Conjugations of Verbs
Conjugations
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Verbs are grouped into 4 Conjugations
1st Conjugation: infinitives end in –are
2nd Conjugation: infinitives end in –ēre
3rd Conjugation: infinitives end in –ere
4th Conjugation: infinitives end in -ire
Four Principal Parts
• Most Verbs are listed in Latin Dictionaries with
4 Principal Parts. We will only be concerned
with the first 2 parts.
• amo, amare- 1st Conjugation
• sedeo, sedēre- 2nd Conjugation
• lego, legere- 3rd Conjugation
• Iacio, iacere- 3rd Conjugation io
• dormio, dormire- 4th Conjugation
Building Present Tense Verbs
• All Verbs in Latin are made up of two parts:
a stem and an ending
• we have seen the personal endings for verbs:
o, s, t, mus, tis, nt
• To build a present tense verb, add these endings
to the present stem of the Latin verb
• To form the present stem:
• remove –re from 2nd principal parts of 1st, 2nd,
and 4th Conjugation verbs
• remove –o from 3rd Conjugation verbs
Personal Present Tense Endings
Add these endings to the stem
Singular
Plural
1st Person
-o
-(i)mus
2nd Person
-(i)s
-(i)tis
3rd Person
-(i)t
-(u)nt
-i and –u is added for 3rd conjugation verbs
-u is added for 3rd io and 4th conjugation verbs
Present Tense
amo, amare
stem: amaSingular
Plural
1st Person
amo*
amamus
2nd Person
amas
amatis
3rd Person
amat
amant
sedeo, sedēre stem: sedeSingular
Plural
1st Person
sedeo
sedemus
2nd Person
sedes
sedetis
3rd Person
sedet
sedent
lego, legere
stem: legSingular
Plural
1st Person
lego
legimus
2nd Person
legis
legitis
3rd Person
legit
legunt
iacio, iacere
stem: iaciSingular
Plural
1st Person
iacio
iacimus
2nd Person
iacis
iacitis
3rd Person
iacit
iaciunt
audio, audire
stem: audiSingular
Plural
1st Person
audio
audimus
2nd Person
audis
auditis
3rd Person
audit
audiunt
Imperative
• Imperative is the MOOD of a Latin Verb used
to give COMMANDS
The singular imperative can be formed by
removing the –re from the 2nd Principal Part of
Verbs (infinitives)
amare= ama! Love! sedēre= sedē! Sit!
legere= lege! Read iacere= iace! Throw!
audire= audi! Listen!
Imperative
• The plural imperative is formed by adding –
(I)TE to the present stem. (I) is for regular 3rd
conjugation only
• ama+ te= amate= Love!
• sedē+ te= sedete= Sit!
• leg + ite= Read!
• iaci + te= Throw!
• audi + te= Listen!
iubeo, iubēre & doceo, docēre
• These verbs take an accusative direct object
and an infinitive
• Dominus servos laborare iubet.
• The master orders the slaves to work.
• Mater pueros legere docet.
• Mother teaches the boys to read.