Chapter 8 Notes
Verb Persons
In Latin, we have singular and plural verbs. In these two categories, we have three persons, which
describe who or what is performing the action. Let’s make a little table:
1st Person Singular
2nd Person Singular
3rd Person Singular
I __________
You________
He/She/It_______
-o
-s
-t
1st Person Plural
2nd Person Singular
3rd Person Singular
We_________
Y’all___________
They___________
-mus
-tis
-nt
So in the table we have our six verb persons, what each one means, and the Latin ending for each one.
Let’s try a couple:
Spectamus, venio, revocatis, ducis, amat
Want to make your own verbs? Here’s a general rule to follow:
Take the infinitive, drop the –re, and add your ending!
Later we’ll add some more rules to this general one, but you can follow this one for now.
Conjugations:
While we’re talking about verbs, we should mention that much like nouns, verbs have groups. Groups in
verbs are called conjugations.
There are four conjugations for verbs, and the way that you can tell which verb is in which conjugation is
by looking at the vowel before the –re in the infinitive.
If you have an ā, as in amāre, the verb is in the first conjugation
If you have an ē, like sedēre, the verb is in the second conjugation
If you have an e, like in repellere, the verb is in the third conjugation
If you have an ī, like in dormīre, the verb is in the fourth conjugation.
Take a look at the bottom page 57 and see if you can figure out which verb is in which conjugation
The Vocative Case
Whenever you want to address someone directly in Latin, you use what is called the vocative case. Now,
for most nouns, the vocative case looks just like the nominative. There are two cases, however where
it’s different:
For nouns that end in –us, you drop the –us and add –e. Example: Sextus becomes Sexte
For nouns that end in –ius, you just drop the –us. Example: Cornelius becomes Corneli