Expert: Maria - 3/14/2010

Question
Hello,

I apologize for not clarifying.  "never hold back" as in to give everything you've got(personal effort, resources, emotion, etc) in order to achieve a goal or complete a task.  To never have anything left to give after you do something.  I understand this is a philosophical kind of phrase and as you said, Latin is a very literal language.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again,
Ryan

Answer

Hello,

First of all I thank you very much for clarifying the sense of “Never hold back”, i.e. just  “as in to give everything you've got (personal effort, resources, emotion, etc) in order to achieve a goal or complete a task.  To never have anything left to give after you do something”, as you say.

So, in this sense Latin cannot use the negative imperative which would be a mere literal translation, but it must use a positive imperative just to point out that you must do your best “in order to achieve a goal or complete a task”.

Therefore here’s the correct translation of “Never hold back” in the meaning you’ve said:

-“Quam optime age semper!”, if this command is addressed to only one person (2nd.person singular).

-“Quam optime agite semper”, if this command is addressed to many persons (2nd.person plural).


Note that both the above phrases mean literally: “Do always your best”, just in the sense of  giving everything you've got (personal effort, resources, emotion, etc) in order to achieve a goal or complete a task, as you say.

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-QUAM OPTIME (adverb) = your best

-AGE (2nd.person singular, imperative of AGO) or AGITE (2nd.person plural, imperative of AGO)= do

-SEMPER = always