Review- Verb Endings,
Present Tense:
1st and 2nd Conjugations
Latin II
Magister Henderson
Latin Verbs
• Latin verbs belong to one of four groups called
conjugations.
• Each conjugation has its own theme vowel.
• The theme vowel of the first conjugation is “ā”,
its infinitive form ends in “-āre”.
• The theme vowel of the second conjugation is
“ē”, its infinitive form ends in “-ēre”.
• The infinitive is the form of the verb that carries
its basic meaning.
Latin Verb Endings
Singular
First Person
-ō
=I
Second Person
-s
Third Person
-t
Plural
-mus
= we
= you
-tis
= you
= he, she, it
-nt
= they
These endings are attached to the base of a Latin verb to
create the conjugated forms of the verb.
All regular Latin verbs use these endings, the conjugation
of the verb determines the vowels that will come before
the endings.
The First Conjugation
amō, amāre = to love
Singular
1st Person
amō
= I love
2nd Person
amās
3rd Person
amat
Plural
amāmus
= we love
= you love
amātis
= you love
= he / she loves
amant
= they love
First conjugation verbs drop the theme vowel “ā”
before the –ō of the first person singular form.
The long mark of the theme vowel shortens in the third
person singular and plural forms.
First Conjugation Verbs
ambulō, ambulāre = to walk [ambulate]
clamō, clamāre = to shout [claim]
donō, donāre = to give [donate]
dubitō, dubitāre = to doubt [indubitably]
monstrō, monstrāre = to show [demonstrate]
nuntiō, nuntiāre = to announce [pronunciate]
portō, potāre = to carry [portable]
spectō, spectāre = to watch [spectator]
The Second Conjugation
habeō, habēre = to have
Singular
1st Person
habeō
= I have
2nd Person
habēs
3rd Person
habet
Plural
habēmus
= we have
= you have
habētis
= you have
= he / she has
habent
= they have
Second conjugation verbs add the ending –ō to the theme
vowel “e” in the first person singular form.
The long mark of the theme vowel shortens in the third
person singular and plural forms.
Second Conjugation Verbs
doceō, docēre = to teach [doctrine]
maneō, manēre = to stay [remain]
moveō, movēre = to move [movement]
sedeō, sedēre = to sit [sediment]
teneō, tenēre = to hold [tenacity]
terreō, terrēre = to frighten [terror]
timeō, timēre = to fear [timid]
videō, vidēre = to see [video]
About the Present Tense
• Latin has one form for the present tense, while
English has three different “aspects”.
• The three aspects in English are called the
simple, progressive, and emphatic aspects.
Simple
Progressive
Emphatic
parō
= I prepare
= I am preparing
= I do prepare
vocāmus
= we call
= we are calling
= we do call
exercent
= they train
= they are training
= they do train
So for every Latin verb, you have at least three possible translations,
depending on the aspect you are attempting to show.