22.03.24: imperatives [1]: telling people to do something

• Festīnā lentē! Hurry slowly. [The more hurry, the less speed]
• Cavē canem! Beware of the dog.
• Sapere audē. Dare to be wise.
• Carpe diem. “Seize” the day.
• Audīte et alteram partem! Listen even to the other side. [Listen to all sides of the argument]
• Rōmānī, īte domum! Romans, go home!

The term imperative comes from the Latin verb imperō, imperāre [1]: order; command. It’s also known as the command form i.e. it’s used when you’re telling somebody to do, or not to do something.

The Latin imperative most often has no tense (there is a future imperative but it’s by no means as common, and can be dealt with when it appears in reading); the only disctinction Latin makes is when a command is being given to one or more than one person. It’s straightforward to form.

Talking to one person:

1st conjugation

portāre: to carry; remove the -re > portā! carry! That’s the command. Latin had no exclamation mark, but it’s commonly used now to indicate it. It doesn’t mean that the person is shouting.

• festināre: to hurry

> festinā lente: Hasten slowly.

2nd conjugation

manēre: to stay; remove the -re > manē! stay!

• cavēre: to beware

> cavē canem! Beware (of) the dog!

• audēre: to dare

> Sapere audē. (Horace) Dare to be wise.

3rd / 3rd-iō

Both do the same.

carpō, carpere [3]: seize / pluck; remove the -re > carpe! pluck!

capiō, capere [3-iō]: take; remove the -re > cape! take!

carpe diem: “seize” the day; not the precise meaning of the verb, but this is the common translation of it i.e. you should not waste the day, but “pluck” its benefits as you would pluck the fruit from a tree

4th conjugation

audīre: to listen; remove the -re > audī! listen!

The irregular verb eō, īre (to go) basically does the same as the 4th conjugation i.e. remove the -re:

īre > ī: go!

If you haven’t watched it, you can have a laugh at John Cleese as the threatening centurion in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” who, in aggressively correcting Brian’s Latin grammar, makes the following point:

“But ‘Romans go home' is an ORDER, so you must use the …???”

“The … imperative”

“Which is …???”

“ī …ī …”

“How many Romans???”

“Plural! …īte…īte”

So, if you’re talking to more than one Roman, you need to change these imperatives!

[1] portā! > portāte! [add -te to the singular form]

[2] manē! > manēte! [add -te to the singular form]

[3] Watch! You don’t just add -te to the singular; note the vowel change.

• cape! > capite!
• carpe! > carpite!

[4] audī! > audīte! [add -te to the singular form]

• Audīte et alteram partem. Listen even to the other side.

[5] ī! > īte! [add -te to the singular form]

• RŌMĀNĪ ĪTE DOMUM! Romans go home!

And if you get it wrong, you’ll need to, as Brian does, write it out a hundred times!