Latin Verbs
An Introduction
Latin I Grammar
Latin For Americans: Lesson 3
Latin Verbs… the Basics
 Latin Verbs are divided into groups called
conjugations
 Conjugations share the same infinitive forms
 -āre = 1st Conjugation
 -ēre = 2nd Conjugation
 -ere = 3rd Conjugation
 -īre = 4th Conjugation
Latin Verbs… the Basics
 Latin verbs have five characteristics
1. Person
 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person
2. Number
 Singular or Plural
3. Tense
4. Voice
5. Mood
Latin Verbs… the Basics
 Latin verbs have four principal parts to form
specific tense stems
 Tenses refers to the time when a verb occurs
 There six basic tenses
1. Present
2. Imperfect
3. Future
4. Perfect
5. Pluperfect
6. Future Perfect
Principal Parts
 Principal Parts are the building blocks for
Latin verbs
 Dictionary entries for verbs are given as
their four principal parts
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 Each principal part has a specific job
Principal Parts:
The First Principal Part
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 1st Principal Part is the 1st person,
singular, present tense
Principal Parts:
The Second Principal Part
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 The 2nd Principal Part is the Present
Active Infinitive
 The 2nd Principal Part is used to
form the present stem in 1st, 2nd, and
4th conjugation verbs by removing
the “-re”
Principal Parts:
The Third Principal Part
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 The 3rd Principal Part is the 1st
singular, perfect active
 The 3rd Principal Part is used to
form the perfect active stem by
removing the “-i”
Principal Parts:
The Fourth Principal Part
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 The 4th Principal Part is the Perfect
Passive Participle
 Participles are part verb, part
adjective (-us, -a, -um)
Conjugating Latin Verbs
 Conjugating a verb refers to listing all of
its forms (persons) both singular and
plural in a given tense
 First Person
 Second Person
 Third Person
Conjugating Latin Verbs
 Person refers to who is “performing the
action” of the verb
 Person of the verb = subject of the sentence
 1st person = I (singular); we (plural)
 2nd person = you (singular and plural)
 3rd person = he, she, it (singular); they (plural)
Conjugating Latin Verbs
 Person in English is determined by the
respective pronouns
 I, you, he, she, it, etc..
 Latin determines Person by personal endings:
Singular
-o/-m (I)
-s (you)
-t (he, she, it)
Plural
-mus (we)
-tis (y’all)
-nt (they)
Basic Formula for Conjugating Verbs
 Tense Stem + Tense Sign + Personal Ending
 Present Tense has no “tense sign”
 Formula for Conjugating Present Tense
 Present Stem + Personal Endings
Forming the Present Stem
 Present Stem = 2nd P.P. (-) –re
 amo, amāre, amavi, amatus – a, um
 amāre (-) –re  ama Present Stem = ama (If the vowel is long, it’s strong, so it
stays)
Forming Present Stems
Find the present stem for the following verbs
 laboro, laborāre, laboravi, laboratus – a, um
 paro, parāre, paravi, paratus – a, um
 porto, portāre, portavi, portatus – a, um
 specto, spectāre, spectavi, spectatus – a, um
First Conjugation Verbs:
Present Tense
 amo, amāre
 Stem = amā
 Pres Stem + P.E.
amo
amā + s
amā + t
amā + mus
amā + tis
amā + nt
English Translation
 English Helping Verbs:
“am, is, are” or “do, does”
 I am loving
 you are loving
 he is loving
 we are loving
 y’all are loving
 they are loving
First Conjugation Verbs:
Present Tense
Singular
Plural
amo (I love)
amas (you love)
amat (he, she, it loves)
amamus (we love)
amatis (y’all love)
amant (they love)