the verb nolo plus the infinitive:
Noli dormire! Don't sleep
Nolite dormire! Don't sleep (you guys)
Future Imperative
You will occasionally find forms of the so-called "future imperative"
in Latin. There is no difference in meaning between the imperative and
the future imperative. This is most common with the verb to be:
Esto! Be!
Estote! Be! (plural)
You are probably already familiar with the future imperative form of
the verb memini: memento! remember!
Subjunctive Mood: Second Person
It is actually very common to find that the subjunctive can be used as
an imperative, making somebody in the second person singular or plural
do something:
Taceas!
Shut up! (you!)
Taceate!
Shut up! (all of you!)
Negative subjunctive. Remember that the negative subjunctive is
not formed with non, but with ne.
Ne loquare!
Don't speak! (you!)
Ne loquamini!
Don't speak! (you guys!)
Subjunctive Mood: Third Person
Sometimes you may want to give a command to somebody in the third person.
This is good for kings and other bossy people. To make somebody in the
third person do something, you use the subjunctive. This is called the
jussive subjunctive.
Taceat!
Let him be quiet!
Taceant!
Let them be quiet!
The negative is formed with ne:
Ne dormiant!
Let them not sleep!
Subjunctive Mood: First Person
Finally, you may try to make yourself do something! Or to try to get
the people you are with (first person plural) to do something. To do this,
you use the subjunctive again. This is called the hortatory subjunctive.
Taceam!
If only I could keep my mouth shut!
Taceamus!
Let's keep our mouths shut!
The negative is formed with ne:
Ne timeamus!
Let us not be afraid!
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