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The main Latin tenses can be divided ... Participles in Latin have three tenses (present, perfect, ... The usual translation is the simple English past tense with ...
A negative order can also use the perfect subjunctive: [8] dē mē nihil timuerīs [9] '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:
Forms made with fuī instead of sum and forem instead of essem are also found, for example amātus fuī, amātus fuerō, amātus forem and so on, but these are not common in classical Latin. See Latin tenses. For other meanings of the perfect and pluperfect subjunctive, see Latin tenses#Jussive subjunctive. Other forms:
The word perfect in this sense means "completed" (from Latin perfectum, which is the perfect passive participle of the verb perficere "to complete"). In traditional Latin and Ancient Greek grammar, the perfect tense is a particular, conjugated-verb form.
From a semantic perspective, a tense is a temporal circumstance in which an event takes place relative to a given point in time. [i] [ii] [iii] It is absolute (primary) if it relates the represented event to the time of the speech event [iv] [v] [vi] [vii] and it is relative if it relates the represented event to the time of another event in the context of discourse.
A difference from English grammar is that in open future conditions, it is usual in Latin to use one of the future tenses, when English has the present tense. [ 7 ] Apart from the types mentioned below it is also possible to have mixed conditionals, for example with different tenses in protasis and apodosis.
When the main verb is negative, the perfect tense is used in the main clause: Balbum, posteāquam tū es profectus, nōn vīdī (Cicero) [22] "I haven't seen Balbus since you left" If the action is continuous, where English would use the perfect continuous tense, Latin uses the present tense in the main clause:
Latin example English translation Comment perfect in imperfect past in present 'perfect subjunctive' mīror, quid causae fuerit quā rē cōnsilium mūtārīs. (Cicero) [52] 'I wonder what the reason was that you changed your plan' did in English quid tāmen agās, quaerō, et an tuīs pedibus pervēnerīs domum. (Petronius) [53]