Latin Subjunctive

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Latin Subjunctive: Forms + Quick Uses

This panel is designed to sit beside your multiple-choice test, so that students do not need to look away from the page.
Forms are given with macrons where relevant.

1) Present Subjunctive: All Conjugations (Model Verbs)

Think of it as “change the theme vowel”. A very simple memory aid is:
1st: a → e,
2nd: e → ea,
3rd: i → a,
4th: i → ia.

1st conjugation
portō → portem		 2nd conjugation
moneō → moneam		 3rd conjugation
dīcō → dīcam		 4th conjugation
audiō → audiam
I portem moneam dīcam audiam
You (sg) portēs moneās dīcās audiās
He / she / it portet moneat dīcat audiat
We portēmus moneāmus dīcāmus audiāmus
You (pl) portētis moneātis dīcātis audiātis
They portent moneant dīcant audiant

Note: the “ea” spelling in the 2nd conjugation is a teaching trick for sound.
In normal Latin spelling you will see moneam, moneās, moneat, etc.

2) Portō: Four Subjunctive Tenses (Active)

Present Imperfect Perfect Pluperfect
I portem portārem portāverim portāvissem
You (sg) portēs portārēs portāverīs portāvissēs
He / she / it portet portāret portāverit portāvisset
We portēmus portārēmus portāverīmus portāvissēmus
You (pl) portētis portārētis portāverītis portāvissētis
They portent portārent portāverint portāvissent

A quick guide to time:
Present now / future;
Imperfect “was …-ing” background / following a past main verb;
Perfect completed (often “has/have”);
Pluperfect completed earlier (“had”).

3) Uses of the Subjunctive (Quick Explanations)

The subjunctive is common in Latin because it often marks something that is not presented as a simple fact:
it may be a purpose, a result, a question “inside someone’s head”, a fear, or an imagined situation.

  • Indirect question: a question reported, not asked directly. Introduced by quis, quid, cur, ubi, quando, etc.
    nescīēbāmus ubi dux castra posuisset = “we did not know where the leader had pitched camp”.
  • Purpose clause (usually ut / nē): “in order to … / in order that … not”.
    mīlitēs intrāvērunt ut cīvēs dēfenderent = “the soldiers entered to defend the citizens”.
  • Result clause (often tam, tanta, ita, tot + ut): “so … that”.
    tam dēfessus erat ut diū dormīret = “he was so tired that he slept for a long time”.
  • Indirect command after ordering/advising/persuading/warning (imperō, moneō, persuādeō, etc.): ut / nē + subjunctive.
    dux imperāvit ut castra moverent = “the leader ordered them to move camp”.
  • Fear clauses after fearing (timeō, vereor):
    nē = “that” (I fear it may happen),
    ut = “that … not” (I fear it may not happen).
    māter timuit nē fīlius caderet = “the mother feared that her son might fall (be killed)”.
  • cum clauses with subjunctive (very common):

    Temporal/background: “when / while” (scene-setting): cum dux hoc dīxisset, omnēs tacuerunt.

    Causal: “since/because”: cum nox esset, nautae nāvigāre nōn poterant.

    Concessive: “although”: cum hoc scīret, tamen tacuit.
  • Relative clause of characteristic: quī/quae/quod + subjunctive to mean “the sort of person/thing who would…”.
    nēmō erat quī hoc crēderet = “there was no one who would believe this”.
  • Jussive subjunctive: a command expressed with the subjunctive (often 1st or 3rd person; negatives use nē).
    nē hoc faciāmus = “let us not do this”. / hoc vērum sit = “let this be true”.
  • Deliberative question: “What am I to do?” (speaker thinking aloud).
    quid faciām? = “what am I to do?”
  • Wishes with utinam:

    utinam veniat = “if only he would come” (wish about the future).

    utinam nunc Rōmae essēs = “if only you were in Rome now” (wish about the present, but unreal).

    utinam hoc nōn dīxisset = “if only he had not said this” (wish about the past).
  • Conditionals with subjunctive (imagined situations):

    Future more vivid (possible future): sī hoc faciās, multa discās = “if you do this, you will learn much”.

    Contrary-to-fact = “the sentence assumes this is not true”:

      • Present contrary-to-fact: sī hoc facerēs, laetus essēs = “if you were doing this (but you are not), you would be happy”.

      • Past contrary-to-fact: sī hoc fēcissēs, laetus fuissēs = “if you had done this (but you did not), you would have been happy”.
  • Potential subjunctive: expresses possibility (“may/might/could”), often in short statements or rhetorical questions.
    haec facile crēdās = “you could easily believe this”.

“Contrary-to-fact” in plain English: the speaker is imagining something and signalling that it is not actually true.
The grammar is a shortcut for: “if X were true (but it is not), then Y would follow.”