If He Had Come: si venisset

Level 5

If he had come: the pluperfect subjunctive in both halves.

How It Works

Latin	What really happened
Si studuisses, praemium accepisses. If you had studied, you would have received the prize.	You did not study.
Si Marcus mane surrexisset, amicos vidisset. If Marcus had got up early, he would have seen his friends.	He got up late.

Martha says this to Jesus in John 11:21: Domine, si fuisses hic, frater meus non fuisset mortuus. The first verb is fuisses and the second is fuisset mortuus, both in the pluperfect subjunctive. A few verses later Mary says non esset mortuus (John 11:32), which means the same.

The pluperfect subjunctive is the perfect infinitive plus -m, -s, -t: fuisse gives fuissem, fuisses, fuisset.

Examples (5)

Si Marcus venisset, Iulia risisset.
If Marcus had come, Iulia would have laughed.
Venisset and risisset are pluperfect subjunctive. Marcus did not come.
Domine, si fuisses hic, frater meus non fuisset mortuus.
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:21. Fuisses and fuisset are pluperfect subjunctive. Mortuus is the participle of morior.
Si studuisses, praemium accepisses.
If you had studied, you would have received the prize.
Studuisses and accepisses are pluperfect subjunctive. You did not study.
Si Marcus mane surrexisset, amicos vidisset.
If Marcus had got up early, he would have seen his friends.
Surrexisset and vidisset are pluperfect subjunctive. Mane means early in the morning.
Si ad ecclesiam venissemus, sacerdotem audivissemus.
If we had come to the church, we would have heard the priest.
Venissemus and audivissemus are pluperfect subjunctive, first person plural.

Common Mistakes

Using the imperfect for a condition about the past.
Si Marcus veniret, Iulia rideret.
Si Marcus venisset, Iulia risisset.
Veniret and rideret are correct Latin for a different meaning: if Marcus were coming, Iulia would be laughing. For something that did not happen in the past, both verbs go into the pluperfect.

How It Connects

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If He Had Come: si venissetLevel 5

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A condition that was not true uses the pluperfect subjunctive.

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Conditions Inside ReportsLevel 6

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