Conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its basic forms or principal parts. It may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood, voice or other language-specific factors. When, for example, we use a verb to function as the action done by a subject, most languages require conjugating the verb to reflect that meaning. (For more information on conjugation in general, see the article on grammatical conjugation.)

In Latin, there are four main patterns of conjugation composed of groups of verbs that are conjugated following similar patterns. As in other languages, Latin verbs have a passive voice and an active voice. Furthermore, there exist deponent and semi-deponent Latin verbs (verbs with a passive form but active meaning), as well as defective verbs (verbs with a perfect form but present meaning). Sometimes the verbs of the third declension with a root on -?, are regarded as a separate pattern of conjugation, and are called the fifth conjugation, so that it is said there are five main patterns of conjugation.

In a dictionary, Latin verbs are always listed with four principal parts which allow the reader to deduce the other conjugated forms of the verbs. These are:

1. the first person singular of the present indicative active
2. the present infinitive
3. the first person singular of the perfect indicative active
4. the supine or, in some texts, the perfect passive participle, which is nearly always identical. Texts that commonly list the perfect passive participle use the future active participle for intransitive verbs. Some verbs lack this principal part altogether.

For simple verb paradigms, see the following pages: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_first_conjugation, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_second_conjugation, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_third_conjugation, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_fourth_conjugation

Overview of the Latin Verb

Latin verb properties

Latin verbs have the following properties.

1. Two aspects?perfective (finished), imperfective (unfinished)

2. Two voices?active, passive

3. Three finite moods?indicative, subjunctive, imperative

4. Four non-finite forms?infinitive, gerund, participle, supine

5. Six tenses?

|Present || Perfect |- |Imperfect || Pluperfect |- |Future || Future Perfect |}

6. Two numbers?singular, plural

7. Three persons?first, second, third

The four conjugations

There exist four important systems of verb inflection. These are the four conjugations.

The first conjugation

The first conjugation is characterized by the vowel ? and can be recognized by the -?re ending of the present active infinitive. The principal parts usually adhere to the following patterns.

• perfect with ?v?

port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum ? to carry, bring

am?, am?re, am?v?, am?tum ? to love, be fond of

?? All regular first conjugation verbs follow this pattern. ??

• perfect with ?u?

sec?, sec?re, secu?, sectum ? to cut, divide

fric?, fric?re, fricu?, frictum ? to rub

vet?, vet?re, vetu?, vetitum ? to forbid, prohibit

• perfect with ?? and stem vowel lengthening

lav?, lav?re, l?v?, lautum ? to wash, bathe

iuv?, iuv?re, i?v?, i?tum ? to help, assist

• reduplicated perfect

st?, st?re, stet?, statum ? to stand

d?, dare, ded?, datum ? to give, bestow ^irregular

The 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.

• perfect with ?u?

terre?, terr?re, terru?, territus ? to frighten, deter

doce?, doc?re, docu?, doctus ? to teach, instruct

tene?, ten?re, tenu?, tentus ? to hold, keep

?? All regular second conjugation verbs follow this pattern. ??

• perfect with ?v?

d?le?, d?l?re, d?l?v?, d?l?tus ? to destroy, efface

cie?, ci?re, c?v?, citum ? to arouse, stir

• perfect with ?s? and ?x?

auge?, aug?re, aux?, auctus ? to increase, enlarge

iube?, iub?re, iuss?, iussus ? to order, bid

• reduplicated perfect with ??

morde?, mord?re, momord?, morsum ? to bite, nip

sponde?, spond?re, spopond?, sp?nsum ? to vow, promise

• perfect with ?? and vowel lengthening

vide?, vid?re, v?d?, v?sus ? to see, notice

fove?, fov?re, f?v?, f?tus ? to caress, cherish

• perfect with ?? only

str?de?, str?dere, str?d? ? to hiss, creak

ferve?, ferv?re, ferv?¹ ? to boil, seethe

¹may be fervu?.

The 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 an ?ere in the present active infinitive. There is no one regular rule for constructing the perfect stem of third-conjugation verbs, but the following patterns are used.

• perfect with ?s? and ?x?

carp?, carpere, carps?, carptum ? to pluck, select

trah?, trahere, tr?x?, tr?ctum ? to drag, draw

ger?, gerere, gess?, gestum ? to wear, bear

flect?, flectere, flex?, flexum ? to bend, twist

• reduplicated perfect with ??

curr?, currere, cucurr?, cursum ? to run, race hi

caed?, caedere, cec?d?, caesum ? to kill, slay

tang?, tangere, tetig?, t?ctum ? to touch, hit

pell?, pellere, pepul?, pulsum ? to beat, drive away

• perfect with -v?

pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum ? to seek, attack

lin?, linere, l?v?, l?tum ? to smear, befoul

ser?, serere, s?v?, satum ? to sow, plant

ter?, terere, tr?v?, tr?tum ? to rub, wear out

stern?, sternere, str?v?, str?tum ? to spread, stretch out

• perfect with ?? and vowel lengthening

ag?, agere, ?g?, ?ctum ? to do, drive

leg?, legere, l?g?, l?ctum ? to collect, read

em?, emere, ?m?, ?mptum ? to buy, purchase

vinc?, vincere, v?c?, victum ? to conquer, master

fund?, fundere, f?d?, f?sum ? to pour, utter

• perfect with ?? only

?c?, ?cere, ?c?, ?ctum ? to strike, smite

vert?, vertere, vert?, versum ? to turn, alter

v?s?, visere, v?s?, v?sum ? to visit

• perfect with ?u?

met?, metere, messu?, messum ? to reap, harvest

vom?, vomere, vomu?, vomitum ? to vomit

col?, colere, colu?, cultum ? to cultivate, till

tex?, texere, texu?, textum ? to weave, plait

gign?, gignere, genu?, genitum ? to beget, cause

• present stem with a ?u

minu?, minuere, minu?, min?tum ? to lessen, diminish

ru?, ruere, ru?, rutum ? to collapse, hurl down

stru?, struere, str?x?, str?ctum ? to build, erect

• verbs with ?sc?

n?sc?, n?scere, n?v?, n?tum ? to investigate, learn

adol?sc?, adol?scere, adol?v? ? to grow up, mature

fl?r?sc?, fl?r?scere, fl?ru? ? to begin flourish, blossom

haer?sc?, haer?scere, haes?, haesum ? to adhere, stick

p?sc?, p?scere, p?v?, p?stum ? to feed, nourish

Intermediate between the third and fourth conjugation are the third-conjugation ?i? verbs, discussed below.

The fourth conjugation

The fourth conjugation is characterized by the vowel ? and can be recognized by the -?re ending of the present active infinitive. The fourth conjugation verbs' principal parts generally adhere to the following patterns.

• perfect with ?v?

audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tus, a, um ? to hear, listen (to)

muni?, mun?re, mun?v?, mun?tus, a, um ? to fortify, build

?? All regular fourth conjugation verbs follow this pattern.

• perfect with ?u?

aperi?, aper?re, aperu?, apertum ? to open, uncover

• perfect with ?s? and ?x?

saepi?, saep?re, saeps?, saeptum ? to surround, enclose

sanci?, sanc?re, s?nx?, s?nctum ? to confirm, ratify

senti?, sent?re, s?ns?, s?nsum ? to feel, perceive

• perfect with ?? and vowel lengthening

veni?, ven?re, v?n?, ventum ? to come, arrive

Personal endings

Personal endings are used in all tenses. The present, imperfect, future, pluperfect and future perfect tenses use the same personal endings in the active voice. However, the pluperfect and future perfect do not have personal endings in the passive voice. The perfect tense uses its own personal endings in the active voice.

Imperfective aspect tenses

The tenses of the imperfective aspect, which are the present, imperfect and future tenses, express an action that hasn't been completed. The verbs for explanation are:

1^st Conjugation: port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum ? to carry, bring

2^nd Conjugation: terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum ? to frighten, deter

3^rd Conjugation: pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum ? to seek, attack

4^th Conjugation: audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum ? to hear, listen (to)

For the all conjugations, the ?re is removed from the second principal part. For example, from port?re, port? is formed. This is the present stem, and it is used for all of the tenses in the imperfective aspect. Occasionally, the terminating vowel of the stem is lengthened and/or shortened, and sometimes completely changed. This is especially so in the third conjugation and most conjugations in the subjunctive mood.

Present tense

The present tense (Latin tempus praes?ns) is used to show an uncompleted action which 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 thematical vowel, most notably the ? in the third conjugation, changes the most frequently.

Indicative present

The indicative present expresses general truths, facts, demands and desires. Most commonly, a verb like port? can be translated as "I carry," "I do carry," or "I am carrying."

• In all but the third conjugation, the thematical vowel of the stem is only used. In the third conjugation, the e is only used in the second person singular in the passive for a less difficult pronunciation. Otherwise, it becomes either an i or u.
• The first person singular of the indicative active present is the first principal part. All end in ??.

Add the passive endings to form the passive voice. The passive portor can be translated as "I am carried," or "I am being carried."

Notice that the second person singular for petere is peteris instead of the supposed petiris.

Subjunctive present

The subjunctive present may be used to assert many things. In general, in independent sentences, it is translated hortatorily (only in the third person plural), jussively and optatively. Portem can be translated as "Let me carry." or "May I carry." Port?mus can be "Let us carry."

Some alterations have occurred in the vowels from the indicative and subjunctive.

• The first conjugation now uses an e and an ?.
• The second conjugation uses ea and e?.
• In the third conjugation all thematicals have become either a or ?.
• The fourth conjugation now has either ia or i?.

"We eat caviar" is a helpful mnemonic for remembering this. 1st conjugation verbs have an "e" in their stem (we), 2nd conjugation verbs have an "-ea" (eat), third conjugation verbs have an "a" (caviar), and fourths have an "ia" (caviar). Other acceptable mnemonics include she reads a diary, he beats a liar, everybody eats apple iambics, or let's steal a fiat.

Like the indicative, active personal endings may be replaced by passive personal endings. Porter can be translated as "Let me be carried" or "May I be carried." Hortatorily, Port?mur can be "Let us be carried."

Imperative present

The imperative in the present conveys commands, pleas and recommendations. Port? can be translated as "Carry you." or simply, "Carry." The imperative present only occurs in the second person.

• The second person singular in the active voice only uses the bare stem, and doesn't add an imperative ending.

The imperative present of the passive voice is rarely used. Port?min? can be translated as "Be carried you." or "Be carried."

• The singular uses the present active infinitive, and the plural uses the present passive indicative form of the second person plural.

Imperfect tense

The imperfect tense (Latin tempus 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.

Indicative imperfect

In the indicative mood, the imperfect simply express an action in the past that was not completed. Port?bam can be translated to mean "I was carrying," "I kept carrying," 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."

Subjunctive imperfect

In the subjunctive, the imperfect tense 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 doesn't modify the thematic vowel. The third conjugation's thematical remains short as an e, and the fourth conjugation doesn't 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 verbs esse (to be) has two subjunctive imperfects: 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, e and ? in the indicative and the vowel ? in the imperative mood.

Indicative future

The future tense always refers to an incomplete action. Also, the future tense is more strict in usage temporally in Latin than it is in English. Standing alone, port?b? can mean "I shall carry," or "I will carry." Remember that "shall" and "will" are only used in the first person. All other persons only use "will" in the indicative.

• The first and second conjugations use b?, bi and bu as signs for the future indicative.
• The third and fourth conjugations replace their thematicals 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."

Notice that the second person singular for port?re and terr?re are port?beris and terr?biris instead of the supposed port?biris and terr?beris. The former inflections are used to ease pronunciation.

Imperative future

The so-called future imperative was an archaic and formal form of the imperative; by the classical period it was chiefly used in legal documents and the like. A few irregular or defective verbs (esse 'be', meminisse 'remember') used this form as their only imperative.

Port?t? can be translated as "You shall carry".

• As mentioned previously, the vowel ? is used as a sign of the future imperative.

The letter R is used to designate the passive voice in the future imperative. The second person plural is absent here. Port?tor translates as "You shall be carried."

Perfective aspect tenses

The tenses of the perfective aspect, which are the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect tenses, are used to express actions that have been completed. The verbs used for explanation are.

1^st Conjugation: port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum ? to carry, bring

2^nd Conjugation: terre?, terr?re, terru?, territum ? to frighten, deter

3^rd Conjugation: pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum ? to seek, attack

4^th Conjugation: audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum ? to hear, listen (to)

For all conjugations, the ?? is removed from the third principal part. For example, from port?v?, port?v is formed. This is the perfect stem, and it is used for all of the tenses in the perfective aspect. The perfective aspect verbs also use the perfect passive participle in the passive voice. See below to see how it is formed. Along with these participles, the verb esse, which means "to be", is used.

Unlike the imperfective aspect, inflection does not deviate from conjugation to conjugation.

Perfect tense

The perfect tense (Latin tempus 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?.

Indicative perfect

The indicative perfect expresses a finished action in the past. If the action wasn't finished, but still lies in the past, one would use the imperfect tense. Port?v? is translated as "I carried," "I did carry," or "I have carried."

• As aforementioned, the indicative present in the active voice has its special personal endings.

In the passive voice, the perfect passive participle is used with the auxiliary verb esse. It uses the indicative present form of esse. Port?tus sum translates as "I was carried," or "I have been carried."

Subjunctive perfect

Like the subjunctive imperfect, the subjunctive perfect is largely used in subordinate clauses. Independently, it is usually translated as the potential subjunctive. By itself, port?verim translates as "I may have carried."

• The tense signs eri and er? are used before the personal endings are added.

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 tense

The pluperfect tense (Latin tempus pl?s quam perfectum) 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.

Indicative pluperfect

As with English, in Latin, the indicative pluperfect is used to assert an action which was completed before another (perfect tense). 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 present passive participle is utilized with esse in the indicative imperfect. Port?tus eram is translated as "I had been carried."

Subjunctive pluperfect

The subjunctive pluperfect is to the subjunctive perfect as the subjunctive imperfect is to the subjunctive present. Simply put, it is used with the subjunctive perfect in subordinate clauses. Like the subjunctive imperfect, 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 voice uses the perfect passive participle. The subjunctive imperfect 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 tense

The least used of all the tenses, the future perfect tense (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 tense is the only tense that occurs in a single mood.

Indicative future perfect

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 are used before the personal endings.

As with all perfective aspect tenses, the perfect passive participle is used in the passive voice. However, the future perfect uses the indicative future 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:

1^st Conjugation: port?, port?re, port?v?, port?tum ? to carry, bring

2^nd Conjugation: terre?, terr?re. terru?, territum ? to frighten, deter

3^rd Conjugation: pet?, petere, pet?v?, pet?tum ? to seek, attack

4^th Conjugation: audi?, aud?re, aud?v?, aud?tum ? to hear, listen (to)

The participles

There are three participles: present active, perfect 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 infinitive 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 taking 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 about to carry," or "boy who is about to carry."

The 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).
  • 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 ??.
  • 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.
• 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 the senators said that a temple would be built."

The supine

The supine is the fourth principal part. 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 show the purpose. Thus, it is only used with verbs like cedere, ven?re, 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.

The 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)".

• Portand? can mean "of carrying." Portand? (dative) can mean "to carrying." Portandum can simply mean "carrying." Portand? (ablative) can mean "by carrying," "in respect to carrying," etc.

The preposition ad can be used with a gerund in the accusative singular case to indicate purpose. For example, ad oppugnandum is translated as "to attack". However, when an object is introduced, Romans usually converted the gerund to a gerundive, agreeing with the accusative object. For example, "to attack the enemy" would become ad hostes oppugnandos, which, while technically grammatically wrong, was the normal way of using this construction. The gerundive is said to be "attracted" into the case of the noun, and occurred because Romans (mistakenly) thought that the gerund(ive) and the object should be in the same case.

The gerundive

The gerundive is the passive equivalent of the gerund, and much more common in Latin. It is a first and second declension adjective, and means "[the act of] (the verb) being done". Often, the gerundive is used with an implicit esse, to show obligation.

• Puer portandus means "(the) boy should be carried," or "(the) boy who should be carried." Amanda means "She who must be loved".

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. It is translated as "I am to be carried," "I was to be carried", etc.

Peculiarities within conjugation and non-finite forms

Irregular verbs

There are a few irregular verbs in Latin that aren't 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?rus ? to be, exist

possum, posse, potu? ? to be able, can

e?, ?re, ?v? / ??, ?tum ? to go

vol?, velle, volu? ? to wish, want

n?l?, n?lle, n?lu? ? to be unwilling, refuse

m?l?, m?lle, m?lu? ? to prefer

fer?, ferre, tul?, l?tum ? to bear, endure

fi?, f?er?, factus sum ? to become, happen

ed?, ?sse, ?d?, ?sum ? to eat, waste

d?, dare, ded?, datum ? to give, bestow

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 tenses of ordinary passives are formed periphrastically with the perfect participle, which is formed on the same stem as the supine. Some example coming from all conjugations are:

1^st Conjugation: m?ror, m?r?r?, m?r?tus sum ? to admire, wonder

2^nd Conjugation: polliceor, pollic?r?, pollicitus sum ? to promise, offer

3^rd Conjugation: loquor, loqu?, loc?tus sum ? to speak, say

4^th Conjugation: orior, or?r?, ortus sum ? to rise, spring up

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, 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 impefective aspect tenses in the manner of ordinary active verbs; but their perfect tenses are built periphrastically like deponents and ordinary passives; thus semideponent verbs have a perfect active participle instead of a perfect passive participle. An example:

aude?, aud?re, ausus sum ? to dare, venture

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).

Third conjugation ?i? verbs

There is a rather prolific subset of important verbs within the third conjugation. They have an ?i? present in the first principal part (?ior for deponents), and resemble the fourth conjugation in some forms. Otherwise, they are still conjugated as normal, third conjugation verbs. Thus, these verbs are called third conjugation ?i? verbs or third conjugation i-stems. Some examples are:

capi?, capere, c?p?, captum ? to take, seize

rapi?, rapere, rapu?, raptum ? to plunder, take up

faci?, facere, f?c?, factum ? to do, make

cupi?, cupere, cup?v?, cup?tum ? to desire, long for

morior, mor?, mortuus sum (dep.) ? to die, decay

patior, pat?, passus sum (dep.) ? to suffer, undergo

They resemble the fourth conjugation in the following instances.

Indicative present (first person singular, third person plural) ? capi?, capiunt, etc.

Indicative imperfect ? capi?bam, capi?b?mus, etc.

Indicative future ? capiam, capi?mus, etc.

Subjunctive present ? capiam, capi?mus, etc.

Imperative future (third person plural) ? cupiunt?, etc.

Present Active Participle ? capi?ns, ?entis

Gerund ? capiend?, capiendum, etc.

Gerundive ? capiendus, ?a, ?um

Defective verbs

Defective verbs are verbs that are only conjugated in only some instances.

• Some verbs are only conjugated 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. So, 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, which meanings usually have to do with speech, only appear 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.

?i? ? I affirm, state

|- !rowspan="3"| !colspan="8"| Conjugation of ?i? |- !colspan="2"| Indicative
Present !colspan="2"| Indicative
Imperfect !colspan="2"| Subjunctive
Present |- |- ! Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural |- ! First Person | ?i? || ?? || ?i?bam || ?i?b?mus || ?? || ?? |- ! Second Person | a?s || ?? || ?i?b?s || ?i?b?tis || ?ias || ?? |- ! Third Person | a?t || ?iunt || ?i?bat || ?i?bant || ?iat || ?? |}

Present Active Participle: ? ?i?ns, ?entis

inquam ? I say

|- !rowspan="3"| !colspan="6"| Conjugation of inquam |- !colspan="2"| Indicative
Present !colspan="2"| Indicative
Future !colspan="2"| Indicative
Perfect !colspan="2"| Indicative
Imperfect |- |- ! Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural |- ! First Person | inquam || inquimus^[1] || ?? || ?? || inquii^[2] || ?? || ?? || ?? |- ! Second Person | inquis || ?? || inqui?s || inquisti^[3] || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? |- ! Third Person | inquit || inquiunt || inquiet || ?? || inquit || ?? || inquiebat || ?? |}

f?r? ? to speak

|- !rowspan="3"| !colspan="10"| Conjugation of f?r? |- !colspan="2"| Indicative
Present !colspan="2"| Indicative
Future !colspan="2"| Indicative
Perfect !colspan="2"| Indicative
Pluperfect !colspan="2"| Imperative
Present |- |- ! Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural || Singular || Plural |- ! First Person | for || ?? || f?bor || ?? || f?tus sum || ?? || f?tus eram || ?? || ?? || ?? |- ! Second Person | ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || f?re || ?? |- ! Third Person | f?tur || fantur || f?bitur || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? || ?? |}

Imperative - fare

Present Active Participle ? f?ns, fantis

Present Active Infinitive ? f?r?

Present Passive Infinitive - farier

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? and the imperative cedo) survived but became regular fully-conjugated verbs (in Italian, odiare, cedere).

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 ? to snow (it snows)

oportet, oport?re, oportuit ? to be proper (it is proper, one should/ought to)

The third person forms of esse may also be impersonal:

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.

Alternate verb forms

Several verb forms may occur in alternate 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 tense may be ??re as in:

port?v?runt ? port?v?re

Syncopated verb forms

Like 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) are also able to be contracted.

novist? ? nost?

novistis ? nostis

commoveram ? commoram

commover?s ? commor?s

Summary of forms

The four conjugations in the indicative mood

Notes

The archaic uncontracted form potesse occurs frequently in Lucretius.
Form moriri, Ovid, Metamorphoses (poem) 14.215 http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid/ovid.met14.shtml
Used by Cicero frequently.
Used personally by Lucretius (2.627): ningunt http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/lucretius/lucretius2.shtml

References

• New Latin Grammar, an eBook, originally written by Charles Edwin Bennett at the Project Gutenberg

See also

• Grammatical conjugation
• Latin declension
• List of English words from Latin verb forms
• Romance copula
• William Whitaker's Words
• Latin mnemonics

External links

• Verbix automatically conjugates verbs in Latin.
• Latin Verb Synopsis Drill tests a user on his ability to conjugate verbs correctly.

cs:Latinská konjugace fr:Conjugaison latine la:Coniugatio nl:Imperfectum (Latijn) pl:Czasownik ?aci?ski