Temporal clause (Latin)

A temporal clause is an adverbial clause of time, that is to say, a clause which informs the reader about the time when the action of main verb of the sentence occurred. So in a sentence such as "after I had said this, he went out", the first clause is a temporal clause. The name comes from the Latin word tempus, genitive temporis, 'time".

Typically in Latin a temporal clause has a conjunction of time such as cum "when" or postquam "after" at or near the beginning of the clause and a verb at the end. The verb in a Latin temporal clause is usually in the indicative mood, although sometimes, especially when the conjunction is cum, it is in the subjunctive. But if the clause is part of indirect speech, the verb is nearly always in the subjunctive mood.

The conjunctions used to introduce temporal clauses sometimes have other, non-temporal, meanings. For example, cum can mean "when", "since", or "although"; dum can mean "while", "until", or "provided that"; ubi can mean "when" or "where", and so on.

Another possibility commonly used in Latin for expressing time is a participial phrase. For example, the temporal clauses id postquam audīvit (Nepos) "after he heard this" and quod cum audīvisset (Cicero) "when he heard this" both mean much the same thing as the participial phrase quō audītō (Pliny) (literally, "with which heard").

Temporal clauses are very frequent in certain styles of Latin such as history, and it is not uncommon to find a sentence introduced by two or three temporal clauses, often mixed with participial phrases of time.

A common way of classifying temporal clauses is according to whether the action or situation described in the temporal clause is antecedent, contemporaneous, or subsequent to that of the main verb:

A. The action of the temporal clause verb is antecedent to that of the main verb:

B. The action of the temporal clause verb is contemporaneous with the main verb: