The Imperative Mood

Reminders

• The next Latin Club Meeting will be on Wednesday, December 2nd.
• Project ideas are due on November 30th.
• Project is due on January 22, 2016.
• Homework: Complete workbook page 43, Ex. B.

The Imperative Mood

• Commands

Agite Nunc Do Now

• Give an example of a command in English. E.g., Mercury, tell Aeneas to gather the Trojans and leave Carthage tomorrow.

Moods in Latin

• The indicative mood "indicates" a fact
• The fact can be a belief and need not be true.
• "He sleeps," (dormit) is in the indicative.

• impero, imperare: order, command
• Normally, the imperative mood is used for direct commands (orders) like "Go to sleep!".
• mando, mandare: to command

• Indicative

• Imperative

Formation of the Imperative

• The form of the Latin verb used in giving a command to one person is the same as that of the present stem
• Formed by dropping the –re from the present active infinitive
• vocā / re: vocā = imperative singular = call
• monē / re: monē = imperative singular = warn
• In Latin –te is added to the present stem if the subject understood is plural
• Cf.
• Mary, hurry! Properā, Marīa!
• Boys, hurry! Properāte, puerī!

Negative Commands

• To give a negative command in Latin is very simple.
• Use nōlī with the present infinitive if the subject is singular; nōlīte, if plural.
• Both forms mean unwilling or don’t
• Don’t fear, Mary! Nōlī timēre, Marīa!
• Don’t fear, boys! Nōlīte timēre, puerī!

Study Helps

• The tense of the imperative most used is the present; it is always second person, singular or plural.
• The imperative of the verb sum is es, singular, and este, plural.
• Be good, Mary! Es bona, Marīa!
• Be good, boys! Este bonī, puerī!