Schaum's Outline of Latin Grammar - Alan Fishbone [52]
CONTRARY-TO-FACT CONDITIONS
Contrary-to-fact conditions refer to something unreal. (They are sometimes known as unreal conditions.) There are three kinds.
Present contrary-to-fact conditions refer to what is unreal in present time. They take the imperfect subjunctive in both the protasis and the apodosis: SõÅ mõÅliteÅs urbem caperent,
If the soldiers were capturing the city,
poeÅtae canerent.
the poets would be singing.
We know from both the Latin and the English translation that these things are not happening now.
If the protasis is negated, it is happening:
NisõÅ ad mare ambulaÅrem, laboÅraÅrem.
If I were not walking to the sea, I would
be working.
From this it is clear that I am walking to the sea and therefore that I am not working.
Past contrary-to-fact conditions refer to what is unreal in past time. They take the pluperfect subjunctive in both the protasis and the apodosis: SõÅ mõÅliteÅs urbem ceÅpissent,
If the soldiers had captured the city, the
poeÅtae cecinissent.
poets would have sung.
3 Some grammars refer to this type as future most vivid or future more vivid with emphatic protasis.
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We know from both the Latin and the English translation that these things did not happen then in the past.
LaboÅraÅvisseÅmus nisõÅ ad mare
We would have worked if we had not
ambulaÅvisseÅmus.
walked to the sea.
Mixed contrary-to-fact conditions refer to something that is unreal in the present because of something unreal in the past. They take the pluperfect subjunctive in thèìf' clause and the imperfect subjunctive in the main clause: SõÅ mõÅliteÅs urbem ceÅpissent, poeÅta
If the soldiers had captured the city, the
canerent.
poets would be singing.
We know from both the Latin and the English translation that the soldiers did not capture the city in the past and that therefore the poets are not singing now.
Exercises
5. Translate the following conditional sentences. Then identify what type they are.
1. SõÅ reÅx deÅmeÅns regnum deÅleÅbit, poeÅtae RoÅmam fugient.
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2. NisõÅ reÅx deÅmeÅns regnum deÅleÅvisset, poeÅtae RoÅmam noÅn fuÅgissent.
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3. NisõÅ fõÅlius ®dem servet, pater sit miserrimus.
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4. NisõÅ fõÅlius ®dem servaÅret, pater esset miserrimus.
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5. Nisi illoÅ tempore fõÅlius ®dem servaÅvisset, pater nunc esset miserrimus.
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6. SõÅ in urbe multõÅ poeÅta ambulant, et reÅgõÅnae et populoÅ paÅcem doÅnant.
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7. SõÅ reÅx poeÅtaÅs inter®ciat, populus timeat.
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CHAPTER 9 Syntax of the Complex Sentence
8. SõÅ reÅx deÅmeÅns poeÅtaÅs interfeÅcerit, populus multum timeÅbit.
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9. SõÅ aÅ reÅge deÅment