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In Latin, there are different modes of indicating past, present and future processes. There is the basic mode of free clauses and there are multiple dependent modes found exclusively in dependent clauses. [1] In particular, there is the 'infinitive' mode for reported satetements and the 'subjunctive' mode for reported questions.
The present tense can replace not only the perfect tense, but also sometimes the imperfect tense: [40] tōtīs trepidātur castrīs (Caesar) [41] 'in the whole camp there is panic' (i.e. people were panicking) After dum 'while', in a past context, the present indicative regularly has the meaning of an imperfect tense: [42]
It can describe a past event with a present result (e.g. 'he has died (and is laying dead somewhere)') or a past event without a present result (e.g. 'he died (last year)'). The perfect of cōnsuēscō , cōnsuēvī 'I have grown accustomed', is also often used with a present meaning: [ 125 ]
Legal principle that a person who is not present is unlikely to inherit. absente reo (abs. re.) [with] the defendant being absent: Legal phrase denoting action "in the absence of the accused". absit iniuria: absent from injury: i.e., "no offense", meaning to wish that no insult or injury be presumed or done by the speaker's words.
'do not be afraid on my account' In later Latin, nē plus the present subjunctive became more common, for example in the Vulgate Bible. In the following example the first three verbs use the present subjunctive, and the third the perfect subjunctive: nē adulterēs, nē occīdās, nē fūrēris, nē falsum testimōnium dīxerīs [10]
Latin also exhibits verb framing in which the path of motion is encoded into the verb rather than shown by a separate word or phrase. For example, the Latin verb exit (a compound of ex and it) means "he/she/it goes out". In this article a line over a vowel (e.g. ē) indicates that it is long.
Latin word order is relatively free. The verb may be found at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence; an adjective may precede or follow its noun (vir bonus or bonus vir both mean 'a good man'); [5] and a genitive may precede or follow its noun ('the enemies' camp' can be both hostium castra and castra hostium; the latter is more common). [6]
Woodcock notes that in early Latin such as Plautus, the present subjunctive rather than the imperfect is often used to represent a present-time counterfactual condition: [100] haud rogem tē, sī sciam (Plautus) [101] 'I would not be asking you, if I knew.' tū sī hīc sīs, aliter sentiās (Terence) [102] 'if you were in my place, you would ...