Conjugation has two meanings. One meaning is the creation of derived forms of a verb from basic forms, or principal parts. It may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood, aspect, voice, or other language-specific factors.
The second meaning of the word conjugation is a group of verbs which all have the same pattern of inflections. Thus all those Latin verbs which have 1st singular -?, 2nd singular -?s, and infinitive -?re are said to belong to the 1st conjugation, those with 1st singular -e?, 2nd singular -?s and infinitive -?re belong to the 2nd conjugation, and so on. The number of conjugations of regular verbs is usually said to be four.
The word "conjugation" comes from the Latin coniug?ti?, a calque of the Greek ??????? suzugía, literally "yoking together (horses into a team)".
For simple verb paradigms, see the appendix pages for first conjugation, second conjugation, third conjugation, and fourth conjugation.
Video Latin conjugation
Number of conjugations
The ancient Romans themselves, beginning with Varro (1st century BC), originally divided their verbs into three conjugations (coniugationes verbis accidunt tres: prima, secunda, tertia "there are three different conjugations for verbs: the first, second, and third" (Donatus), 4th century A.D.), according to whether the ending of the 2nd person singular had an a, an e or an i in it. However, others, such as Sacerdos (3rd century AD), Dositheus (4th century A.D.) and Priscian (c. 500 A.D.), recognised four different groups.
Modern grammarians generally recognise four conjugations, according to whether their active present infinitive has the ending -?re, -?re, -ere, or -?re (or the passive equivalent of these), for example: (1) am?, am?re "to love", (2) vide?, vid?re "to see", (3) reg?, regere "to rule" and (4) audi?, aud?re "to hear". There are also some verbs of mixed conjugation, having some endings like the 3rd and others like the 4th conjugation, for example, capi?, capere "to capture" and orior, or?r? "to arise".
In addition to regular verbs, which belong to one or other of the four conjugations, there are also a few irregular verbs, which have a different pattern of endings. The most important of these is the verb sum, esse "to be". There also exist deponent and semi-deponent Latin verbs (verbs with a passive form but active meaning), as well as defective verbs (verbs in which some of the tenses are missing).
Maps Latin conjugation
Principal parts
The grouping in conjugations is based on the behaviour of the verb in the present system; the stems for other tenses cannot be inferred from the present stem, so several forms of the verb are necessary to be able to produce the full range of forms for any particular verb.
In a dictionary, Latin verbs are therefore listed with four "principal parts" (or fewer for deponent and defective verbs) which allow the reader to deduce the other conjugated forms of the verbs. These are:
- the first person singular of the present indicative active
- the present infinitive active
- the first person singular of the perfect indicative active
- the supine or, in some grammars, the perfect passive participle, which uses the same stem. (Texts that list the perfect passive participle use the future active participle for intransitive verbs.) Some verbs lack this principal part altogether.
First conjugation
The first conjugation is characterized by the vowel ? and can be recognized by the -?re ending of the present active infinitive form. The principal parts usually adhere to one of the following patterns:
- perfect has the suffix -?v?. The majority of first-conjugation verbs adhere to this pattern, which is considered to be "regular", for example:
- port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum, "to carry, to bring";
- am?, am?re, am?v?, am?tum, "to love, to be fond of";
- perfect has the suffix -u?, for example:
- sec?, sec?re, secu?, sectum, "to cut, to divide";
- fric?, fric?re, fricu?, frictum, "to rub";
- vet?, vet?re, vetu?, vetitum, "to forbid, to prohibit";
- perfect has the suffix -? and vowel lengthening in the stem, for example:
- lav?, lav?re, l?v?, lautum, "to wash, to bathe";
- iuv?, iuv?re, i?v?, i?tum, "to help, to assist";
- perfect is reduplicated, for example:
- st?, st?re, stet?, statum, "to stand";
- d?, dare, ded?, datum, "to give"; this verb is irregular, since except in the 2nd singular (d?, d?s) the a is short (d?re, d?tum, d?b? etc.)
Deponent verbs in this conjugation all follow the pattern below, which is the passive of the first type above:
- arbitror, arbitr?r?, arbitr?tus sum (to think)
- c?nor, c?n?r?, c?n?tus sum (to try)
- c?nctor, c?nct?ri, c?nct?tus sum (to hesitate)
Second conjugation
The second conjugation is characterized by the vowel ?, and can be recognized by the -e? ending of the first person present indicative and the -?re ending of the present active infinitive form. The principal parts usually adhere to one of the following patterns:
- perfect has the suffix -u?. Verbs which adhere to this pattern are considered to be "regular". Examples:
- terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum (to frighten, to deter)
- doce?, doc?re, docu?, doctum (to teach, to instruct)
- tene?, ten?re, tenu?, tentum (to hold, to keep)
- perfect has the suffix -?v?. Examples:
- d?le?, d?l?re, d?l?v?, d?l?tum (to destroy, to efface)
- cie?, ci?re, c?v?, citum (to arouse, to stir)
- perfect has the suffix -s? (which combines with a preceding c or g to -x?). Examples:
- auge?, aug?re, aux?, auctum (to increase, to enlarge)
- iube?, iub?re, iuss?, iussum (to order, to bid)
- perfect is reduplicated with -?. Examples:
- morde?, mord?re, momord?, morsum (to bite, to nip)
- sponde?, spond?re, spopond?, sp?nsum (to vow, to promise)
- perfect has suffix -? and vowel lengthening in the stem. Examples:
- vide?, vid?re, v?d?, v?sum (to see, to notice)
- fove?, fov?re, f?v?, f?tum (to caress, to cherish)
- perfect has suffix -? and no perfect passive participle. Examples:
- str?de?, str?d?re, str?d? (to hiss, to creak)
- ferve?, ferv?re, ferv? (sometimes fervu? or ferbu?) (to boil, to seethe)
Deponent verbs in this conjugation are few. They mostly go like the passive of terre?, but fateor and confiteor have a perfect participle with ss:
- mereor, mer?r?, meritus sum (to deserve)
- polliceor, pollic?r?, pollicitus sum (to promise)
- fateor, fat?r?, fassus sum (to confess)
Third conjugation
The third conjugation is characterized by a short thematic vowel, which alternates between e, i, and u in different environments. Verbs of this conjugation end in -ere in the present active infinitive. There is no regular rule for constructing the perfect stem of third-conjugation verbs, but the following patterns are used:
- perfect has suffix -s? (-x? when c or h comes at the end of the root). Examples:
- carp?, carpere, carps?, carptum (to pluck, to select)
- trah?, trahere, tr?x?, tr?ctum (to drag, to draw)
- ger?, gerere, gess?, gestum (to wear, to bear)
- flect?, flectere, flex?, flexum (to bend, to twist)
- perfect is reduplicated with suffix -?. Examples:
- curr?, currere, cucurr?, cursum (to run, to race)
- caed?, caedere, cec?d?, caesum (to kill, to slay)
- tang?, tangere, tetig?, t?ctum (to touch, to hit)
- pell?, pellere, pepul?, pulsum (to beat, to drive away)
- perfect has suffix -v?. Examples:
- pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum (to seek, to attack)
- lin?, linere, l?v?, l?tum (to smear, to befoul)
- ser?, serere, s?v?, satum (to sow, to plant)
- ter?, terere, tr?v?, tr?tum (to rub, to wear out)
- stern?, sternere, str?v?, str?tus (to spread, to stretch out)
- perfect has suffix -? and vowel lengthening in the stem. Examples:
- ag?, agere, ?g?, ?ctum (to do, to drive)
- leg?, legere, l?g?, l?ctum (to collect, to read)
- em?, emere, ?m?, ?mptum (to buy, to purchase)
- vinc?, vincere, v?c?, victum (to conquer, to master)
- fund?, fundere, f?d?, f?sum (to pour, to utter)
- perfect has suffix -? only. Examples:
- ?c?, ?cere, ?c?, ?ctum (to strike, to smite)
- vert?, vertere, vert?, versum (to turn, to alter)
- v?s?, v?sere, v?s?, v?sum (to visit)
- perfect has suffix -u?. Examples:
- met?, metere, messu?, messum (to reap, to harvest)
- vom?, vomere, vomu?, vomitum (to vomit)
- col?, colere, colu?, cultum (to cultivate, to till)
- tex?, texere, texu?, textum (to weave, to plait)
- gign?, gignere, genu?, genitum (to beget, to cause)
- Present tense indicative first person singular form has suffix with -sc?. Examples:
- n?sc?, n?scere, n?v?, n?tum (to get to know, to learn)
- adol?sc?, adol?scere, adol?v? (to grow up, to mature)
- fl?r?sc?, fl?r?scere, fl?ru? (to begin to flourish, to blossom)
- haer?sc?, haer?scere, haes?, haesum (to adhere, to stick)
- p?sc?, p?scere, p?v?, p?stum (to feed upon, to feed (an animal))
Deponent verbs in the 3rd conjugation include the following:
- l?bor, l?b?, l?psus sum (to glide)
- loquor, loqu?, loc?tus sum (to speak)
- obl?v?scor, obl?v?sc?, obl?tus sum (to forget)
- sequor, sequ?, sec?tus sum (to follow)
- ?tor, ?t?, ?sus sum (to use)
Third conjugation -i? verbs
Intermediate between the third and fourth conjugation are the third-conjugation verbs with suffix -i?. These resemble the fourth conjugation in some forms. Some examples are:
- capi?, capere, c?p?, captum (to take, capture)
- faci?, facere, f?c?, factum (to do, to make)
- rapi?, rapere, rapu?, raptum (to plunder, seize)
- cupi?, cupere, cup?v?, cup?tum (to desire, long for)
Deponent verbs in this group include:
- morior, mor?, mortuus sum (to die)
- patior, pat?, passus sum (to suffer, to allow)
- aggredior, aggred?, aggressus sum (to attack)
They resemble the fourth conjugation in the following parts of the verb:
- Present indicative (first person singular, third person plural): capi?, capiunt.
- Indicative imperfect: capi?bam, capi?b?mus.
- Indicative future: capiam, capi?mus.
- Subjunctive present: capiam, capi?mus
- Imperative future (third person plural): capiunt?
- Present Active Participle: capi?ns, -entis
- Gerund: capiend?, capiendum (also capiund?)
- Gerundive: capiendus, -a, -um (also capiundus)
Fourth conjugation
The fourth conjugation is characterized by the vowel ? and can be recognized by the -?re ending of the present active infinitive. Principal parts of verbs in the fourth conjugation generally adhere to the following patterns:
- perfect has suffix -v?. Verbs which adhere to this pattern are considered to be "regular". Examples:
- audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum (to hear, listen (to))
- m?ni?, m?n?re, m?n?v?, m?n?tum (to fortify, to build)
- perfect has suffix -u?. Examples:
- aperi?, aper?re, aperu?, apertum (to open, to uncover)
- perfect has suffix -s? (-x? when c comes at the end of the root). Examples:
- saepi?, saep?re, saeps?, saeptum (to surround, to enclose)
- sanci?, sanc?re, s?nx?, s?nctum (to confirm, to ratify)
- senti?, sent?re, s?ns?, s?nsum (to feel, to perceive)
- perfect has suffix -? and vowel lengthening in the stem. Examples:
- veni?, ven?re, v?n?, ventum (to come, to arrive)
Deponent verbs in the 4th conjugation include the following:
- assentior, assent?r?, ass?nsus sum (to assent)
- largior, larg?r?, larg?tus sum (to bestow)
- mentior, ment?r?, ment?tus sum (to tell a lie)
- m?tior, m?t?r?, m?nsus sum (to measure)
- sortior, sort?r?, sort?tus sum (to cast lots)
The verb orior, or?r?, ortus sum (to arise) is also regarded as 4th conjugation, although some parts, such as the 3rd singular present tense oritur and imperfect subjunctive orerer, have a short vowel like the 3rd conjugation. But its compound adorior (to rise up, attack) is entirely 4th conjugation.
Personal endings
Personal endings are used in all tenses. The present, imperfect, future, pluperfect and future perfect use the same personal endings in the active voice. The perfect has its own endings. In the perfect, future perfect, and pluperfect passive, the tenses are formed from a perfect participle and the appropriate part of sum, e.g. port?tus sum 'I was carried'.
The third person plural alternative ending -?re is common in poetry, but not often used in prose.
The 2nd person singular passive alternative ending -re can be used in the future and imperfect, but not usually in the present, where there might be confusion with the infinitive (port?re). In early Latin -re was the most usual form.
Present-tense system
The tenses of the present-tense system are the present, imperfect, and future tenses. As examples, the following verbs will be used here:
- the first conjugation verb port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum (to carry, to bring)
- the second conjugation verb terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum (to frighten, to deter)
- the third conjugation verb pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum (to seek, to attack)
- the fourth conjugation verb audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum (to hear, to listen (to))
In all the conjugations except for the third conjugation, the -re is removed from the second principal part (for example, port?re without the suffix -re becomes port?-) to form the present stem, which is used for all of the tenses in the imperfective aspect. In the third conjugation, the -? ending of the present indicative is dropped in order to form the present stem (for example, the present indicative form of petere is pet?, and without the -? it is the present stem, pet-). Occasionally, the terminating vowel of the stem is lengthened and/or shortened, and sometimes completely changed. This is often true both in the third conjugation and in the subjunctive mood of all conjugations.
Present tense
The present tense (Latin tempus praes?ns) is used to show an uncompleted action that happens in the current time. The present tense does not have a tense sign. Instead, the personal endings are added to the bare present stem. However, in this tense the thematic vowel, most notably the ? in the third conjugation, changes the most frequently.
Present indicative
A present tense like port? can be translated as "I carry," "I do carry," or "I am carrying". In all but the third conjugation, the thematic vowel of the stem is used. In the third conjugation, the linking vowel varies between e, i and u. The first person singular of the indicative active present is the first principal part of the verb.
The passive voice portor can be translated as "I am carried," or "I am being carried".
Present subjunctive
The present subjunctive portem can be translated as "I may carry", "I would carry", "I should carry", "May I carry", "Let me carry", or in subordinate clauses simply as "I carry". Port?mus can be "Let us carry".
The vowels of the verb endings in the present subjunctive differ from the indicative:
- The first conjugation uses e or ? instead of ?.
- The second conjugation uses ea and e?.
- The third conjugation uses a or ?.
- The fourth conjugation uses ia or i?.
The passive subjunctive porter can be translated as "I may be carried", "I would be carried", "I should be carried", "Let me be carried", "May I be carried" or in subordinate clauses simply as "I am carried". Port?mur can be "Let us be carried".
Present imperative
The present imperative conveys commands, pleas and recommendations. Port? can be translated as "(You) Carry" or simply, "Carry". The imperative present occurs only in the second person.
- The second person singular in the active voice uses only the bare stem, and does not add an imperative ending.
The imperative present of the passive voice is rarely used, except in the case of deponent verbs, whose passive forms carry active meaning. Port?min? can be translated as "(You) Be carried". The deponent sequimin?, on the other hand, means "(You) Follow!".
- The singular uses the alternate form of the present passive indicative (which looks like the present active infinitive) and the plural uses the present passive indicative form of the second person plural.
Imperfect
The imperfect (Latin tempus praeteritum imperfectum) indicates a perpetual, but incomplete action in the past. It is recognized by the tense signs b? and b? in the indicative, and re and r? in the subjunctive.
Imperfect indicative
The imperfect indicative simply expresses an action in the past that was not completed. Port?bam can be translated to mean, "I was carrying," "I carried," or "I used to carry".
- In the indicative, the imperfect employs its tense signs ba and b? before personal endings are added.
As with the present tense, active personal endings are taken off, and passive personal endings are put in their place. Port?bar can be translated as "I was being carried," "I kept being carried," or "I used to be carried".
Imperfect subjunctive
In the subjunctive, the imperfect is quite important, especially in subordinate clauses. Independently, it is largely translated conditionally. Port?rem can mean, "I should carry," or "I would carry".
- Unlike the indicative, the subjunctive does not modify the thematic vowel. The third conjugation's thematical remains short as an e, and the fourth conjugation does not use an i? before the imperfect signs. It keeps its ?.
- In the subjunctive, the imperfect employs its tense signs re and r? before personal endings.
- The verb esse (to be) has two imperfect subjunctives: one using the present infinitive (essem, esses, esset, essemus, essetis, essent) and one using the future infinitive (forem, fores, foret, foremus, foretis, forent).
As with the indicative subjunctive, active endings are removed, and passive endings are added. Port?rer may be translated as "I should be carried," or "I would be carried."
Future tense
The future tense (Latin tempus fut?rum simplex) expresses an uncompleted action in the future. It is recognized by its tense signs b?, bi, bu, a and ? in the indicative and the vowel ? in the imperative mood.
Future indicative
The future tense always refers to an incomplete action. In addition, the future tense is stricter in usage temporally in Latin than it is in English. Standing alone, port?b? can mean, "I shall carry," or "I will carry."
- The first and second conjugations append -b- and then add third conjugation present endings.
- The third and fourth conjugations replace their thematic vowels with a, ? and ?. The fourth conjugation inserts an ? before the a, e and ?.
As with all imperfective system tenses, active personal endings are removed, and passive personal endings are put on. Port?bor translates as, "I shall be carried."
Future imperative
The future imperative is used to instruct someone to do something at a later time, or if something else happens first (e.g. "write (scr?bit?) to me if anything happens"). It can also be used in recipes. The 3rd person is mainly used in laws (e.g. "censors shall hold (habent?) office for five years"). A few verbs, such as mement? "remember" and sc?t? "know", use this form as their only imperative.
Port?t? can be translated as "carry" or "you should carry".
The ending -or marks the passive voice in the future imperative. Port?tor translates as "You shall be carried." The second person plural is exceptionally rare and only occurs in Plautus with select deponent verbs: arbitr?min?, opper?min?, and not attested with any second conjugation verbs at all.
Perfect-tense system
The tenses of the perfect system, which are the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect tenses, are used to express actions that have been, had been, or will have been completed. The verbs used for explanation are:
- 1st conjugation: port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum - to carry, bring
- 2nd conjugation: terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum - to frighten, deter
- 3rd conjugation: pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum - to seek, attack
- 4th conjugation: audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum - to hear, listen (to)
To find the stem for the three perfect tenses active in all of the conjugations, the -? is removed from the 3rd principal part. For example, from port?v?, port?v- is formed.
Deponent and passive verbs, however, use the perfect passive participle together with part of the verb esse "to be" to make the perfect tenses. The participle is formed by taking the 4th principal part and changing the ending to the appropriate gender and number, e.g. aud?tus est "he was heard", aud?t? sunt "they were heard".
Unlike the present-system tenses, inflection is the same in every conjugation.
Perfect
The perfect (Latin tempus praeteritum perfectum) refers to an action completed in the past. Tense signs are only used in this tense with the indicative. The tense signs of the subjunctive are eri and er?.
Perfect indicative
The indicative perfect expresses a finished action in the past. Port?v? is translated as "I carried," "I did carry," or "I have carried."
- The perfect indicative perfect in the active voice has its special personal endings which are not used with any other tense.
In the passive voice, the perfect passive participle is used with the auxiliary verb esse. It uses the present indicative form of esse. Port?tus sum translates as "I was carried," or "I have been carried."
Note the participle changes from singular to plural when the subject changes respectively. The participle must also be declined for gender in the same way as an adjective.
Perfect subjunctive
Like the imperfect subjunctive, the perfect subjunctive is largely used in subordinate clauses. Independently, it is usually translated as the potential subjunctive (quis crediderit? 'who would have believed it?/who would believe it?') With n? it makes a negative command: n? timuer?tis "do not fear". In subordinate clauses such as indirect questions, port?verim usually means "I carried" or "I have carried".
The passive voice uses the perfect passive participle with the subjunctive present forms of esse. Port?tus sim means, "I may have been carried."
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (Latin tempus praeteritum pl?squamperfectum) expresses an action which was completed before another completed action. It is recognized by the tense signs era and er? in the indicative and isse and iss? in the subjunctive.
Pluperfect indicative
As with English, in Latin, the pluperfect indicative is used to assert an action that was completed before another (perfect). Port?veram translates as "I had carried."
- The tense sign er? is employed before adding the personal endings, with the long ? following the usual rules for shortening before final -m, -t, and -nt.
In the passive voice, the perfect passive participle is used with esse in the imperfect indicative. Port?tus eram is translated as "I had been carried."
Pluperfect subjunctive
The pluperfect subjunctive is to the perfect subjunctive as the imperfect subjunctive is to the present subjunctive. Simply put, it is used with the perfect subjunctive in subordinate clauses. Like the imperfect subjunctive, it is translated conditionally independently. Port?vissem is translated as "I should have carried," or "I would have carried."
- The tense signs isse and iss? are used before the personal endings.
As always, the passive voice uses the perfect passive participle. The imperfect subjunctive of esse is used here. Port?tus essem may mean "I should have been carried," or "I could have been carried," in the conditional sense.
Future perfect
Probably the least used of all the tenses, the future perfect (Latin tempus fut?rum ex?ctum) conveys an action that will have been completed before another action. It is signified by the tense signs er? and eri. The future perfect is the only tense that occurs in a single mood.
Future perfect indicative
As said, the future perfect is used to mention an action that will have been completed in futurity before another action. It is often used with the future tense. In simple translation, port?ver? means, "I will have carried," or "I shall have carried."
- The tense signs er? and eri or er? are used before the personal endings.
Endings with short -i- (e.g. port?veris, port?verimus, port?veritis) are found in the 2nd singular and 1st and 2nd person plural in some authors, e.g. Terence, Eunuchus 592, but Cicero and Catullus preferred the form with long -i-, e.g. Catullus 5.10 (with Fordyce's note).
As with all perfective aspect tenses, the perfect passive participle is used in the passive voice. However, the future perfect uses the future indicative of esse as the auxiliary verb. Port?tus er? is "I will have been carried," or "I shall have been carried."
Non-finite forms
The non-finite forms of verbs are participles, infinitives, supines, gerunds and gerundives. The verbs used are:
- 1st conjugation: port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum - to carry, bring
- 2nd conjugation: terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum - to frighten, deter
- 3rd conjugation: pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum - to seek, attack
- 4th conjugation: audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum - to hear, listen (to)
Participles
There are four participles: present active, perfect passive, future passive, and future active.
- The present active participle is declined like a third declension adjective with one ending.
- In the first and second conjugations, the present active is formed by taking the present stem and adding an -ns. The genitive singular form adds an -ntis, and the thematicals ? and ? are shortened.
- In the third conjugation, the e of the present stem is lengthened. In the genitive, the ? is short again.
- In the fourth conjugation, the ? is shortened, and an ? is placed. Of course, this ? is short in the genitive.
- Puer port?ns translates into "carrying boy."
- The perfect passive participle is declined like a first and second declension adjective.
- In all conjugations, the perfect participle is formed by removing the -um from the supine, and adding a -us (masculine nominative singular).
- Puer port?tus translates into "carried boy."
- The future active participle is declined like a first and second declension adjective.
- In all conjugations the -um is removed from the supine, and an -?rus (masculine nominative singular) is added.
- Puer port?t?rus translates into "boy going to carry," or "boy who is going to carry."
- The future passive participle is formed by taking the present stem, adding "-nd-", and then the adjective ending "-us, -a, -um". Thus "laudare" forms "laudandus".
- The literal translation is "about to be praised", but this often extends a sense of obligation, thus "must be praised". Thus the "future passive participle" is often cross-listed as the "gerundive" (see below).
Infinitives
There are six infinitives. They are in the present active, present passive, perfect active, perfect passive, future active and future passive.
- The present active infinitive is the second principal part (in regular verbs). It plays an important role in the syntactic construction of Accusativus cum infinitivo, for instance.
- Port?re means, "to carry."
- The present passive infinitive is formed by adding a -r? to the present stem. This is only so for the first, second and fourth conjugations. In the third conjugation, the thematical vowel, e, is taken from the present stem, and an -? is added.
- Port?r? translates into "to be carried."
- The perfect active infinitive is formed by adding an -isse onto the perfect stem.
- Port?visse translates into "to have carried."
- The perfect passive infinitive uses the perfect passive participle along with the auxiliary verb esse. The perfect passive infinitive must agree with what it is describing in number and gender.
- Port?tus esse means, "to have been carried."
- The future active infinitive uses the future active participle with the auxiliary verb esse.
- Port?t?rus esse means, "to be going to carry." The future active infinitive must agree with what it is describing in number and gender.
- Esse has two future infinitives: futurus esse and fore (fore is mostly used in a substitute expression for the Future Passive Infinitive)
- The future passive infinitive uses the supine with the auxiliary verb ?r?.
- Port?tum ?r? is translated as "to be going to be carried." This is normally used in indirect speech. For example: Omn?s sen?t?res d?x?runt templum conditum ?r?. "All of the senators said that a temple would be built."
The Future Passive Infinitive was actually not very commonly used (Wheelock's Latin mentions it exists but makes it a point to avoid using it in any practice examples). In practice, the Romans themselves often used an alternate expression, "fore ut" followed by a subjunctive clause.
Supine
The supine is the fourth principal part of the verb, as given in Latin dictionaries. It resembles a masculine noun of the fourth declension. Supines only occur in the accusative and ablative cases.
- The accusative form ends in a -um, and is used with a verb of motion in order to show purpose. Thus it is only used with verbs like ?re "to go", ven?re "to come", etc. The accusative form of a supine can also take an object if needed.
- Pater v?nit port?tum l?ber?s su?s. - The father came to carry his children.
- The ablative, which ends in a -?, is used with the Ablative of Specification.
- Arma haec facillima port?t? erant. - These arms were the easiest to carry.
Gerund
The gerund is formed similarly to the present active participle. However, the -ns becomes an -ndus, and the preceding ? or ? is shortened. Gerunds are neuter nouns of the second declension, but the nominative case is not present. The gerund is a noun, meaning "the act of doing (the verb)", and forms a suppletive paradigm to the infinitive, which cannot be declined. For example, the genitive form portand? can mean "of carrying", the dative form portand? can mean "to carrying", the accusative form portandum can mean "carrying", and the ablative form portand? can mean "by carrying", "in respect to carrying", etc.
One common use of the gerund is with the preposition ad to indicate purpose. For example, paratus ad oppugnandum could be translated as "ready to attack". However the gerund was avoided when an object was introduced, and a passive construction with the gerundive was preferred. For example, for "ready to attack the enemy" the construction paratus ad hostes oppugnandos is preferred over paratus ad hostes oppugnandum.
Gerundive
The gerundive has a form similar to that of the gerund, but it is a first and second declension adjective, and functions as a future passive participle (see § Participles above). It means "(which is) to be ...ed". Often, the gerundive is used with an implicit esse, to show obligation.
- Puer portandus "The boy to be carried"
- Oratio laudanda est means "The speech is to be praised". In such constructions a substantive in dative may be used to identify the agent of the obligation (dativus auctoris), as in Oratio nobis laudanda est meaning "The speech is to be praised by us" or "We must praise the speech".
For some examples of uses of Latin gerundives, see the Gerundive article.
Periphrastic conjugations
There are two periphrastic conjugations. One is active, and the other is passive.
Active
The first periphrastic conjugation uses the future participle. It is combined with the forms of esse. It is translated as "I am going to carry," "I was going to carry", etc.
Passive
The second periphrastic conjugation uses the gerundive. It is combined with the forms of esse and expresses necessity. It is translated as "I am to be carried," "I was to be carried", etc., or as "I have to (must) be carried," "I had to be carried," etc.
Peculiarities
Irregular verbs
There are a few irregular verbs in Latin that are not grouped into a particular conjugation (such as esse and posse), or deviate slightly from a conjugation (such as ferre, ?re, and dare). It consists of the following list and their compounds (such as conferre). Many irregular verbs lack a fourth principal part.
- sum, esse, fu?, fut?rum[1] - to be, exist
- possum, posse[2], potu? - to be able, can
- e?, ?re, ?v? / ??, ?tum - to go
- vol?, velle, volu? - to wish, want
- n?l?, n?lle, n?lu? - not to want, refuse
- m?l?, m?lle, m?lu? - to prefer
- fer?, ferre, tul?, l?tum - to bear, endure, carry, bring
- f??, fier?, factus sum - to become, happen, be made
- ed?, ?sse, ?d?, ?sum - to eat, waste
- d?, dare, ded?, datum - to give, bestow
Of these, esse, ferre, and fier? are suppletive, that is, their deviating third and fourth principal parts reflect what was an entirely different verb historically (in Proto-Indo-European).
Deponent and semi-deponent verbs
Deponent verbs are verbs that are passive in form (that is, conjugated as though in the passive voice) but active in meaning. These verbs have only three principal parts, since the perfect of ordinary passives is formed periphrastically with the perfect participle, which is formed on the same stem as the supine. Some examples coming from all conjugations are:
- 1st conjugation: m?ror, m?r?r?, m?r?tus sum - to admire, wonder
- 2nd conjugation: polliceor, pollic?r?, pollicitus sum - to promise, offer
- 3rd conjugation: loquor, loqu?, loc?tus sum - to speak, say
- 4th conjugation: mentior, ment?r?, ment?tus sum - to tell a lie
Deponent verbs use active conjugations for tenses that do not exist in the passive: the gerund, the supine, the present and future participles and the future infinitive. They cannot be used in the passive themselves (except the gerundive), and their analogues with "active" form do not in fact exist: one cannot directly translate "The word is said" with any form of loqu?, and there are no forms like loqu?, loquis, loquit, etc.
Semi-deponent verbs form their imperfective aspect tenses in the manner of ordinary active verbs; but their perfect tenses are built periphrastically like deponents and ordinary passives; thus, semi-deponent verbs have a perfect active participle instead of a perfect passive participle. An example:
- aude?, aud?re, ausus sum - to dare, venture
Unlike the proper passive of active verbs, which is always intransitive, some deponent verbs are transitive, which means that they can take an object. For example:
- Eo die quo consueverat intervallo hostes sequitur. - That day he follows the enemy at his usual distance.
Note: In the Romance languages, which lack deponent or passive verb forms, the Classical Latin deponent verbs either disappeared (being replaced with non-deponent verbs of a similar meaning) or changed to a non-deponent form. For example, in Spanish and Italian, m?r?r? changed to mirar(e) by changing all the verb forms to the previously nonexistent "active form", and aude? changed to osar(e) by taking the participle ausus and making an -ar(e) verb out of it (note that au went to o).
Defective verbs
Defective verbs are verbs that are conjugated in only some instances.
- Some verbs are conjugated only in the perfective aspect's tenses, yet have the imperfective aspect's tenses' meanings. As such, the perfect becomes the present, the pluperfect becomes the imperfect, and the future perfect becomes the future. Therefore, the defective verb ?d? means, "I hate." These defective verbs' principal parts are given in vocabulary with the indicative perfect in the first person and the perfect active infinitive. Some examples are:
- ?d?, ?disse - to hate
- memin?, meminisse - to remember
- coep?, coepisse - to have begun
- A few verbs, the meanings of which usually have to do with speech, appear only in certain occurrences.
- Cedo (plur. cette), which means "Hand it over" or "Out with it" is only in the imperative mood, and only is used in the second person.
The following are conjugated irregularly:
Aio
- Present Active Participle: - ai?ns, -entis
Inquam
Fari
- Present Active Participle - f?ns, fantis
- Present Active Infinitive - f?r? (variant: f?rier)
- Supine - (acc.) f?tum, (abl.) f?t?
- Gerund - (gen.) fand?, (dat. and abl.) fand?, no accusative
- Gerundive - fandus, -a, -um
The Romance languages lost many of these verbs, but others (such as ?d?) survived but became regular fully conjugated verbs (in Italian, odiare).
Impersonal verbs
Impersonal verbs are those lacking a person. In English impersonal verbs are usually used with the neuter pronoun "it" (as in "It seems," or "It storms"). Latin uses the third person singular. These verbs lack a fourth principal part. A few examples are:
- pluit, pluere, pluvit - to rain (it rains)
- ningit, ningere, ninxit[4] - to snow (it snows)
- oportet, oport?re, oportuit - to be proper (it is proper, one should/ought to)
- licet, lic?re, licuit - to be permitted [to] (it is allowed [to])
The third person forms of esse may also be seen as impersonal when seen from the perspective of English:
- Nox aest?va calida fuit. - It was a hot, summer night.
- Est e? qu? terram colunt. - It is they who till the land.
Irregular future active participles
As stated, the future active participle is normally formed by removing the -um from the supine, and adding a -?rus. However, some deviations occur.
Alternative verb forms
Several verb forms may occur in alternative forms (in some authors these forms are fairly common, if not more common than the canonical ones):
- The ending -ris in the passive voice may be -re as in:
- port?b?ris -> port?b?re
- The ending -?runt in the perfect may be -?re (primarily in poetry) as in:
- port?v?runt -> port?v?re
- The ending -? in the passive infinitive may be -ier as in:
- port?r? -> port?rier, dic? -> dicier
Syncopated verb forms
Like in most Romance languages, syncopated forms and contractions are present in Latin. They may occur in the following instances:
- Perfect stems that end in a -v may be contracted when inflected.
- port?visse -> port?sse
- port?vist? -> port?st?
- port?verant -> port?rant
- port?visset -> port?sset
- The compounds of noscere (to learn) and mov?re (to move, dislodge) can also be contracted.
- n?vist? -> n?st?
- n?vistis -> n?stis
- comm?veram -> comm?ram
- comm?ver?s -> comm?r?s
Summary of forms
The four conjugations in the finite forms
Notes
^ Fut?rus esse is sometimes contracted as fore as seen in Caesar's De Bello Gallico.
^ The archaic uncontracted form potesse occurs frequently in Lucretius.
^ Form moriri, Ovid, Metamorphoses (poem) 14.215
^ Used by Cicero frequently.
^ Used personally by Lucretius (2.627): ningunt
See also
- Grammatical conjugation
- Latin declension
- Romance copula
- William Whitaker's Words
References
- J.B. Greenough; G.L. Kittredge; A.A. Howard; Benj. L. D'Ooge, eds. (1903). Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and College. Ginn and Company.
- Bennett, Charles Edwin (1918). New Latin Grammar.
External links
- Verbix automatically conjugates verbs in Latin.
- Latin Verb Synopsis Drill tests a user on his ability to conjugate verbs correctly.
- Arbuckle Latin Conjugator automatically conjugates and translates verbs in Latin.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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