Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin Principal Parts and Conjugations In order to conjugate a verb in any tense, you need to know the principal parts of the verb. A conjugation is a group of verbs. Each conjugation follows a pattern in its principal parts which makes it easier to know a verbs principal parts if you know the verb’s conjugation. However, some verbs do not follow the normal pattern of their conjugation so their principal parts must be memorized. 1st Conjugation Pattern: -o, -are, -avi,-atum Examples amo, amare, amavi, amatum (to love) ambulo, ambulare, ambulavi, ambulatum (to walk) clamo, clamare, clamavi, clamatum (to shout) Exceptions sto, stare, steti, statum (to stand) do, dare, dedi, datum (to give) 2nd Conjugation Pattern: -eo, -ēre, -ui, -itum Examples habeo, habēre, habui, habitum (to have) terreo, terrēre, terrui, territum (to frighten) Exceptions video, vidēre, vīdi, visum (to see) iubeo, iubēre, iussi, iussum (to order) 3rd Conjugation Pattern: -o, -ere, ----, ----- There is no pattern for the 3rd and 4th principal parts! Examples dico, dicere, dixi, dictum (to say) scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum (to write) ago, agere, egi, actum (to do, to drive) 3rd Conjugation –io Pattern: -io, -ere, -----, ---- Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin Again, no pattern for 3rd or 4th principal parts! Examples facio, facere, fēci, factum (to do, to make) conspicio, conspicere, conspexi, conspectum (to catch sight of) iacio, iacere, iēci, iactum (to throw) th 4 Conjugation Pattern: -io, -ire, -ivi, -itum Examples audio, audire, audivi, auditum (to hear) dormio, dormire, dormivi, dormitum (to sleep) Exception venio, venire, vēni, ventum (to come) As you can see, all conjugations follow a pattern in their first & second principal parts. In fact, the 2nd principal part (which is called the infinitive and is translated “to verb”) tells which conjugation the verb is in. 1st conjugation -āre 2nd conjugation -ēre 3rd conjugation & 3rd –io -ere 4th conjugation -īre Present Tense This tense is actually the trickiest. There are several ways to do it. This is just one. Rule: Take off the last three letters of the 2nd principal part(infinitive) and then add the appropriate endings depending on the conjugation of the verb. 1st -o -as -at -amus -atis -ant 2nd -eo -es -et -emus -etis -ent 3rd -o -imus -is -itis -it -unt Imperfect Tense The basic endings for all conjugations: 3rd –io and 4th -io -imus -is -itis -it -iunt Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin -bam -bas -bat -bamus -batis -bant The only tricky part is figuring out what to add these to. There are two rules. Rule for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Conjugations: Take off –re of the infinitive and add the endings above. Rule for 3rd-io & 4th Take off –ere or –ire, then add –ie, then add the endings above. Future Tense There are two COMPLETELY different ways to do the future depending on the verb’s conjugation. Rule for 1st and 2nd conjugation: Take off the –re and add the following endings: -bo -bimus -bis -bitis -bit -bunt Rule for 3rd, 3rd –io, and 4th conjugation: Take off the –ere or –ire from the infinitive, then add the following endings: -(i)am -(i)es -(i)et -(i)emus -(i)etis -(i)ent If the verb is 3rd, it doesn’t have the –i-; if it is 3rd –io or 4th, it has the –i- Perfect System The perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect tenses belong to the perfect system of tenses because they all use the perfect stem. The great thing about these tenses is it doesn’t matter what conjugation the verb is: ALL verbs add the same endings to their perfect stem to form each tense. The tricky part is knowing each verb’s perfect stem. To find a verb’s perfect stem Drop the -i from the 3rd principal part. Perfect Tense Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin Rule: Add the following endings to the perfect stem: -i -imus -isti -istis -it -erunt Pluperfect Tense Rule: Add the following endings to the perfect stem: -eram -eras -erat -eramus -eratis -erant Future Perfect Tense Rule: Add the following endings to the perfect stem: -ero -eris -erit -erimus -eritis -erint How to translate each tense Present: I am verbing, I do verb, I verb Imperfect: I was verbing, I verbed, I used to verb, I kept on verbing Future: I will verb, I shall verb Perfect: I have verbed, I verbed, I did verb Pluperfect: I had verbed Future Perfect: I will have verbed Sum, Esse, Fui, Futurus in each tense Present sum es est sumus estis sunt Imperfect eram eras erat eramus eratis erant Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin Future ero eris erit Pluperfect fueram fueras fuerat erimus eritis erunt Perfect fui fuimus fuisti fuistis fuit fuerunt fueramus fueratis fuerant Future Perfect fuero fuerimus fueris fueritis fuerat fuerint Imperatives The imperative form of a verb is its command form. The following are all present tense. (There are future tense imperatives, but they are not used as much) Rule for the singular imperative: drop the –re from the infinitive Rule for the plural imperative: add –te to the singular imperative. If the verb is 3rd conjugation, change the final –e- of the singular to –i- then add –te. Rule for the negative imperative: Singular: noli + infinitive Plural: nolite + infinitive (the negative imperative is two separate words) Abrupt Imperatives 5 Latin verbs have shortened forms of the singular imperative. Memorize the following imperative forms. (The negative is formed regularly) dico, dicere (to say): duco, ducere (to lead): facio, facere (to make, do): fero, ferre (to bring): dic, dicite duc, ducite fac, facite fer, ferte Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs do not belong to a conjugation. This means the present, imperfect, and future tense must be memorized for these verbs. However, the perfect system of these verbs is formed regularly (perfect stem + perfect/pluperfect/future perfect endings). Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin possum, posse, potui (to be able) present possum potes potest possumus potestis possunt eo is it poteramus poteratis poterant ibam ibas ibat ibamus ibatis ibant poterimus poteritis poterunt ibo ibis ibit ibimus ibitis ibunt imperfect poteram poteras poterat future potero poteris poterit eo, ire, ivi, itum (to go) imus itis eunt volo, velle, volui (to wish, to want) fero, ferre, tuli, latum (to bring, to bear) present volo vis vult volumus vultis volunt fero fers fert ferimus fertis ferunt imperfect volebam volebas volebat volebamus volebatis volebant ferebam ferebas ferebat ferebamus ferebatis ferebant future volam voles volet volemus voletis volent feram feres feret feremus feretis ferent Regular Verbs from each Conjugation conjugated in each tense, with Imperatives Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin 1st conjugation: amo, amare, amavi, amatum present: amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant imperfect: amabam, amabas, amabat, amabamus, amabatis, amabant future: amabo, amabis, amabit, amabimus, amabitis, amabunt perfect: amavi, amavisti, amavit, amavimus, amavistis, amaverunt pluperfect: amaveram, amaveras, amaverat, amaveramus, amaveratis, amaverant future perf: amavero, amaveris, amaverit, amaverimus, amaveritis, amaverint Imperatives: ama, amate Negative Imperatives: noli amare, nolite amare 2nd conjugation: doceo, docēre, docui, doctum present: doceo, doces, docet, docemus, docetis, docent imperfect: docebam, docebas, docebat, docebamus, docebatis, docebant future: docebo, docebis, docebit, docebimus, docebitis, docebunt perfect: docui, docuisti, docuit, docuimus, docuistis, docuerunt pluperfect: docueram, docueras, docuerat, docueramus, docueratis, docuerant future perf: docuero, docueris, docuerit, docuerimus, docueritis, docuerint imperatives: doce, docete negative imperatives: noli docēre, nolite docēre 3rd conjugation: dico, dicere, dixi, dictum present: dico, dicis, dicit, dicimus, dicitis, dicunt imperfect: dicebam, dicebas, dicebat, dicebamus, dicebatis, dicebant future: dicam, dices, dicet, dicemus, dicetis, dicent perfect: dixi, dixisti, dixit, diximus, dixistis, dixerunt pluperfect: dixeram, dixeras, dixerat, dixeramus, dixeratis, dixerant future perf: dixero, dixeris, dixerit, dixerimus, dixeritis, dixerint imperatives: of lego, legere: lege, legite plural imperatives: of lego legere: noli legere, nolite legere 3rd-io & 4th conjugation: iacio, iacere, iēci, iactum present: iacio, iacis, iacit, iacimus, iacitis, iaciunt imperfect: iaciebam, iaciebas, iaciebat, iaciebamus, iaciebatis, iaciebant future: iaciam, iacies, iaciet, iaciemus, iacietis, iacient perfect: ieci, iecisti, iecit, iecimus, iecisitis, iecerunt pluperfect: ieceram, ieceras, iecerat, ieceramus, ieceratis, iecerant future perf: iecero, ieceris, iecerit, iecerimus, ieceritis, iecerint imperatives: iace, iacite of dormio dormire: dormi, dormite Guide to Verb Tenses in Latin negative imperatives: noli iacere, nolite iacere Note that, other than in the imperative singular, 3rd –io and 4th conjugation verbs are conjugated exactly alike. Piece of cake right?! This is not even half of all forms of Latin verbs. The forms above are all active indicative (except for the imperatives). Still to go are: passive indicative (double what’s above) active subjunctive (2/3 of what’s above) passive subjunctive (2/3 of what’s above) 5 more infinitives 4 participles the supine the gerund passive imperatives future imperatives, active and passive Not to scare you or anything!
