Latin Verbs

Verbs in Latin are painfully complicated and I hate them with every fibre of my being. Nevertheless they remain a critically important part of the language and are used in (almost) every sentence. This guide will assume you are already comfortable with the basics of English verbs in regards to number and person. Tense will be explained as it is very different to English. With Latin the more similar languages you know, the easier it is to learn. If you speak Dutch, several sections can be skipped and they will be indicated in the text.

Conjugation:

Latin finite verbs have 4 conjugations, 2 aspects, 3 tenses, 2 voices, 3 moods, 2 numbers, and 3 persons. 

There are 5 types of non-finite verb.

Each of these will be explained in this article (except for numbers and persons).

First we will cover what each part of a verb means, then we will cover how to identify them in a verb.

The 4 conjugations each focus on different letters and have a minor impact on the conjugation of verbs. Most of the ending stays the same but the first letter can be effected.

The 1st conjugation focuses on the letter ‘ā’ (long).

The 2nd conjugation focuses on the letter ‘ē’ (long).

The 3rd conjugation focuses on the letters ‘i, e, or u’ (short) and sometimes with iō.

The 4th conjugation focuses on the letter ‘ī’ (long).

In Latin there are two aspects and three tenses. These work in combination to indicate the time in which a clause takes place.

The aspect indicates if a clause is complete. The aspects are the perfect (perf) and the imperfect (imperf). If something is in the perfect it means it is set in one point in time and is complete. If something is in the imperfect it is a continuous event. In Dutch the perfect aspect works much like the voltooide tijden and the imperfect aspect the onvoltooide tijden.

The tense indicates when a clause took place. There are three tenses, the past, present, and future.

Here is how you translate each tense and aspect using walk as an example verb:

imperfect: imperfectum (imperf) walked

perfect: plusquam perfectum (+q.perf) had walked

imperfect: praesens (praes) walk

perfect: perfectum (perf) has walked

imperfect: futurum (fut) will walk

perfect: futurum-exactum (fut.ex) will have walked

There are two voices in Latin. They are the active and the passive. English also has these, but they use auxiliary verbs. If the main verb is active the subject does the object. If the verb is passive the main verb gets done to the subject by the verb.

They can be translated as seen below:

active: the person walks the dog

passive: the person is walked by the dog.

Latin has three moods, the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive. The indicative is always the main verb. It has both numbers and all three persons. The imperative can take the place of the indicative as the main verb and indicates an order. It has both numbers but can only be in the 2nd person. The subjunctive indicates that the verb may be.

There are five non-finite verbs in Latin. These are the participles, infinitives, supines, gerunds and gerundives.

Infinitives are translated with ‘to <verb>’. They have tense, aspect, and voice.

Verbs in Latin have a few main parts. They are the stem, inter-vocal, and the ending. Here is how they can be identified:

The 1st conjugation goes with the letter long ā. Some examples are:

-ās

-āre

-ātur

The 2nd conjugation goes with the letter long ē. Some examples are:

-ēo

-ēbis

-ēbāmur

The 3rd conjugation goes with the letters short i, e, u and are sometimes conjugated with iō. Some examples are:

i, e, u

-imus

-ēmini

io

-ēbam

-iam

The 4th conjugation goes with the letter long ī. Some examples are:

-īris

-ēbātur

-iar

This is a chart of verb identification:

1 if ends in o, m, s, t, mus, tis, nt it is <active & imperf & ind>

2 if ends in o, m it is <1st person singular>

3 if ends in s it is <2nd person singular>

4 if ends in t it is <3rd person singular>

5 if ends in mus it is <1st person plural>

6 if ends in tis it is <2nd person plural>

7 if ends in nt it is <3rd person plural>

8

9 if ends in i, isti, it, imus, istis, erunt it is <active & perf & ind>

10 if ends in i it is <1st person singular>

11 if ends in isti it is <2nd person singular>

12 if ends in it it is <3rd person singular>

13 if ends in imus it is <1st person plural>

14 if ends in istis it is <2nd person plural>

15 if ends in erunt it is <3rd person plural>

16

17 

18

19 if ends in or, ris, tur, mur, mini, ntur it is <passive & imperf & ind>

20  if ends in or it is <1st person singular>

21 if ends in ris it is <2nd person singular>

22 if ends in tur it is <3rd person singular>

23 if ends in mur it is <1st person plural>

24 if ends in mini it is <2nd person plural>

25 if ends in ntur it is <3rd person plural>

26

27 if ends in i, us and has form of esse it is <passive & perf & ind>

28 if ends in us it is <singular>

29 refer to form of esse for person

30 if ends in i it is <plural>

31 refer to form of esse for person

32 

33 if ends in āre, ēre, ere, īre it is <inf & praes & active>

34 if ends in ī it is <inf & praes & passive>

35 if ends in isse it is <inf & perf & active>

36 if ends in us and has esse it is <inf & perf & passive>

37 if ends in ūrus and has esse it is <inf & fut & active>

38 if ends in tum and has īrī it is <inf & fut & passive>