Purpose Clauses
Table of contents
Expressions of Purpose
In English, an expression of purpose tells us what is intended by a particular course of action. It answers the question, “with what intent” or “with what purpose” was the action of the main verb completed. Below are some basic examples and variations of expression of purpose (the expression of purpose is bolded):
- He got up at 9 AM to get to class on time.
- He got up at 9 AM so that he could get to class on time.
- He got up at 9 AM so as to get to class on time.
- He got up at 9 AM to not be late to class.
There are two things worth noting about expressions of purpose. First, they are dependent on a main verbal construction. For example, “so that he could get to class on time” is not a grammatically correct sentence in and of itself; it needs the main clause “he got up at 9 AM” in order to make sense. Second, the verbal action contained in the expression of purpose always happens after the verbal construction on which they are dependent. In other words, they have a sense of futurity to them.
Purpose Clause
The most common way to express purpose in Latin is through a purpose clause. Purpose clauses are dependent clauses (i.e., they generally follow an independent clause) that have two key features:
- A subordinating conjunction (ut for a positive purpose clause or nē for a negative purpose clause)
- A verb in the subjunctive, the tense of which depends on the sequence of tenses.
How do we translate a sentence containing a purpose clause? Take the following example:
- Ad agrōs militēs venērunt ut urbem vidērent.
First, we break the sentence into dependent (bolded) and independent (italicized) clauses. In the case of a sentence containing a purpose clause, we can recognize the dependent clause rather easily as it begins with ut or nē.
- Ad agrōs militēs venērunt ut urbem peterent.
We then translate the independent clause:
- The soldiers came to the fields ut urbem peterent.
After that, we select the appropriate translation for the purpose clause based on the nature of its subject. If the subject of the purpose clause is the same as the subject of the independent clause, we can simply translate the ut plus the verb as “to verb” or “in order to verb” (in case of ne, “to not verb”). In the case of the sentence above, this is the case and we can translate it as follows:
- The soldiers came to the fields to attack the city.
- The soldiers came to the fields in order to attack the city.
If the subject of the purpose clause is different from that of the main clause, we translate ut plus the verb as “so that [subject] might/may/could/would [verb].” We can see this in the example below:
- Ad agrōs militēs venērunt ut urbs vidērētur.
- The soldiers came to the fields so that the city might be seen.