In the forty-second class of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the imperative mood (which in Latin has two tenses and two voices) and the most important ways to express command, prohibition, etc.
Contents
I explain everything in the following video ():
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The imperative mood
The imperative mood in Latin has two tenses (present and future), each of them in the active and in the passive voice.
Present active
The present tense in the active voice of the imperative mood is definitely the most frequent one. It only has 2nd person singular and plural.
Its morphology is quite simple.
The singular has the raw present stem, i.e. without any ending or morpheme:
- amo → ama
- moneo → mone
(However, some verbs in the 3rd and mixed conjugations do have the ending ‑e: mitte, cape…).
The plural is formed in the following way:
- present stem
- linking vowel ĭ (3rd conjugation only)
- ending ‑tĕ
So we would have the following examples:
- amo → amate
- moneo → monete
- duco → ducite
Present passive
In the passive voice we also have 2nd persons only:
- present stem
- linking vowel (only 3rd conjugation)
- singular: ĕ
- plural: ĭ
- ending
- singular: ‑rĕ
- plural: ‑mĭnī
Some examples would be:
- amo → amare, amamini
- moneo → monere, monemini
- duco → ducere, ducimini
The 2nd person plural looks like the present infinitive (and other passive 2nd person singular forms), whereas the plural may look like the 2nd person plural of the passive present indicative.
Future active
This tense does not exist in English (even in Romance languages!) because it wasn’t used much in Latin itself. The theory says that it is specialized in clear references to the future (usually with some adverb or phrase of time) or in laws (since they are an order not only immediate, but also for the future).
The verbs memini and scio regularly employ the future imperative instead of the present; the verb habeo uses it quite frequently.
The future imperative has 2nd persons, but also 3rd. Its morphology is as follows:
- present stem
- linking vowel
- all singular: ĭ (3rd conjugation only)
- 2nd plural: ĭ (3rd conjugation only)
- 3rd plural: ŭ (3rd, mixed and 4th conjugations)
- ending
- all singular: ‑tō
- 2nd plural: ‑tōtĕ
- 3rd plural: ‑ntō
Some examples:
- amo → amato, amato, amatote, amanto
- moneo → moneto, moneto, monetote, monento
- duco → ducito, ducito, ducitote, ducunto
Future passive
In the passive voice there is no 2nd person plural. It is formed in the following way:
- present stem
- linking vowel
- singular: ĭ (3rd conjugation only)
- plural: ŭ (3rd, mixed and 4th conjugations)
- ending
- singular: ‑tŏr
- plural: ‑ntŏr
Some examples:
- amo → amator, amator, amantor
- moneo → monetor, monetor, monentor
- duco → ducitor, ducitor, ducuntor
Other ways to express command, prohibition, etc.
Apart from the imperative mood itself, Latin can express similar notions in other ways. Let’s see the most common ones.
Exhortative subjunctive
Used for the 1st person plural, it’s the equivalent to the English let’s + verb. In Latin we have the 1st person plural of the present subjunctive.
It is a proposal, a command or a prohibition address to several people, in which the speaker is included.
Aqua calet: eamus hinc intro, ut laves.
The water is warm: let’s go inside so you bathe.
Negative commands
Negative commands, prohibitions, etc., are frequently expressed with the imperative of nolo (noli, nolite) followed by the main verb in the infinitive.
Noli hic manere.
Don’t stay here.
The same can be achieved with the perfect subjunctive negated by ne.
Ne hic manseris.
Don’t stay here.
Future for imperative
For commands both positive and negative the plain future indicative can appear. (If it is negative, the negation is just non).
Sex diebus operaberis.
For six days you shall work.
Non concupisces domum proximi tui nec desiderabis uxorem eius.
You shall not yearn for your neighbor’s house nor desire his wife.
This is the fundamental theory we need about the imperative mood, commands, prohibitions, etc. Now let’s put them into practice.
Next: The imperative mood and other ways to express command →