The Loom Of Language

322

The Loom of Lattguage

well as the hutonc past So Latin scnpsi may be rendered m two ways:
7 have untten> and / wro*e. The pluperfect signified an action prior to
some past point specified or implied in the statement, as in English he
had already drunk his beej when we arrived. The future perfect indicated
something anterior to some future action, as in he will have drunk his
beer when we arrive. The following table gives the first person forms of
the tenses of the active voice in two moods

I SING

INDICATIVE
SUBJUNCTIVE

Present Future Impel feet Perfect
canto cantabo cantabain cantavi
cantem

cantarem cantaverim

Pluperfect Future Perfect
cantaveram cantavero
cantavissem

Some, but not all of the Latin tenses, each made up of sis distinct
personal forms, were duplicated for passive use., like the two tenses of
the Scandinavian verb (p. 120) There were only three tenses to express
meaning in a passive sense, i e. to replace the active subject by its
object As the Scandinavian passive is recognized by the suffix -$, the
Latin passive is recognized by the suffix -r, e g timeo (I fear)—tomeor
(I am feared) Classical Latin has no synthetic equivalent of the passive
perfect,, pluperfect, or future perfect As in English, the passive form of
the perfect was a roundabout expression, i e. turns deleta est (the tower
has been destroyed). Thus the passive voice of the Latin verb at the
stage when we first meet it was a crack in the imposing fiexional arma-
ture of the Latin verb-system.
Of mood little need be said Grammarians distinguish three Latin
moods, the indicative mood or verb-form commonly used when making
an ostensibly plain statement, the imperative mood or verb-form used
in command or directions, and the subjunctive mood which is
variously used in non-committal statements and in subordinate parts of
a sentence It is sufficient to say that theie is no clear-cut difference
between the meaning of the indicative and the subjunctive mood. In
modern Romance languages the distinction is of little practical impor-
tance for conversation or informal writing
In Latin as m English there were many mansions in the verbal house.