How would I identify and translate a purpose clause?
A purpose clause explains why an action is done and so can be considered the motivation behind the verb. It is constructed with 'ut' + a subjunctive verb and is translated in English as 'in order to' or simply 'to'. For example: cives ad portas urbis festinaverunt ut verba nuntii audirent.audirent is the subjunctive verb and the subject is cives (because it is the only nominative, plural noun in the sentence). Therefore following the subject, verb, object pattern, you would translate this sentence as: the citizens hurried to the gates of the city in order to hear the words of the messenger.A negative purpose clause is constructed with 'ne' + a subjunctive verb and is translated as 'so that...not'.For example: Hannibal noctem exspectavit ne ab custodibus videretur.Hannibal waited for night so that he would not be seen by the guards.
Related Latin GCSE answers
All answers ▸Translate into Latin: "The girls were walking to the forum." From OCR GCSE Latin Language Paper (9-1), 2015.
'dux militibus imperavit ut summa virtute pugnarent.' What construction is this? Parse 'militibus' and explain why it is like this. With the same construction, rewrite this sentence using 'iubeo' instead of 'imperare'.
What's a good method to translate a sentence from Latin into English?
What are the uses of UT ?