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Salvēte, cīvēs Tellūris! Could someone help me out? I am not sure in what conjugation shall I put the verb "to escape" in this line. Context; part of the lyrics go like: .

"Greetings, citizens of Earth

This will be your last chance to escape

I want to invite you to a new world" ..etc..

.

I am translating it like:

Salvēte, cīvēs Tellūris

Postrēma opportūnitās tuī haec erit ad dēvītāre" .

I simply used the infinitive form of the verb, but I was wondering if it should instead be using the subjunctive, and the second person plural, since it is addressing a multitude, a plurality of people.

In advance, thank you!

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  • I came up with an alternative translation, but again, I am not sure if it would be right. ; "Postrēma opportūnitās tuī ab orbe exeundō haec erit" Feb 13, 2022 at 18:10
  • Note that tuī is singular, but the citizens of the earth are plural.
    – TKR
    Feb 15, 2022 at 22:28

2 Answers 2

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According to this source:

The formula to + verb defines an infinitive. Thus, we often use an infinitive to express the idea of purpose. In Latin, however, an infinitive cannot be used to express purpose. Instead, the appropriate Latin conjoining word is followed by a subjunctive verb.

Therefore you have to use ut + subjunctive. On the second page you can see he uses fugere (which would be fugiātis in your case) instead of dēvītāre, though it is up to you at this point.

Edit: I have found another (a better) source which explains purpose clauses, here's the link.

As tony mentioned in the comment, ad + accusative gerund can also be used. You can find more information about it here(see point 506), it also redirects the page to my previous link, to purpose clauses. But in my personal opinion I would use ut + subjunctive.

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    What about ad + gerund; "ad fugiendum" = "for the purpose of escaping"?
    – tony
    Feb 16, 2022 at 9:31
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Of the various phrases I could think of for "last chance," my impression after some Googling is that ultima occasio is the most employed (possibly influenced by Italian "ultima occasione"); at least I found a number of Christian/New Latin examples. Short of rephrasing the whole thing, I'd go with that. Occasio usually takes a genetivum gerundi(vi).

Devitare means "avoid, shun." Evadere or effugere seem more appropriate.

I would also lose the translations for "this" and "your" which are just English noise and chatter.

Lastly, the future tense seems unnecessary and I would phrase this in the present tense. Thus we get:

Ultima effugiendi est occasio.

Incidentally, if the citizens of Rome are cives Romani, I wonder if the citizens of Earth would better be called cives terrestres?

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  • re your last question: here is a question, about that that I asked once.
    – d_e
    Feb 19, 2022 at 12:42

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