Moods

Indirect Questions

Salvete discipuli and discipulae! The ubiquitous subjunctive is used in a variety of situations including but not limited to indirect questions in the Latin language. The subjunctive is heavily used in Latin and is therefore incumbent on you to become very familiar with its employment.

Recognizing an Indirect Question

The main verb is a verb of mental action such as knowing, asking, seeing et al. and typically will be in the indicative mood, but it is not uncommon to see the main verb in the subjunctive mood as well.
The main verb is followed by an interrogative word or expression, such as the interrogative relative quis, quid, or others such as ubi, quomodo, quam, ut, et al.
The indirect question itself is in a dependent clause whose verb is always in the subjunctive mood.

Sequence of Tenses

Analyzing the Time of the Actions

Determine the time of the action of the main verb.
- If it is present or future tense (i.e., present, future or future perfect), then it is in primary sequence.
- If it is in the past tense (i.e., imperfect, perfect or pluperfect), then it is in secondary sequence.
Determine the time of the action of the dependent clause (the indirect question)
- If the action is incomplete or ongoing at the time of the main verb, then it is taking place at the same time or after the main verb.
- If the action is completed at the time of the time of the main verb, it has taken place before the main verb.

Tense of the Subjunctive

Selecting the correct tense of the subjunctive clause

Primary sequence (present or future) + action at the same time or after = subjunctive in the present tense
Primary sequence (present or future) + action before = subjunctive in the perfect tense
Secondary sequence (past tense) + action at the same time or after = subjunctive in the imperfect tense
Secondary sequence (past tense) + action before = subjunctive in the pluperfect tense

Forming the Subjunctive

Remember that there are only four tenses of the subjunctive; it does not have a future or future perfect tense since futurity is implied in the subjunctive. For more about forming the subjunctive, please go back to the Grammatica index and refer to the section on forming the subjunctive.

Exempli Gratia

Here are some example of indirect questions in Latin and English:

Primary sequence examples

Rogat quid faciant, He asks what they are doing.
This is primary sequence with the action of the indirect question occuring at the same time as the that of the main verb. Therefore, we must use use the present subjunctive in Latin in the dependent clause.
Rogat quid facturi sint, He asks what they will do (might be about to do).
Primary sequence with the action of the verb taking place after the main verb. In order to make an absolute distinction for the future, the verb of the dependent clause needs to be what is called a future active periphrastic form (you are already familiar with future passive periphrastic forms, a.k.a. gerundives of obligation, e.g. faciendum est). The future active periphrastic was used to account for the lack of unquestionable futurity in the subjunctive. To form the periphrastic, the present subjunctive of the verb sum plus the future active participle, which as always agrees in gender, number and case, is used.
Rogat quid fecerint, He asks what they did (had done, were doing)
Primary sequence, with the action of the indirect question taking place before the action of the main verb. The tense of the subjunctive will be perfect. In an indirect question in primary sequence, there was no way to indicate incomplete action because the imperfect subjunctive can only be used with a past tense main verb. As a result, the perfect subjunctive is used in primary sequence to indicate all aspects of time before the main verb.

Secondary sequence examples

Rogavit (rogabat) quid facerent, He asked (was asking, did ask) what they were doing. In secondary sequence, the imperfect subjunctive functions just like the present subjunctive in primary sequence, that is, the action of the indirect question is taking place at the same time or after the action of the main verb.
Rogavit (rogabat) quid fecissent, He asked (was asking, did ask) what they had done (had been doing). In secondary sequence, the main verb is already past tense of some sort, so a tense that goes even further back must be used in order to indicate action before the main verb: the pluperfect tense.
Rogavit (rogabat) quid facturus esset, He asked (was asking, did ask) what they were going to do (would do, were about to do). Again, this is a future periphrastic used to strictly indicate action taking place after the main verb. Unlike the the example in primary sequence, a future periphrastic used in secondary sequence is formed with the imperfect subjunctive of the sum and the future participle of the dependent clause verb.

More Examples

For each example, try to identify whether the sequence of tense is primary or secondary, identify the tense and mood of the verbs and the relation of the action of the indirect question to the main verb (before, at the same time, after).

Scio quis epistulam portaturus sit, I know who will carry the letter.
Sciam quis epistulam portaverit, I will know who had carried (carried, was carrying, did carry) the letter.
Sciebam quis epistulam portaturus esset, I was knowing who would (was was about to) carry the letter.
Rogantur ubi senatores fuerint, They are being asked where the senators had been.
Rogabantur ubi senatores essent, They were being asked where the senators were.
Rogabantur ubi senatores fuissent, They were being asked where the senators had been.
Rogabuntur ubi senatores sint, They will be asked where the senators are.
Videsne quomodo naves deleantur? Do you see how the ships are being destroyed?
Videsne quomodo naves deleturae sint? Do you see how the ships will be destroyed?
Vidistine quomodo naves delerentur? Did you see how the ships were being destroyed?
Videbasne quomodo naves deletae essent? Did you see how the ship had been destroyed?

^ Grammatica

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