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A difference between Latin and English is that in subordinate clauses such as 'if this happens in future', English uses the present tense, but Latin usually uses the future. [48] nārrābō cum aliquid habēbō novī (Cicero) [49] 'I will tell you when I have some news' (lit. 'I will have') crūdam sī edēs, in acētum intinguitō (Cato) [50]
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.
In Latin, represented events and states may be related to the time of another event in discourse, which in turn has a primary tense. Such events are said to have a secondary tense, of which there are three in Latin: namely, secondary future, secondary present and secondary past, each of which is described in a separate section below.
Examples of 'infinitive' dependent clauses - secondary future Inner Meaning Outer Meaning Paradigm Latin example English translation Comment relative future future in present 'present infinitive of periphrastic future' cōnfīdō, tē factūrum esse omnia (Cicero) [4] 'I believe in you that you will do everything' [the fact] that x will do in ...
Latin is a heavily inflected language with largely free word order. Nouns are inflected for number and case; pronouns and adjectives (including participles) are inflected for number, case, and gender; and verbs are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood.
In Latin, the sequence of tenses rule affects dependent verbs in the subjunctive mood, mainly in indirect questions, indirect commands, and purpose clauses. [4] If the main verb is in one of the non-past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the present or perfect subjunctive (primary sequence); if the main verb is in one of the past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the ...
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]
However, the tenses differ from ordinary ideal and unreal conditionals. The main verb is usually either indicative or imperative, and the subordinate clause follows the tense of this according to the sequence of tenses rule. Thus the present subjunctive is usual if the main verb is in the present tense: