This article covers free indications of frequency, probability, volition and obligation.

Gerundive tenses Present gerundive The gerundive of the verb (an adjectival form ending in -ndus) can be combined with the verb 'I am' to make a passive periphrastic tense. This usually expresses what is needing to be done: (Pliny)Pliny, Ep. 3.15.2. 'I don't need to be asked or encouraged' (i.e. I will do it willingly)

(Celsus)Celsus, de Medicina 6.10.3. 'tumours of this kind need to be lanced'

Negative The negative gerundive usually means 'not needing to be', as in the first example above. However, sometimes the interpretation 'ought not to be' or 'it isn't possible for it to be' is more appropriate: (Seneca)Seneca, Constant. 2.7.2. 'you do not need to be reminded now that no one is good except the wise man'

(Ovid) 'the story of Achilles shouldn't (or can't) be told using the metre of Callimachus'

Impersonal construction Very often the passive periphrastic is used impersonally, together with a dative of the agent:

(Cicero)Cicero, 2. 'a decision needs to be made by you today'

The impersonal form of this tense can also be made using intransitive verbs such as 'I go' and verbs such as 'I persuade' and 'I use' which do not take an accusative object:

(Cicero)Cicero, Mur. 18. 'there is no need to reply to everything'

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 13.9.2. 'I have to go to Arpinum'

(Cicero)Cicero, Tusc. Disp. 2.63. 'you must use your judgement'

Future gerundive An example of a future gerundive periphrastic is the following: (Cicero)Cicero, pro Fonteio 36. 'since that isn't possible, we will need to ask my friend, Marcus Plaetorius'

Imperfect gerundive An example of the imperfect passive periphrastic is the following: (Cicero)Cicero, Mil. 66. 'he was afraid not only of those things which needed to be feared, but everything'

Perfect gerundive As with the active perfect periphrastic, in a conditional sentence the perfect gerundive periphrastic tense can mean "would have done":Woodcock (1959), p. 156. (Livy)Livy, 2.38.5. 'if you had delayed just one day, you would all have died'

Another meaning of the perfect passive is "ought to have been done": (Cicero)Cicero, Phil. 11.20. 'either his army should have been taken away or he should have been given the command'

In the following result clause, this tense becomes subjunctive: (Cicero) 'what you write about Pomptinus is correct: for the fact is that, if he is going to be in Brundisium before the 1st June, it wasn't so necessary for Marcus Anneius and Lucius Tullius to have been urged to hurry'

Future perfect gerundive The active future perfect periphrastic tense is not found, but the passive occurs: (Vitruvius)Vitruvius, de Architectura 2.7.5. 'whenever (at some future time) it is necessary for a building to be made (using local stone), the stones for it should be quarried two years in advance'

For gerundive infinitive tenses see #Gerundive infinitives below.

Subjunctive tenses

Wishes The present subjunctive can express a wish for the future (the word is usually added):

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 3.3. 'I hope I may see that day!'

The negative is :Allen (1903), p. 280.

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 4.16.8. 'may I not live if I know!'

Less commonly, the perfect subjunctive expresses a wish for the past, leaving open the possibility that it may have happened:

(Cicero)Cicero, Rep. 4.8. 'may I have prophesied correctly!'

(Virgil)Virgil, Aen. 6.62. 'may it turn out that Trojan ill-fortune has followed us this far, no further!'

The perfect subjunctive can also be used in a wish for the future, but this use is described as "archaic".

(Cicero)Cicero, Phil. 12.14. 'but may the gods avert this omen!'

The imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive are used in wishes to represent an imagined or wished for situation or event which is no longer capable of fulfilment:Woodcock (1959), p. 154.

(Cicero)Cicero, Phil. 8.22. 'if only Servius Sulpicius were alive!'

(Cicero)Cicero, in Cat. 2.4. 'if only he had led out all his forces with him!'

Sometimes or 'I would that' is used instead of . In the following sentence, the imperfect subjunctive is used to wish for something that cannot now come true, while the present subjunctive leaves open the possibility that it may be true:

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 15.4.4. 'I wish it had been true about Menedemus; I hope it may be true about the queen'

Jussive subjunctive When the present subjunctive has a jussive or hortatory meaning, it can be a suggestion or command in the 1st or 3rd person:

(Catullus) 'let's live, my Lesbia, and let's love'

(Gellius)Gellius, Noctēs Atticae 2.2.6. 'let him sit here!'

(Cicero)Cicero, Cat. 2.6. 'let them go out, let them depart; let them not allow poor Catiline to waste away with desire for them!'

In philosophy it can set the scene for a discussion:

(Cicero)Cicero, Off. 3.54. 'let us suppose that a good man is selling a house'

The jussive subjunctive is only used in the 2nd person when the person is indefinite:Allen (1903), p. 279.

(Virgil)Virgil, Aeneid 4.625. 'may you arise, some avenger, from our bones!'

Another use of the present or perfect subjunctive is concessive:

(Cicero)Cicero, Verr. 2.5.4. 'he may be a thief, he may be a temple robber, he may be the leader of all outrages and vices; nonetheless he is a good general!'

(Cicero)Cicero, Verr. 2.1.37. 'he may have been so to others; when did begin to be so to you?'

The present and imperfect subjunctives are also used in deliberative questions (which are questions which expect an imperative answer):Gildersleeve & Lodge (1895), p. 174; Woodcock (1959), pp. 129–130.

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 9.5.2. 'what action should I take about Pompey?'

(Virgil)Virgil, Ec. 1.40; 7.10. 'what was I to do?'

With the negative particle the perfect subjunctive can express a negative command:

Cicero, Tusc. 1.98. 'you should not fear death'

As with wishes and conditional sentences, the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctives can represent a situation which, because it is in the past, cannot now be changed. They describe something which should have been done in the past, but which it is now too late for:Williams, R.D. (1973). The Aeneid of Virgil books 7–12, on 8.643.

(Virgil)Virgil, Aeneid 8.643. 'you should have remained true to your words, o Alban!'

(Cicero)Cicero, Rab. Post. 29. 'he should have died, you will say'

This usage is quite common in PlautusSee examples in Woodcock (1959), p. 86. but rare in later Latin. The normal prose practice is to use either a past tense of 'I have a duty to' or 'it is proper' with the infinitive, or else a gerundive with a past tense of .

The jussive pluperfect is also fairly uncommon. The following examples are from Cicero, again using the negative :Woodcock (1959), p. 87.

(Cicero)Cicero, Att. 2.1.3. 'you shouldn't have asked'

(Cicero)Cicero, Verr. 3.195. 'what was it your duty to do? you ought to have returned the money, you ought not to have bought the corn'

Possibility After the word 'perhaps' and occasionally after 'perhaps', the present subjunctive can mean "may" or "could", expressing a possibility. The first example below uses the present subjunctive, and the second the perfect:Greenough (1903), p. 283.

(Cicero)Cicero, Verr. 2.5.7. 'this may perhaps seem harsh'

(Cicero)Cicero, Rosc. Am. 31. 'perhaps I have acted rashly'

In the following sentence, using the pluperfect subjunctive, according to one view, Queen Dido contemplates what "might have been":Williams, R.D. (1972), The Aeneid of Virgil note on 4.604–6.

(Virgil)Virgil, Aen. 4.604–5. 'I could have carried torches into the camp and filled the gangways with flames'

Others see the pluperfect subjunctive in this sentence as a wish ("if only I had carried!"); others again as jussive ("I ought to have carried!").See Sonnenschein (1911), p. 244; cf. also Aeneid 10.850, 11.162.

Archaic mode for volitition

Another old subjunctive is , from the verb 'I give'. It occurs mostly in Plautus and Terence, but sometimes also in Cicero, in phrases like the following: (Plautus)Plautus, Stichus 593. 'may the gods destroy you!'

Sigmatic aorist mode for volition In old Latin, a form of the subjunctive with -s-, known as the sigmatic aorist subjunctive, is preserved ( etc.). One use of this is for wishes for the future:Woodcock (1959), p. 88.

(Plautus)Plautus, Asinarius 654. 'may the gods preserve you always!'

(Cicero)Cicero, Fam. 14.3.3. 'may the gods ensure that it be allowed'

In Plautus this subjunctive is also used in prohibitions, when it exists:De Melo (2007) (Plautus)Plautus, Mostellaria 524. 'don't worry about me!'

In other phrases it has a potential meaning and can be translated with "would": (Plautus)Plautus, Poenulus 1089. 'I would willingly do him harm!'

(Livy)Livy, 1. 'I do not know exactly, nor, if I knew, would I dare to say'

Aspect comparison

Eram vs fuī as state verbs In the verb 'I am', the imperfect tense and the perfect both mean 'I was', but in Latin there is usually a difference. As with other verbs, the perfect is usually used when the length of time is mentioned:

(Livy)Livy, 7.10.1. 'for a long time there was silence'

(Cicero)Cicero, Tusc. 5.112. 'for many years he was blind'

But if the situation was still continuing at the time referred to, the imperfect is used:

(Livy)Livy, 28.14. 'the cavalry battle had been in doubt for a long time already (and was still in doubt)'

The perfect is also used when the sentence describes an event rather than a state:

(Livy)Livy, 35.9.1. 'that year there were huge floods and the Tiber inundated the flat areas of the city'

(Cicero)Cicero, Cat. 1.9. 'you were therefore there at Laeca's house that night, Catiline!' (i.e. you attended the meeting)

Another use of the perfect is to describe a former state, emphasising that it is no longer in existence:

(Petronius)Petronius, Satyricon 75. 'I was once just like you are'

(Livy)Livy, 1.36.5. 'there used to be a statue of Attus to the left of the senate house'

(Virgil)Virgil, Aeneid 2.325. 'we have ceased to be Trojans; Troy is no more'

However, if a time adverb such as 'once upon a time' is added, there is no need for the perfect tense and the imperfect is more usual:

(Horace)Horace, Sat. 1.8.1. 'once I was a fig-wood log, a useless piece of timber'

(Horace)Horace, Odes 4.1.3. 'I am not the kind of man I was under the rule of good Cinara'

The perfect is also used in sentences such as the following, which describe a permanent state, as opposed to the imperfect, which describes a temporary one:Pinkster (1990), p. 238, §11.3.1.

(Terence)Terence, Eun. 107. 'my mother was a Samian; she was living in Rhodes (at that time)'

(Caesar)Caesar B.G. 1.2.1. 'among the Helvetians by far the noblest and the most wealthy was Orgetorix'

According to Pinkster, the use of erat in these two examples would sound wrong. "In both cases the reader would want to know 'What happened next?Pinkster (1990), p. 239, §11.3.1.

For geographical description, on the other hand, erat is used, describing the landscape was it was at the time of the narrative:

(Caesar)Caesar, B.G. 2.5.6. 'on that river there was a bridge'

Caesar, B.G. 7.83. 'to the north there was a hill."

The use of here would imply that there used to be a bridge, but that it has now gone.

The perfect must also be used with adverbs such as 'once', 'twice', 'three times', which imply that the situation is now over:Pinkster (1990), p. 223, §11.1.3.

(Cicero)Cicero, Planc. 84. 'I have been in Bithynia twice'

The perfect is also used for something which has always been (or never been) the case:

(Livy)Livy, 37.53. 'we have never been enemies, always allies'

The adverb , when referring to a past period of time, can have either tense:

(Nepos) 'on several occasions he was in charge of armies'

(Ovid)Ovid Trist. 3.7.24. 'often I was your judge, often your teacher'