Questions tagged [tenses]
The tenses tag has no usage guidance.
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Modalities for fictitious past: could have, should have, and would have
In English, the pattern [could/should/would + have done] is used for fictional expressions contrary to the fact, e.g.
You could have done your work yesterday (but you have not).
How to express such ...
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Frequent changes of tense in Caesar
I am a little bit mystified by the frequent changes of tense in Caesar's prose and am wondering what the rationale is. Should I take from this that it is perfectly fine to just switch back and forth ...
- 6,534
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Change of tense from present to imperfect
In the Metamorphoses there is a line as follows:
Nil prosunt artes erat inmedicabile vulnus
Why would the first sentence be in the present tense, but the second one be in the imperfect? I would have ...
- 6,534
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Imperfect subjunctive in exclamation
I'm reading Phaedrus's version of Aesop Fables via Ørberg's Lingua Latina per se Illustrata.
In Phaedrus, III. 7 (The Dog & the Wolf) :
[Wolf:] "Quanto est facilius mihi sub tecto vivere, et ...
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Present tense referring to the immediate past
I recently read Claudian's In Rufinum with Harry Levy's commentary. Towards the end of the poem, Claudian describes the change of fortune of the slain Rufinus (2.451-2.452)
. . . iacet en, qui ...
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To talk about repetitive past events (that used to occur regularly), do you use perfect or imperfect tense?
For example, how would you say "He used to come here every evening."? Would you say "Is hic venit quemque vesperem." or "Is hic veniebat quemque vesperem."? Or maybe ...
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Consecutio temporum
In a sentence like scio quid dixeris, is it mandatory to use the subjunctive?
Is it a mistake if I use the indicative instead of subjunctive and say "scio quid dixisti" ?
Were all/most ...
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When are deponent perfect forms used with a present meaning?
As Cerberus mentions in this answer:
With many (semi-)deponent verbs, the perfect participle often has a present meaning.
And in the comments:
I thought this was commonly known, but apparently not.
...
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Why is "Gavisus sum" translated "now I rejoice" instead of "I rejoiced"?
In the vulgate, Philippians 4:10 begins with the following:
Gavisus sum autem in Domino vehementer
The Douay-Rheims translates this:
Now I rejoice in the Lord exceedingly
I'm having trouble ...
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Tenses in the Christmas carol "Personent hodie"
There is a Christmas carol called "Personent hodie" written in Latin in Finland in the 16th century.
In the third verse the three mages are described:
Magi tres venerunt,
munera offerunt,
...
- 111k
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Present used as continuing action in the past?
In Fabulae Faciles, there is an odd construction using the deponent present apparently as action in the past:
Dum hīc morātur, Herculēs magnum incommodum ex calōre sōlis
accipiēbat;
"While he ...
- 6,534
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What are the different ways to express present continuous tense in Latin?
Latin doesn't have present continuous tense. How to express present continuous tense?
- 335
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Did the Romans ever distinguish between present perfective and past aoristic?
The Latin "perfect" forms are a combination of two different tense-aspect combinations: past aoristic ("I ate"), and present perfective ("I have eaten"). The two are generally indistinguishable, but ...
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Livy Book 1 27.1 type of subjunctive, sequence of tenses
Invidia vulgi, quod tribus militibus fortuna publica commissa fuerit, vanum ingenium dictatoris corrupit.
What kind of subjunctive is fuerit and why. What tense is corrupit — perfect with or ...
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weird pluperfect subjunctive in Eutropius
In Rōma Æterna, p. 239, in a passage from Eutropius, book 28, comes the paragraph:
P. Scīpiō in Hispāniā cum Poenīs dēbellāvit quārtō decimō annō eius bellī; et ā Tarracōne in Āfricam ad Syphācem, ...
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How did the "injunctive" work?
According to Wikipedia:
Homeric Greek does not have a historical present tense, but rather uses injunctives. Injunctives are replaced by the historical present in the post-Homeric writings of ...
- 65.1k
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Expressing English modalities of advice in Latin
English has expresses advice in the present and past through the use of the following modal constructions:
present: You should [...]
present negated: You shouldn't [...]
past: You should have [...]
...
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Is there an aoristic-perfective distinction in the Latin perfect?
I have just recently learned that the perfect tense in Latin can serve also as an aorist tense as well as a perfect tense and that the perfect tense in Latin is simply the result of the original Proto-...
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Cur coniugationes systematis praesentis sunt tam dissimiles cum eae cum coniugationibus systematis perfecti comparentur?
TL;DR & the actual question
For those who don't need an explanation of all verb endings and the ways in which they differ from each other, my question follows below. For those who might need a ...
- 2,541
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Adhibeturne tempus perfectum/imperfectum aut presens cum de homine mortuo loqueris?
In English, when a person who is deceased is being discussed, specifically when ascribing an attribute, concept, thing, etc. to them with a copulative verb, the simple past is typically used. E.g:
...
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habitabat = dwelt?
Estne hic error translationis? Genesis 25:11 (Vulgata) dicit:
et post obitum illius benedixit Deus Isaac filio eius qui habitabat iuxta puteum nomine Viventis et videntis.
Anglice autem (Douay ...
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Saepe eum hic vidi/videbam
Spoiler alert!! This question gives away a plot point from late in the story of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. If you're working your way through that book and haven't yet gotten to Chapter XXXI, ...
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tense fluctuation in Latin narrative
Are there any guidelines for the fluctuation between past and historical present tense in Latin narrative other than "it's used for vividness"? I'm writing my first multi-scene narrative and so I'm ...
- 16.4k
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Future actions happening in sequence
Description of wanted meaning:
First thing will be described by me. After first description is completed second one gets done. Then I will be describing fourth thing but not before I spend at least ...
user1846
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Is active periphrastic conjugation compulsory in consecutio temporum?
There is a rule which I have learned to know and love by the name consecutio temporum, and it governs the tense of a conjunctive predicate in (many) subordinate clauses.
All three Latin Grammars I ...
- 111k
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The use of subjunctive in the future
I came across the usage of subjunctive the other day. I read that if the main verb is in the present, future or perfect with have, the subjunctive is in the present whereas if the main verb is in the ...
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Using two future tenses together
I was trying to translate something to Latin, and I ended up writing something that made me feel uncertain.
For the purposes of this question, I stripped all unnecessary content to focus on what ...
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Can a subjunctive verb ever be modified by οὐ? (Greek)
I'm working on an exercise where I translate this Greek sentence to English.
οὐ θαυμάσῃ εἰ θεός τις φανεῖται ἀπὸ τῆς μηχανῆς;
My translation:
Won't you be amazed if some god will appear from ...
- 12k
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What is the difference between present and perfect conjunctive in hesitation?
I recently said this in our chat room:
Ita crediderim, sed certus non sum.
A brief discussion ensued about my choice of tense.
I wanted to express hesitation, and my gut feeling says that the ...
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