How do you form hypothetical conditionals in Latin?

In Latin, possibility is denoted by the use of the subjunctive mood rather than the indicative. There are 3 types of conditional: future, present and past. As there is no future subjunctive in Latin, the tenses used in Latin are shifted back one, so the future hypothetical conditional uses the present subjunctive, the present hypothetical conditional uses the imperfect subjunctive, and the past hypothetical conditional uses the pluperfect subjunctive. So, if we take the sentence 'If I were tired, then I would sleep,' a present hypothetical conditional, we would translate it as 'si fessa essem, dormirem.' 'si' is the word for if, and we have the imperfect subjunctives 'essem' and 'dormirem.' If the tenses are mixed in the 'if' part of the sentence (the protasis) and the 'then' part (the apodosis), then we mix the subjunctives accordingly.

Answered by Elise W. Latin tutor

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