USES OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE:

INDEPENDENT-CLAUSE USES:

• Hortatory
• "Let's ...."
  
• Jussive
• A sort of command often in the third person: "Let him/her/them ...."
  
• Deliberative
• Used to ask questions involving deliberation: "Should I ... ?"
• Concessive
• Used in sentences like "Granted he is a thief." Sit fur.
• Optative wish subjunctives
• often but not always preceded by the word utinam
  
• ita vivam="May I live thus"
• ne vivam="May I not live"
• ita viverem="Would that I were living this (but I am not)": used of unreal wishes
• ita vixissem="Would that I had lived thus (but I did not)": unreal past wish
• Potential subjunctives
• temptarem eius prudentiam="I would have tested his wisdom"
• These subjunctives can most easily be thought of as the apodoses to conditions where the protasis (the if-clause) is not expressed.
• In the apodosis of conditionals
• present subjunctive = "future-less-vivid" (aka "should-would" conditionals)
• imperfect subjunctive = present unreal (aka "present contrary-to-fact)
• pluperfect subjunctive = past unreal (aka "past contrary-to-fact
  

DEPENDENT-CLAUSE USES:
All of these follow the sequence of tenses (see below).

• Relative Clause of Characteristic
• Introduced by a relative pronoun or adverb
• Translate usually by adding "of the sort ..." to the usual translation
  
• Example:
• Ei qui hoc faciant boni sunt.
• Those of the sort who do this are good men.
• NOTE: there are many relative clauses of characteristic which are even better translated as result or purpose clauses.
• Hoc quod faciam paratus sum = "I have prepared to do this" OR (not as good) "I have prepared for the sort of thing which I do."
  
• Purpose Clause (aka "Final" clause)
  
• Introduced by ut or ne
• Translated with "in order that..."
• Example:
• Hoc facio ut illud facias.
• I do this in order that you do that.
  
• Result Clause (aka "consecutive" clause)
  
• Introduced by ut or ut non
• Translated with "with the result that ..."
• Example:
• Hoc facio ut illud facias.
• I do this with the result that you do that.
  
• Fear Clause
• Introduced by ne or ut
• Translation:
• ne = "that ... "
  
• ut = "that ... not ..."
• Examples:
1. Timeo ne hoc facias = I fear that you are doing this.
2. Timeo ut hoc facias = I fear that you are not doing this.
   
• Nominal UT/NE Clauses
• Introduced by ut or ne
• Translation: usually as an English infinitive.
• These clauses act like nouns
• Examples:
• Fac ut eum laudes = Be sure to praise him.
• The only way to know if a verb takes this construction is to know it: there is no sure way to predict it. Examples of verbs which take this sort of clause include necesse est, licet, facio, accidit, evenit, fit, tantum abest, etc.
• NOTE: indirect commands are simply a particular kind of nominal ut/ne clause.
  
• Indirect Commands (these are really just nominal UT/NE clauses)
• Introduced by ut or ne
• Translate usually as an English infinitive.
• Example:
• Impero tibi ut hoc facias = I order you to do this.
  
• Most verbs of commanding take this construction (with the important exception of iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussum, which takes acc. + inf.)
• Indirect Questions
• Introduced by a question word
• Example:
• Rogo te quis ille sit = I ask you who that is.
  
• ANY Subordinate Clause in Indirect Speech
• There is an exception: when the writer wants to state such a clause as a fact and emphasize that it was not part of the original indirect speech, it goes into the indicative
• Cum circumstantial clauses
• any cum clause in which it is appropriate to translate cum as "since" or "although"
• Cum temporal clauses referring to the past
• any cum clause REFERRING TO THE PAST in which it is appropriate to translate cum as "once," "after," "when," etc. (that is, as a temporal conjunction without causal or concessive implications) MAY TAKE THE SUBJUNCTIVE (but does not have to).
• Protases of conditionals
• "Should-would" aka "future-less-vivid" conditionals have present subjunctive in the protasis (the if-clause) and also in the main clause (aka the apodosis)
• Present unreal conditionals (aka "present contrary-to-fact") have the imperfect subjunctive in the protasis (the if-clause) and also in the main clause (aka the apodosis)
• Past unreal conditionals (aka "past contrary-to-fact") have the pluperfect subjunctive in the protasis (the if-clause) and also in the main clause (aka the apodosis)
  
• THERE ARE SEVERAL ADDITIONAL USES OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE: antequam and priusquam sometimes take the subjunctive, quin, etc.
  

SEQUENCE OF TENSES:

	MAIN VERB on which the subordinate clause depends	Subordinate Subjunctive
PRIMARY SEQUENCE Includes ALL verbs referring to the present or future (Regardless of their grammatical tense)	Usually the present, future, future perfect, AND the perfect when translated with "have"	AT THE SAME TIME AS OR LATER THAN THE MAIN VERB: "Present" subjunctive
		PRIOR TO THE MAIN VERB: "Perfect" subjunctive
		EMPHATICALLY LATER THAN THE MAIN VERB: "Future" subjunctive #1 (i.e. fut. active participle + sim, sis, sit ..." Note: the present subjunctive is often used instead.
SECONDARY SEQUENCE Includes ALL verbs referring to the past (Regardless of their grammatical tense)	Usually the imperfect, pluperfect, AND the perfect when translated w/o "have"	AT THE SAME TIME AS OR LATER THAN THE MAIN VERB: "Imperfect" subjunctive
		PRIOR TO THE MAIN VERB: "Pluperfect" Subjunctive
		EMPHATICALLY LATER THAN THE MAIN VERB: "Future" subjunctive #2 (i.e. future active participle + essem, esses, esset ..." Note: the present subjunctive is often used instead.

While this is very close to a true rule, there are occasionally apparent violations of the rules for sequence of tenses, particularly in result clauses: we will discuss any that occur. Usually, there is a good logical reason why the rule must be bent in particular cases.