It seems to me that there are four ways to be afraid. Firstly, you can be afraid of something. Secondly, you can be afraid to do something. Thirdly, you can be afraid that something may (or may not) be. And fourthly, you can be afraid that something may (or may not) happen. This is the topic of today’s post.
We begin with the Verb vereor, vereri, veritus sum to fear, and a few themed examples. Firstly, I can fear wicked dragons. Secondly, I can fear to enter the dungeon. Thirdly, I can fear that evil dragons are living in the dungeon. And fourthly, I can fear that the wicked dragons will consume me. You may have noticed, by the way, that vereor is a Deponent Verb, meaning that it only has Passive (not Active) Forms.
To fear a thing, we use a simple Accusative Case Noun to show that it is the Object of our fear. dracones improbos vereor I fear wicked dragons.
To fear to do something, we use an Infinitive Verb. carcerem intrare vereor I fear to enter the dungeon.
To fear that something may (or may not) be, we just need the Conjunction ne and a Verb in the Subjunctive Mood. To continue from above, dracones improbi in carcere habitant means wicked dragons live in the dungeon. The Subjunctive form of habitant is habitent. Thus vereor ne dracones improbi in carcere habitent means I fear that wicked dragons live in the dungeon.
And finally, to fear that something might happen (in the future) we use a slight variation of the above. We still start with ne, but we finish with a Future Participle and a Subjunctive form of the Verb to be. Our Future Participle consumpturus about to consume comes from the Verb consumo, consumere, consumpsi, consumptum to consume. dracones improbi me consumpturi sunt means wicked dragons are about to consume me. Thus vereor ne dracones improbi me consumpturi sint means I fear that wicked dragons are about to consume me or - more simply - I fear that wicked dragons will consume me. Yikes!
And so those two seized that gem. What remains is already known to you. I lost the seized suitcase and you, Marcellus, found it. I fear however that they will get it back.'