if Copy link Outline 1. sī2. to introduce a contrary alternative, sin (= si ne3. sometimes expr. by particip. clause4. sīve, seu (whether ... or if) • if: 1. sī: (i.) with indic. (mere assumption: L. G. § 424, 1): if you wish, I will produce witnesses, si vis, testes dabo, Cic.: if we follow nature as our guide, we shall never go wrong, naturam si sequemur ducem, nunquam aberrabimus, Cic. (ii.) with subj. (implying probability or possibility: L. G. § 424, 2, sqq.): if I wished, I could not possibly go away, si velim, abire hinc nullo facto possim, Pl.: if it had happened otherwise, si aliter accidisset, Cic. (N.B.--Si is often used elliptically with the subj. to express a wish: Oh! if Jupiter would but restore my past years, O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos! Virg. Aen. 8, 560: Hor.: where, gaudeam, or some such verb, may be supplied: comp. Gr. εί γάρ.) (iii.) with the verb understood (esp. in a negative alternative, si minus): lead forth with you all your partisans; if not all, as many as may be, educ tecum omnes tuos; si minus, quam plurimos, Cic. Cat. 1, 5, 10 (in which connexion, oft. sin minus): either nobody, or if any one he ..., aut nemo, aut si quisquam, ille ..., Cic. Am. 2, 9. 2. to introduce a contrary alternative, sin (= si ne: if not, if on the contrary): if he had disapproved, why had he allowed the law to be passed? if, on the contrary, he had approved, why ...? si improbasset, cur ferri passus est? sin probasset, cur ...? Caes. B. C. 1, 32: Cic.: if otherwise, sin aliter (the verb being understood), Ter. Ph. 1, 2, 66; sin secus, Pl.: if not, sin minus (with or without a verb expr.), Cic. Inv. 2, 29, 88: Att. 9, 15 (the elliptical constr. is better fitted for colloquial lang.): for which, in the epist. style occurs also, sin (alone): cf. Cic. Att. 16, 13, med., si pares inter se, quiescendum; sin, latius manabit. Sin is often strengthened by autem, vero: Cic.: Col. (N.B.--It is not indispensable that sin should be preceded by si; but the preceding member of the sentence must in some way present an alternative: cf. Caes. B. C. 1, 32, orat ac postulat, remp. suscipiant [first alternative] ... sin timore defugiant, if however they are afraid to do that ...). 3. sometimes expr. by particip. clause: I praise her (Fortune) if she remains; if (on the contrary) she shakes her swift wings ..., laudo manentem; si celeres quatit pennas ..., Hor. Od. 3, 29, 55: if admitted to view, could ye refrain from laughter? spectatum admissi, risum teneatis? Hor. A. P. 4: simly. an adject. may be used hypothetically: if fortune be adverse, he hopes; if propitious, he fears a change of lot, sperat infestis, metuit secundis alteram sortem, Hor. Od. 2, 10, 12. 4. sīve, seu (whether ... or if): (i.) si ... sīve (seu): if trunks of trees, or if vessels were floated down by the barbarians, si arborum trunci, sive naves essent a barbaris missae, Caes. B. G. 4, 17, extr.: Pl.: v. or. (ii.) sive (seu) without a preceding si (rare): I demand, or if it be right (to say so), I entreat you ..., postulo, sive aequum est, te oro ..., Ter. Andr. 1, 2, 19: with seu, Virg. Aen. 11, 327. (iii.) sīve (seu) ... sīve (seu): cf. Hor. Od. 3, 4, init., seu (or if) voce nunc mavis acuta, seu fidibus, etc.: Cic. (who uses the form sive): Quint.: v. whether.
IF Copy link • IFsi, here (1) the indicative of all tenses is used when the condition is “simply assumed”: si dicit, dicebat, dixit, dixerat, dicet, dixerit [simple supposition]. (2) The subjunctive present, if it be a supposition that is assumed as one that is uncertain, indeed, now, but which will be determined by the event to be or not be. Here “if it is” = “if it should be found to be”: “should prove to be”: si quid habeat, dabit, I don’t know whether he has anything or not: if it should prove that he has, I assert confidently that he will give it. Here the consequence is usually in the future indicative. The English indicative must not mislead us. [Uncertainty with the prospect of decision.] (3) If a case, whether possible or impossible, is simply conceived by the mind, the present subjunctive is used: si exsistat ab inferis Lycurgus, etc. The present subjunctive is also used in the consequence: dies deficiat, si enumerare velim, etc. [Uncertainty without any accessory notion.] Here the imperfect subjunctive is also used in both clauses: seldom, however, in comparison of the present; those tenses having also the office of denoting what would take place, if a certain condition were realized which has not been realized. (4) The condition may be one which is not or has not been realized. [Impossibility or belief the thing is not so.] Here the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive is used in both clauses, the imperfect subjunctive being often used in one or both clauses where we should in English use the pluperfect, (Vid: Zumpt, § 525.) ☞ Si with imperfect subjunctive sometimes denotes a repeated action, the verb of the principal clause is then in imperfect, si quis prehenderetur... eripiebatur: sometimes (which holds of all the other tenses) it is an accessory clause of a sentence that is itself expressed in the subjunctive: veritus ne (si semper atomus gravitate ferretur naturali) nihil nobis liberum esset. In Latin the conditional relation is often expressed by a participial construction; e.g., non mihi, nisi admonito, in mentem venisset, if I had not been told; maximas virtutes jacere necesse est, voluptate dominante, if pleasure be our mistress. But if, sin; sin autem; si vero (☞ very rarely si autem): but if not, si non; si minus; si aliter (Zumpt, 343): if not, nisi, ni (when whole clauses are opposed); si non (merely introduces a negative supposition, the non belonging to the verb, Zumpt, 342): if indeed, si quidem; si modo (if only): if by any chance, si forte (☞ not si fortasse): if ever, si quando, si aliquando: si unquam (after negative clauses, etc. = “if ever once”): if anybody, si quis (unemphatic): si aliquis or quispiam (if any, be it who or what it may): si quisquam or ullus (if there be any, which is very improbable: also when the meaning is that the statement is true, if there be but any of the thing in question, whereas there is much or are many, etc., Pr. Intr., App., p. 193). As if, as though, quasi; tanquam si; ac si: velut si (with the subjunctive; and ☞ that the English must not mislead us: pugnat quasi contendat, he fights as if he contended, or were contending, pugnavit, quasi contenderet, etc.: ☞ not in classical writers): as carefully, as if, sic, quasi (Cic., Verr., 4, 54). After many words, especially those denoting “appearance, pretence, suspicion,” or the like, “as if” is represented in Latin by accusative and infinitive; e.g., moveo nonnullis suspicionem velle me navigare; simulat se aegrotare; also, videtur scire. If only [Vid: PROVIDED THAT]. In comparison, si; e.g., si quid generis istiusmodi me delectat, pictura delectat, if anything, it is painting, i. e., painting pleases me as much as anything. In asseverations or entreaties, si; e.g., moriar, si quidquam fieri potest elegantius.