Latin tenses in commands (semantics)

From a semantic perspective, a tense is a temporal circumstance in which an event takes place relative to a given point in time. It is absolute (primary) if it relates the represented event to the time of the speech event and it is relative if it relates the represented event to the time of another event in the context of discourse. In turn, a relative tense may be “relative to absolute” (secondary) if it relates the represented event to the primary tense. Read more about possible tenses in the article on grammatical tense.

Imperative clauses represent actions to be carried out (read more on Imperative mood). While indicated events are placed in a timeline relative to the speech act (future, present, past), requested actions can be carried out only after the speech act, therefore imperative clauses do not vary in primary tense, the requested actions being always future. However, a task execution can be placed in a temporal circumstance relative to another event -- after, while or before that event -- which means imperative clauses may carry a secondary tense.

Positive commands
The present imperative mood is the normal tense used for giving direct orders which the speaker wishes to be carried out at once. The active form can be made plural by adding -te:


 * dā mī bāsia mīlle, deinde centum! (Catullus)
 * 'give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred!'


 * date dexterās fidemque! (Livy)
 * 'give me your right hands and your oath!'

Deponent verbs such as proficīscor 'I set out' or sequor 'I follow' have an imperative ending in -re or -minī (plural):
 * patent portae: proficīscere! (Cicero)
 * 'the gates are open: depart!'


 * sequiminī mē hūc intrō ambae (Terence)
 * 'follow me this way inside, both of you'

The future can also be used for polite requests, as when Cicero sends greetings to his friend Atticus's wife and daughter:
 * Pīliae salūtem dīcēs et Atticae (Cicero)
 * 'please give my greetings to Pilia and Attica'

Negative commands
An imperative is usually made negative by using nōlī(te) (literally, 'be unwilling!') plus the infinitive:
 * nōlīte mīrārī (Seneca the Elder)
 * 'don't be surprised'

However, in poetry an imperative can sometimes be made negative with the particle nē:
 * nē mē terrēte timentem, obscēnae volucrēs! (Virgil)
 * 'do not terrify me, who am already scared, obscene birds!'

A negative order can also use the perfect subjunctive:
 * dē mē nihil timuerīs (Cicero)
 * 'do not be afraid on my account'

In later Latin, nē plus the present subjunctive became more common, for example in the Vulgate Bible. In the following example the first three verbs use the present subjunctive, and the third the perfect subjunctive:


 * nē adulterēs, nē occīdās, nē fūrēris, nē falsum testimōnium dīxerīs (Mark)
 * 'do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not speak false testimony'

Meminī, sciō, habeō
In commands to recall something from now on, verbs of remembering (meminī) are exclusively used in the 'future imperative' form because they relate the act of recalling to the addressee's future act of fully receiving the information. Since the reception of the information is often concurrent to the act of speaking, this concurrency often amounts to a reduction from a secondary tense ('future in future') to a primary tense ('future'). In letters, the current time ('now') is often set to the time of reading, in which case the tense reduction occurs for other verbs of knowing such as sciō and habeō.

With performative clause
Performative clauses look like statements but could not possibly be true nor false. Such clauses do not have warning signs such as might be, could be, should be. When someone utters one, we can say they are doing the speech act represented by the clause rather than telling to the addressee whether the represented action took, is taking or will take place. So a speaker can make a command not only by uttering the command as in dīlige mē ('love me'), but also by uttering a performative clause as in tē, ut dīligās mē, rōgō ('I am asking you to love me'), whereby the performative clause represents the act of making a command that the speaker is doing. In this case, the action of the imperative clause is represented by a 'subjunctive present' verb rather than an 'imperative' one.

Reported and indirect commands
An imperative clause is a clause whereby one performs an imperative act, whereby one makes a command. Once a command is enacted by someone, it can be cited or reported by others. Most often, the action in the reported command is represented by 'subjuctive imperfect' verbs.

Note: In Latin studies, reported commands are often called 'indirect commands'.

In turn, a speaker can make a command directly to the person who is supposed to carry out the task or indirectly through intermediaries. In indirect commands and specifically in law proposals, the actions are often represented by 'indirect imperative' verbs (see verb paradigms). Alternatively, indirect commands can be realised by commands to make a command 'tell him to come' (eum rōgā, ut veniat), in which case the action to be carried out is represented by a 'present subjunctive' verb.

Note: In Latin studies, 'indirect commands' are often called '3rd person imperative'.

Once the indirect command is enacted to an intermediary, the intermediary is supposed to propagate the command to the task executer. There are two ways whereby the command initiator is revealed in the propagated indirect command. Either by a propagative performative clause such as 'Thyillus is telling you to administer the fatherland' (Thyillus tē rōgat, ut patria cūrēs) or by a performative clause that is temporally (and causally) linked to another performative clause as in 'I am asking you at Thyillus's request to administer the fatherland' (ego tē rōgō, Thyillī rōgātū, ut patria cūrēs). In both cases, since the imperative clause is accompanied by a performative clause, the action to be carried out is represented by a 'present subjunctive' verb.

Finally, indirect commands may also be reported. In such cases, the action is represented by 'imperfect subjunctive' verbs.

Secondary tense
A task execution can be temporally related to a future event, in which case the action is to be carried out before, during or after that event. In such cases, the requested action is represented by 'future imperative' verbs. The imperative mode of representing actions relative to future events is very frequent in text by early writers (Plautus and Cato) and sporadically found in texts by later authors (Cicero and Martial).