INDEPENDENT SUBJUNCTIVE
The subjunctive has many jobs in Latin, but they can be divided in two. There is its role in subordinate clauses, where subjunctives define the time of actions and have no sense of potentiality or unreality. But there are also a series of jobs the subjunctive does independently: jussives for giving orders, and conditional clauses. You’ll also meet the subjunctive when someone is unsure of themselves. This is called the deliberative subjunctive: quid faciam? “What should I do?” The speaker is deliberating what to do next.
Subjunctives are also used to soften requests. In an Irish shop we tend to say “I’d like” instead of “I want.” A Roman would recognise this, and say velim instead of volo.
A subjunctive can also be used to express hopes and desires, often in the form of prayers: “May you be safe’” is salvus sis. You’ll start to see these in your reading. Try to distinguish between the two broad categories: independent subjunctives, and subjunctives used in subordinate clauses. You can always check the resources section for the various forms and endings.
To see how the subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses, check out the Sequence of Tenses.