LATIN 101/102 STUDY GUIDE
VERB CONJUGATIONS/TENSES/MOODS/VOICES
Classifications of Verbs
 Regular
 The most common type of verb, often possessing all four principle parts (except for the rare
exception)
 All principle parts are active in their voice except for the fourth principle part
 Semi-Deponent
 An uncommon type of verb, semi-deponent verbs have only three principle parts
 The first two forms are in the active voice and the third form is in the passive voice
 All forms are translated as if they are active
 Deponent
 A semi-common type of verb, deponent verbs have only three principle parts
 All forms are in the passive voice
 All forms are translated as if they are active
 Irregular and Defective
 Both are very rare and in the case of irregulars, occur most often with commonly used verbs
(such as esse and posse)
 There are a variable amount of principle parts, ranging from one primary form in “ait” to three
with “esse”
Principle Parts
 Latin verbs are broken into four principle parts that provide the basic forms and stems for each
system
 First principle part
 The present, indicative, active, first person singular form of the verb
 Can indicate irregularities in the verb (such as with third conjugation i-stem verbs)
 Second principle part
 The present, active, infinitive mood of the verb
 The form from which the present stem is derived by removing the “-re” ending
 Third principle part
 The perfect, indicative, active, first person singular form of the verb
 The form that the perfect stem is derived from by removing the “-ī” ending
 Fourth principle part
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 The perfect, passive, participle form of the verb
 For regular, semi-deponent, and deponent verbs the ending given is the neuter singular
Conjugations
 First Conjugation (superō, superāre, superāvī, superātum)
 Marked with an infinitive ending in “-āre”
 Uses ”-ā” as the linking vowel where appropriate for conjugated forms
 The third principle part with the exception of dare and stāre ends in “-āvī”
 The fourth principle part with the exception of dare and stāre ends in “-ātum”
 Second Conjugation (sedēo, sedēre, sedī, sessum)
 Marked with an infinitive ending in “-ēre”
 Uses “-ē” as the linking vowel where appropriate for conjugated forms
 The third principle part most frequently ends with “-uī”
 The fourth principle part has no consistent form
 Third Conjugation (caedō, caedere, cecīdī, caesum)
 Marked with an infinitive ending in “-ere”
 Uses “-i” as the linking vowel where appropriate for conjugated forms
 The third principle part is highly variable with no standardized perfect stem
 The fourth principle part is also highly variable and regularly changes the stem
 Third Conjugation i-stem (capiō, capere, cēpī, captum)
 Marked with an infinitive ending in “-ere”
 Uses “-i” as the linking vowel where appropriate for conjugated forms; it is irregular in the first
person singular and the third person plural, where it is identical to the fourth conjugation
 The third principle part is highly variable with no standardized perfect stem
 The fourth principle part frequently takes the first three letters from the present stem
 Fourth Conjugation (audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītum)
 Marked with an infinitive ending in “-īre”
 Uses “-ī” as the linking vowel where appropriate for conjugated forms
 The third principle part regularly ends in “-īvī”
 The fourth principle part regularly ends in “-ītum”
Tenses
 Present tense (Present system)
 The present tense is used to convey action occurring in the present or in the past through use of
the historic present, such as during narration
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 There are three potential translations for the present tense:
 “I love”, “I do love”, and “I am loving”
 Future tense (Present system)
 The future tense is used to convey action that will occur but has not yet done so
 There is one potential translation for the future tense:
 “I will love”
 Imperfect tense (Present system)
 The imperfect tense is used for interrupted action, attempted action, repeated action, and
continuous past action (most common usage)
 There are four potential translations for the imperfect tense
 “I tried to love”, “I was loving when”, “I have loved (many times)”, and “I have loved”
 Perfect tense (Perfect system)
 The perfect tense is used for an action that occurred once in the past (perfect definite) and
action in the past that is connected to the present (perfect indefinite)
 There are two potential translations for the perfect tense:
 “I loved” (definite) and “I have loved” (indefinite)
 Future Perfect tense (Perfect system)
 The future perfect tense is used for an action that will have occurred in the past by a set time
 There is one potential translation for the future perfect tense:
 “I will have loved”
 Pluperfect tense (Perfect system)
 The pluperfect tense is used for an action that has occurred one step further back than a perfect
tense action
 There is one potential translation for the pluperfect tense:
 “I had loved”
Moods
 Infinitive mood
 The infinitive mood is the second principle part of a verb, lacking conjugated forms and most
often used as a complementary verb or in an indirect statement
 There are 6 variants of the infinitive mood, 3 for both the active and passive voices:
 Present active infinitive (capere), future active infinitive (captūrus, -a, -um esse), perfect active
infinitive (cēpisse), present passive infinitive (capī), future passive infinitive (captum īrī), and
perfect passive infinitive (captus, -a, -um esse)
 Indicative mood
 The indicative mood is used to indicate action that has occurred, is occurring, or will occur
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 Imperative mood
 The imperative mood is used only for direct commands (directly to the recipient)
 Subjunctive mood
 The subjunctive mood is used for actions that are hypothetical and is present in a wide variety of
constructions in Latin
Voice
 Active voice
 The active voice is when the subject of the verb performs the action onto a direct object (I love
the girl)
 Passive voice
 The passive voice is when the subject becomes the direct object of the performed verb (The girl
is loved by me)
Participles
 Participles are half-adjective/noun and half verb
 Because of this, all participles require case, gender, number, tense, and voice
 In conjunction with this, participles can take a direct object
 Participles are always used as auxiliary verbs and in English are often placed into a relative clause
 All participles are relative when it comes to place in time
 The present active participle will always occur at the same time as the main verb
 The future active participle will always occur after the time of the main verb
 The perfect passive participle will always occur before the time of the main verb
 Participles have many potential translations which can be grouped under the following categories:
 Adjectival: The participle is translated as the adjective of a noun (e.g. the loving man)
 Adversarial: The participle is translated as part of an adversarial relationship (e.g. although)
 Causal: The participle is translated as part of a causal sequence of events (e.g. because)
 Relative: The participle is translated to be part of a relative clause (e.g. who)
 Temporal: The participle is translated as part of a temporal relationship (e.g. when)
 Present active participle
 The present active participle is formed by taking the present stem, adding the appropriate
linking vowel(s), and then the endings of “-ns” (nominative) and “-ntis” (genitive)
 The present active participle is treated as a third declension adjective, making it an i-stem noun
when declined
 The present active participle has two ablative forms; If the ending is an “-ī”, it is verbal in nature
whereas the form ending in “-e” is used for both adjectival and noun meanings
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 Future active participle
 The future active participle is formed by taking the fourth principle part of the corresponding
verb and replacing “-us, -a, and -um” with “-ūrus, -ūra, and –ūrum”
 The future active participle is treated as a first and second declension adjective
 Perfect passive participle
 The perfect passive participle is formed by using the fourth principle part of the corresponding
verb
 The perfect passive participle is treated as a first and second declension adjective
Gerund, Gerundive, and Supine
 Gerund
 The gerund is a verbal noun that is active in meaning and can be governed with a preposition
 The gerund only has oblique cases when declined (all cases excluding the nominative and
vocative)
 Declined forms are made by adding the appropriate linking vowel(s) before “-nd” and then
neuter, singular endings after the “-nd”
 Since the gerund has neither a nominative nor vocative, the infinitive mood of the verb is used
 The gerund can express purpose when used in the genitive in conjunction with “causā” or
“gratiā”
 Gerundive
 The gerundive is a verbal adjective/noun that is passive in meaning and can be governed with a
preposition
 Even though the gerundive is passive in meaning, when translated it can be done as if it were
active
 The gerundive is formed in the same manner as the gerund but possesses all of the endings of a
first and second declension adjective
 In the passive periphrastic (gerundive of obligation), the gerundive is combined with a form of
“esse” to indicate the need for an action to be done (e.g. the man is to be captured in battle); in
this construction, the agent of the action is put into the dative case
 The gerundive of obligation can also be used impersonally, in the neuter nominative singular
form with no subject expressed
 Supine
 The supine is a fourth declension, verbal noun found solely in the accusative and ablative cases
and is passive in meaning but translated actively
 The supine is formed by adding “-um” or “-ū” to the perfect passive participle stem
 The supine is used to form the future, infinitive, passive form of a verb
 In the accusative case with a verb of motion, the supine is used to indicate purpose
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 The ablative form is rare with the forms “vīsū,” “audītū,” and “dictū” used most often in
conjunction with adverbs to express statement (horrībile vīsū!)
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
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