| when you meet ... cum convenis/convenias
Explanation:
'When you meet someone without a smile, give them yours' = 'Cum aliquem non subridentem convenis (or convenias), da ei tuum.'
The sentence is actually a general condition, in which 'cum', although usually translated as 'when' in such contexts, really means 'whenever', so that the clause constitutes a protasis, the subject of the verb being an indefinite 'you' implied in the verbal termination. In this type of construction, one may employ either the present or perfect indicative or the present (less often the perfect) subjunctive, with no appreciable difference of meaning. As with particular conditions, the apodosis may employ any form of the verb required by the sense.
Cf. Allen & Greenough, Latin Grammar, 2nd. ed., §304, d, 2, §305, d. 1, a, §309, a, c; Gildersleeve & Lodge, Latin Grammar, 3rd ed., §583, §590, Note 3, §594, Note 1; Bennett, Latin Grammar, 4th ed., §302, 2.
For examples, cf. Lewis & Short s.v. 2 cum I, A, 1, a, 2, a and the passages in the grammars referred to.
|  Joseph J. Brazauskas
United States
Local time: 15:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:  English, Spanish
PRO pts in category: 27
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The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
