(Grammar)Indirect+Statement+and+Verb+Tense

= Indirect Statement and Verb Tense = In the indirect statement lesson, we looked at sentences where the mental action verb was in present tense. Here's the sentence from before:

Video Paulum rapere pecuniam a taberna! = I see Paul's stealing money from the store!

The reason this works is because, since //rapere// is a present infinitive, it indicates that its action is happening at the same time as the mental action verb //video//. The infinitives relate to their mental action verbs as follows:

Present Tense infinitive- happens at the __**SAME TIME**__ as the mental action verb

Perfect Tense infinitive- happens __**BEFORE**__ the mental action verb

Future Tense infinitive- happens __**AFTER**__ the mental action verb

So what happens if the mental action verb isn't in present tense? For example, let's change //video// to the perfect tense verb //vidi//.

Vidi Paulum rapere pecuniam a taberna!

If we translate this as "I saw Paul is stealing money from the store!" then it wouldn't sound right, for one thing. For another thing, it wouldn't be happening at the same time as the mental action verb; that's happening in the past, while the infinitive is happening in the present.

How do we fix this?

Normally, when this happens, we would change the tense of the second verb. This is called following sequence of tenses. Unfortunately, Latin doesn't provide any more infinitives than the ones we've mentioned, so what we do instead is read the infinitives differently.


 * Present Infinitive**: Following a past tense main verb, we read this as if it were in the //imperfect// tense. This way, the action of the present infinitive happens at the same time as the main verb, now in the past.


 * Perfect Infinitive**: Following a past tense main verb, we read this as if it were in the //pluperfect// tense. This way, the action of the perfect infinitive takes place before the main verb, which is further in the past than the main verb.


 * Future Infinitive**: Following a past tense main verb, we still read this verb in a future sense, since there is no other tense to show action happening after the main verb. However, we can't be sure that it's happening later than the present (which is what the future tense shows), only that it's happening later than the main verb. So, rather than say "will" when reading, we say "would."

Here's an example of the uses of these tenses:

Cogitavimus Annam venire ad cenam apud nos- //We thought// (that) Anna //was coming// to dinner with us. (present tense infinitive, imperfect tense understanding)

Cogitavimus Annam venisse ad cenam apud nos- //We thought// (that) Anna //had come// to dinner with us. (perfect tense infinitive, pluperfect tense understanding)

Cogitavimus Annam venturam esse ad cenam apud nos- //We thought// (that) Anna //would come// to dinner with us. (future tense infinitive with "would")