CHAPTER 31 "Cum with the Subjunctive; Fero" CUM AS A SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION You're already well-acquainted with the preposition "cum" + ablative case, meaning "with". There is also a word "cum" which is not a preposition at all, but a subordinating conjunction. Even though "cum" the conjunction looks exactly like "cum" the preposition, the two words actually have different histories. They are not the same word at all. The difficulty with translating the conjunction "cum" is that it has a wide variety of meanings and can take either the indicative or the subjunctive mood in its clause. Even though we can distinguish some broad classes of meanings, it is still difficult sometimes to tell just which one of them "cum" is using in a given sentence, and therefore which of our several English conjunctions will best translate it. In this respect, "cum" is is similar to our conjunction "as", which has quite a range of meanings, and at times seems to be using many of them all at once. For example, "As I was coming in the door, I saw my friend". Does this sentence mean "I saw my friend because I was coming in the door" or does it mean "I saw my friend while I was coming in the door". It's hard to say, and in fact both could be true at the same time. For if I hadn't been coming in the door at that time I wouldn't have seen my friend. This same kind of fusion of meanings exists for the conjunction "cum", so it will take some sensitivity to the context for you to come up with an accurate translation for "cum". There are two categories of meanings for "cum": (a) strictly temporal (when); (b) circumstantial (as, whereas, since, because, although). When "cum" is temporal, the mood of the verb in its clause is often indicative. It is almost always indicative when the tense of the verb in the main clause is present or future tense. When the tense of the main verb is one of the past tenses, then the mood of the "cum" clause is most often subjunctive. But when the "cum" clause is circumstantial, then the mood of its verb is always subjunctive. A circumstantial "cum" clause can be translated as "since", "because", and "although". This may seem odd, because "although" indicates that there is an incompatibility between the subordinate and main clauses -- that given the circumstances of the subordinate clause, the event in the main should not take place. We call a clause like this "concessive". "Because" and "since", however, indicate a direct causal link between the subordinate and main clauses. How can the same subordinating conjunction denote two such disparate relations? And how will you know which is being represented in a given "cum" clause? The answer to the first question isn't easy, but perhaps it will help to remember that a "cum" clause is generally circumstantial -- it merely sets a backdrop for the the action in the main clause -- without spelling out what the relationship is between them. You've already seen in participles and ablative absolute constructions that Latin tends to be much less insistent about specifying the exact logical or temporal relationship between subordinate and main elements in its sentences. The answer to the second question is that you must rely on context to tell you which of the relationships is the more plausible. That is, admittedly, somewhat unsatisfactory, but often that is all we'll have to go by. Very often, however, Latin will help the reader along by inserting a "tamen" or some other such word in the main clause if the "cum" clause is meant to be taken as concessive. Obviously there's more here than you really need to know to get started with "cum" clauses -- and there is still more you'll have to know to read Latin at advanced levels. For your needs, at your stage in Latin, you should know that "cum" clauses are either temporal or circumstantial, have a range of possible meanings which you must consider, and may take the indicative of the subjunctive mood. But when it does employ the subjunctive mood, "cum" clauses must observe the sequence of tenses, which govern the tenses of subordinate subjunctives. Let's look at several examples of the different "cum" clauses. (a) "Cum responderit [fut. perf.], omnia intellegetis". This "cum" clause is temporal, and because the subjunctive isn't being used, the sequence of tenses doesn't apply. Tr. "When he answers (will have answered), you will understand everything". (b) "Cum respondisset, omnia intellexistis". Now the "cum" clause is subjunctive, so we have to bring in the rules governing the tenses of subordinate subjunctives. Since the sentence is in secondary sequence because of the tense of the main verb, the pluperfect subjunctive in thhe "cum" clause show time prior. Tr. "Because he had answered, you understood everything", or "When he had answered..". or "Since he had answered..". (c) "Cum respondisset, non tamen intellexistis". Here the "tamen" tells us that the "cum" clause is not causal or temporal but concessive. Tr. "Although he answered, you still (nevertheless) did not understand". (d) "Cum responderet, non aderatis". In secondary sequence -- "ad + eratis" -- the imperfect subjunctive of the subordinate subjunctive "responderet" shows contemporaneous time. Tr. "When he was answering, you were not present". (e) "Cum responderit, omnia iam intellegitis". In primary sequence the perfect subjunctive shows time prior. Tr. "Because he answered, you now understand everything". THE IRREGULAR VERB FERO, FERRE, TULI, LATUS "Fero" is a very widely-used verb in Latin, as its stem shows up in more than a dozen compound verbs. It's important to master it thoroughly right now, otherwise it will haunt you for as long as you read Latin. Just by looking at the principal part of the verb, you can tell that the verb "fero" is going to be unlike any verb you've seen before. The verb is third conjugation, so the stem of the verb in the present system is "fere-", with a short "-e-" thematic vowel. For the most part, the verb conjugates just like a regular third conjugation verb. If you look at the second principal part, however, the thematic vowel "-e-" is missing: the infinitive ending "-re" is added to "fer-" not to "fere-". Hence the infinitive form "ferre" instead of "ferere". This is the main irregularity of the verb "fero". In the present tense, the thematic vowel is dropped before some endings. The thematic vowel -- a short "e" -- is dropped before endings that begin with the letters "r"",s", or "t". Keeping this in mind, try to write out the present system active and passive. I. PRESENT SYSTEM A. INDICATIVE ACTIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ Did you get them all? As you can see, the irregularity does not apply at all to the future and imperfect tenses, where the intervening vowels and tense signs come between the stem and the personal endings that would have produced the irregularity. Now the passive voice in the present system indicative. B. INDICATIVE PASSIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ Once again, the irregularity of the disappeaaring thematic vowel is restricted to the present tense where there is no tense vowel between the stem and the personal endings. Let's look now at the present system subjunctive active. C. SUBJUNCTIVE ACTIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ The present subjunctive uses the vowel "-a-" as its mood sign, so the endings are not added directly to the stem. No irregularities here. It looks just like a normal third conjugation verb in the present subjunctive. But look at the imperfect subjunctive. The formula for all imperfect subjunctives is: stem + "se" + personal endings. The "-s-" of the mood sign becomes intervocalic and turns to an "-r-" and "-r-" is one of those consonants the stem vowel doesn't like. So the base form for the imperfect subjunctive becomes "ferre-". And that looks just like the active infinitive. Now the present system of tenses in subjunctive passive. D. SUBJUNCTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT FUTURE IMPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ II. PERFECT SYSTEM The perfect system, because it is formed from the third and fourth principal parts, is enitrely regular (except that third and fourth principal parts are themselves unusual suppletive forms). For the sake of thoroughness, and to prove to you that the verb is not so irregular as you may think, write out the perfect system for the verb "fero". A. INDICATIVE ACTIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ B. INDICATIVE PASSIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ C. SUBJUNCTIVE ACTIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ D. SUBJUNCTIVE PASSIVE PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT PLUPERFECT 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ 1st _______________ _______________ _______________ 2nd _______________ _______________ _______________ 3rd _______________ _______________ _______________ Finally, we should have a look at the imperative, participial, and infinitive moods. III. IMPERATIVES Sing. ____________________ Plur. ____________________ IV. PARTICIPLES ACTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT ____________________ FUTURE ____________________ ____________________ PERFECT ____________________ V. INFINITIVES ACTIVE PASSIVE PRESENT ____________________ ____________________ FUTURE ____________________ [____________________] PERFECT ____________________ ____________________ VOCABULARY PUZZLES Confero, conferre, contuli, collatus As I warned you, the verb "fero" is used in a great number of compound verbs -- prepositional prefixes added to verb roots. Here the preposition "cum" is prefixed to the root "fero", rendering the meaning "to bring together", or "to bring together for comparison". Look at the fourth principal part of this verb. It's not "conlatus" as you may expect, but the "-n-" of the prefix assimilates to the "-l-" of the verbal stem. You've got to be on the look out for this, because if you saw the form "collatus" in your reading and tried to look it up under "colfero" you wouldn't find it. You've got to get good at recognizing the stem "lat-" from "fero" and then allowing yourself some flexibility at coming up with the right prefix. Se conferre A verb common idiom with the "confero" is to use the reflexive pronoun to mean "to go" (lit. "to betake oneself"). So "me confero" means "I go", "te confers" means "you go", "nos conferimus" means "We go", "Vos contulistis" means "you went", etc. Offero, offerre, obtuli, oblatus It means "to offer", obviously, but look at the third and fourth principal parts: the prefix has been replaced by "ob-". You must simply remember this. 01/10/93