| Verbs |
|
A conjugation can refer to two verb concepts in Latin:
I am, you are, he is, we are, you (all) are, they are. This is considered conjugating a verb. Note that it is considered incorrect to say 'I is' 'You is' 'He are' 'We am.' How do you know this is incorrect? It sounds wrong. You never had to memorize these forms since you grew up hearing them if English is your native language.
Let's look at the verb 'to do.' I do, you do, he does, we do, you do, they do - where did 'does' come in? Why, the 'es,' why the 'funny' pronunciation? Can one say 'I does?' Yes, one can say this and be understood, but all hearers understand this is incorrect grammar.
In Latin we conjugate a verb with 6 different sets of endings that are determined by the subject. The subject is not always stated in Latin. I do not need to (but I may use a personal pronoun such as 'I', 'we', etc. The ending indicates who is doing the action of an active verb.
These endings are called personal endings:
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | English | Latin | English |
| -o,-m | I | -mus | we |
| -s | you (sg.) | -tis | you (pl.) |
| -t | he, she, it | -nt | they |
Note that with the exception of 'o' there are no vowels. The vowels one uses are determined by the verb's conjugation.
| amo, amâre - 1st conjugation the vowel is 'a' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| amo | I love | amâmus | we love |
| amâs | you sg. love | amâtis | you pl. love |
| amat | he, she, it loves | amant | they love |
| doceô, docêre - 2nd conjugation the vowel is 'e' | |||
| doceo | I teach | docêmus | we teach |
| docês | yousg. teach | docêtis | you pl. teach |
| docet | he, she, it teaches | docent | they teach |
Note how in the first and second conjugations the vowel comes directly from the infinitive, the second principal part.
In the 3rd and 4th conjugations, consider that you are going into debt. The vowels you use here are i, o, u.
| ducô, ducere -'i' is used for all by the I and They forms. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| duco | I lead | ducimus | we lead |
| ducis | you sg. lead | ducitis | you pl. lead |
| ducit | he, she, it leads | ducunt | they lead |
The third 'io': capiô, capere (we use the same endings as with duco, but the presence of 'i' before the 'o' in the first principal part, it means there must always be an 'i' in the present system. Only put an 'i' in place when there is none...such as '-iunt.' Note that the I is short, pronounced like the 'i' in 'is' or 'it.' The stress is on the first syllable, 'cap'.
| capio | I lead | capimus | we lead |
| capis | you sg. lead | capitis | you pl. lead |
| capit | he, she, it leads | capiunt | they lead |
The fourth conjugation is marked by an infinitive ending in '-îre'. audio, audîre is an example: It will look just like the 3rd conjugation including '-iunt.' Note that the I is long, pronounced like the 'e' in 'bee.' The stress varies. One never stresses the last syllable in Latin. I have bolded the stressed syllable for your pronounciation guide.
| audio | I hear | audîmus | we hear |
| audîs | you sg. hear | audîtis | you pl. hear |
| audit | he, she, it hears | audiunt | they hear |
There are a few irregular verbs.
In a nutshell, to conjugate a verb, one must:
| 1. know the conjugation of the verb i.e. what is the infinitive ending? | ||
| 2. distinguish between the short and long 'e' in the infinitive forms of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations. | ||
| 3. find the stem- by dropping the 're' of the infinitive | ||
| conjugation | infinitive | stem |
| 1st | amâre | amâ... |
| 2nd | docêre | docê |
| 3rd | ducere | duc (+i,o, or u)... |
| 4th | audîre | audî... |
| 4. add the personal endings according to the subject you are trying to express e.g. I hear... audio he hears audit. | ||
| 5. know the personal endings | ||
| -o,-m | ||
| -s | ||
| -t | ||
| -mus | ||
| -tis | ||
| -nt | ||
| The above descriptions are for the present active indicative tense. | ||
Tense in Latin as in English when used in conjunction with verbs refers to the
time in which an action takes place. There are 3 tenses that are built from the present
infinitive, the form that is indeed the second principal part of the verb.
These are:
Present(action happens NOW)
Imperfect (action happened in the past and was an ongoing action at the time or may still
be occurring)
Future (action has yet to occur)
To learn more about these tenses go to the Grammatica section under verbs.
Active refers to whether the subject is doing the action or receiving it:
Sextus throws the ball v. The ball is thrown by Sextus.
Active voice verb Passive voice verb
Indicative refers to the most common verb mood, indicating or expressing facts. This is used for general conversation. Other moods are the imperative which indicates a command and the subjunctive (Latin 2 and 3) by which wishes, possibilities, conditions, and other vague situations are expressed.
There are other tenses as well, but these formed with different instructions.
| Copyright © 2009, KET |