Fearing Clauses
Verbs of fearing — timeō, vereor, metuō, plus the noun perīculum — take a substantive clause in the subjunctive. The trap is the conjunctions: Latin inverts them. nē introduces what you do fear will happen; ut (or nē nōn) introduces what you fear will not happen.
"I fear that X (will / won't) happen" — substantive clause as object of the fearing verb.
The conjunctions are inverted from purpose clauses: nē in a purpose clause is negative, but nē with a fearing verb is positive. Memorize the swap.
See It In Action
— Cic. Verr. (cited in A&G §564)
Cicero's textbook fearing clause. timeō nē — but the nē here is affirmative: "that he has done it," not "that he hasn't." This is the inversion: in fearing-clauses, nē reads as English "that," not "that not."
— Cic. (cited in A&G §564)
The ut version. With a fearing verb, ut means "that … not" — the speaker fears not being able to concede. Latin learners almost always misread this as positive ("I fear that I can"), which inverts the meaning. The fix: with ut after fearing, always insert "not" in your English.
Same conjunction, opposite reading. The verb decides which.
after timeō / vereor / metuō: nē = affirmative ("that X will happen"); ut / nē nōn = negative
timeō nē veniat
"I fear that he will come"
after a verb of striving / sending / preparing: ut = affirmative ("in order that X will happen"); nē = negative
hortātur nē veniat
"he urges him not to come"
Tip: Look at the main verb first. Verbs of fearing flip the conjunctions: nē = "that," ut = "that not." Verbs of purpose / urging keep them straight: ut = "in order that," nē = "lest." Same word, opposite mood-meaning.
In vereor ut veniat, what does this mean — and why?
Study Tips
- •Memorize the inversion. nē with a fearing verb is positive — "that X will happen." ut (or nē nōn) with a fearing verb is negative — "that X will NOT happen." This is the opposite of nē / ut in purpose clauses.
- •The intuition for the inversion: a fearing-clause is an original wish run through fear — timeō nē veniat started life as nē veniat! "may he not come!" Once you negate that wish ("I fear that he might come"), the negative nē ends up reading as English "that."
- •Tense follows sequence: present / future after primary, imperfect / pluperfect after secondary. vereor nē veniat (now), verēbar nē venīret (then).
- •Watch for the noun perīculum + nē: perīculum est nē veniat "there's a danger that he'll come." Same logic, just the danger comes packaged as a noun.