This chapter completes the perfect system in the subjunctive. You already know the present (laudet) and imperfect (laudāret). You now add the form that presents an action as completed: laudāverit.
The useful landmark is not simply “past” against “present”. Look at the order of events:
Neria quaerit num nautae cibum imposuerint. Neria asks whether the sailors have loaded the food.
The question is asked now; the loading came earlier. The perfect subjunctive marks that step back.
1. Active: the perfect stem plus -eri-
Take the perfect infinitive, remove -isse, then add the six endings:
| Person | laudāre | scrībere | audīre |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | laudāverim | scrīpserim | audīverim |
| you (sg.) | laudāveris | scrīpseris | audīveris |
| he, she | laudāverit | scrīpserit | audīverit |
| we | laudāverimus | scrīpserimus | audīverimus |
| you (pl.) | laudāveritis | scrīpseritis | audīveritis |
| they | laudāverint | scrīpserint | audīverint |
The endings are therefore -erim, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint. Conjugation no longer changes them: all the work is already contained in the third principal part.
- adiuvō, adiuvāre, adiūvī → adiūverim
- flectō, flectere, flexī → flexerim
- ēdūcō, ēdūcere, ēdūxī → ēdūxerim
- referō, referre, rettulī → rettulerim
The stem must be learnt with the verb. A regular ending cannot repair a forgotten stem.
2. The future perfect looks almost exactly the same
Compare:
- laudāverō: “I shall have praised”;
- laudāverim: “that I may have praised”.
At the other five persons, the future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive look alike in the standard used by this course: laudāveris, laudāverit, laudāverimus, laudāveritis, laudāverint.
The sentence decides. An announced future calls for the future perfect; a doubt, indirect question, wish or prohibition may call for the subjunctive.
Cum nāvis pervēnerit, incolae laetābuntur. When the ship has arrived, the inhabitants will rejoice.
Nesciō num nāvis pervēnerit. I do not know whether the ship has arrived.
The form is identical; the construction is not.
3. The passive remains compound
Latin does not make a single word for the perfect passive. It joins a perfect participle to a present subjunctive form of sum:
| Subject | Form |
|---|---|
| nauta | servātus sit |
| fēmina | servāta sit |
| nāvis | servāta sit |
| nautae | servātī sint |
| fēminae / nāvēs | servātae sint |
| dōna | servāta sint |
The first word agrees with the subject; the second gives the person. Keep them as two words: ēductī sint, never as a fabricated single verb.
Dux quaerit num rēmī ēductī sint. The leader asks whether the oars have been brought out.
4. A prohibition with nē
The perfect subjunctive also gives a sharp prohibition:
- Nē timueris! — Do not be afraid! (one person)
- Nē timueritis! — Do not be afraid! (several people)
- Nē pecūniam omnem obtuleris! — Do not offer all your money!
Despite its perfect shape, this construction does not report a past action. It prevents the action from occurring. Learn it as a unit: nē + a form in -eris or -eritis.
5. A wish with utinam
utinam announces that the sentence expresses a wish:
- Utinam classis perveniat! — May the fleet arrive!
- Utinam classis pervēnerit! — May the fleet have arrived!
The present looks towards fulfilment; the perfect imagines the action already brought to completion. Context gives that nuance its exact force.
6. meminī: a perfect that means the present
meminī has a perfect form but means “I remember”. Its infinitive is meminisse:
Cīvēs auxiliī meminērunt. The citizens remember the help.
Difficile est beneficiōrum meminisse. It is difficult to remember benefits.
Do not automatically translate every perfect form as past. A lexeme's meaning matters as much as its shape. The next chapter gives mementō, the future imperative of this same verb; do not anticipate it here.
reminīscī also means “to recollect”, but behaves as an ordinary deponent. The two verbs meet in meaning; their paradigms do not merge.
7. vīs and vīrēs
This noun has an incomplete singular and a regular plural:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| subject | vīs | vīrēs |
| direct object | vim | vīrēs |
| belonging | — | vīrium |
| recipient | — | vīribus |
| circumstance | vī | vīribus |
In the singular it often means force exerted, sometimes violence. In the plural, vīrēs means the strength or resources available.
Nautae omnibus vīribus rēmigant. The sailors row with all their strength.
The absent cells are not blanks to fill: those forms are not used in ordinary Latin.
8. Useful families
- classis: the fleet; nāvis mercātōria: a merchant ship.
- cārus stands against vīlis: expensive against cheap.
- commūnis says that something is shared; cūnctus gathers every member.
- offerre presents or offers; referre brings back or returns.
- praeferre places one thing before another and therefore prefers it.
- dissuādēre turns someone from a choice; repūgnāre resists.
- grātiam referre returns a benefit; grātiās agere gives thanks.
Watch grātia. On its own the noun means a favour or gratitude. With a noun placed before it, it can mean “for the sake of”: pecūniae grātiā. The new reading favours the concrete sense of gratitude.
9. What the reading lets you practise
Classis cīvium tells of a civilian fleet bringing water and food to an island. No enemy appears. Its tension comes from tasks already completed or still uncertain:
- has the food been loaded?
- have the oars been brought out?
- has the crew asked for help?
- will the fleet already have arrived before night?
Read the Latin questions as questions, without first hunting for a grammatical label. Identify what is happening now, then what happened earlier. That relationship calls for the perfect.
Remember
- Active: perfect stem + -erim, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint.
- Passive: perfect participle + sim, sīs, sit, sīmus, sītis, sint.
- After a present question or doubt, the perfect often marks anterior action.
- nē timueris is a prohibition, not a report of past fear.
- utinam introduces a wish.
- meminī means “I remember” despite its form.
- Learn vīs, vim, vī and, separately, vīrēs, vīrium, vīribus.