Well, this is kind of above my level, but I am trying to firm up the concepts of perfect, pluperfect and subjunctive I am learning by trying out a few sentences.
I am trying to say:
It was getting dark when he arrived at the old abandoned church with his flock [of sheep].
So, as a first attempt:
Advesperāscibat cum advenerit cum pecō suō ab ecclesiā antīquā desertā.
My dictionary says that ‘when’ as when in time is cum+perfect subjunctive, and ‘cum’ as with is cum+abl.
I wasn’t sure if the tense I used in advesperāscibat is correct in this particular instance either, but it seemed appropriate (was getting dark when he arrived).
For flock I used pecus, -ōris, n. and suum as ‘his’. This is by far the most complex sentence I have attempted to write.
cum can take several tenses other than perfect and it doesn’t have to be subjunctive, so I think that your dictionary may not be a reliable reference for grammar.
Anyways, in an inverted cum clause (which you have used), the indicative is used in the cum clause. An inverted cum clause happens when you make the cum clause follow the independent clause by switching the words around, as you have (probably unconsciously) done: cum aduesperascebat aduenit → (iam, tum, eo tempore, etc.) aduesperascebat cum aduenit. The subjunctive doesn’t actually need to be used here anyways, inverted or not, since the cum clause is purely temporal and not indefinite, causal, etc.
pecus, pecoris is third declension and has a short o in the stem, so the ablative is pecore.
arrive at = advenire + ad + accusative (you used ab + ablative which would mean “from”).
I wasn’t sure if the tense I used in advesperāscibat is correct in this particular instance either, but it seemed appropriate (was getting dark when he arrived).
The imperfect tense is fine, but the imperfect of aduesperascit would be aduesperascebat (not aduesperascibat).
This is by far the most complex sentence I have attempted to write.
Besides a couple errors, you did well considering how much of this you have not learned yet, and the meaning of what you wrote was understandable. I was also very amused by the sentiment
My dictionary has this definition for cum as ‘when’:
conj (time) cum (+subj)
In a previous reply you mentioned my dictionary (in this case it is the Harper Collins Latin Concise Dictionary) may have been incorrect in stating the subjunctive in this definition. Before I consider the dictionary in error, given the above definition, was I misreading the definition and using it in appropriately?
(Since I am not experienced with the subjunctive at this point, I am not entirely sure about its use outside of ‘I would…’ or ‘I wish…’ etc.)
It isn’t that cum + subj doesn’t mean “when”, but cum can also take the indicative (which your dictionary doesn’t seem to mention) and the combination of mood and tense can produce different meanings with cum. It is for these reasons that dictionaries, especially abridged ones, do not usually make good grammar references. You would be better off to turn to the appropriate section of your textbook or to take a look in a reference grammar if you want to learn more about this (it is a very big topic).
