Latin verbs have six different tenses and they are:
Present tense
Imperfect tense
Future tense
Perfect tense
Pluperfect tense
Future perfect tense
There are three (grammatical) persons: first, second and third; and there are two numbers: singular and plural. That gives us 3 x 2 = 6 different subject pronouns:
I and we, You (singular) and you (plural), He/she/it and they
On top of all these, there are two voices: active and passive.
Finally, there are three moods: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive (The virtual class has not addressed subjunctive mood yet and so we can skip this part for the moment).
What’s worse is that Latin groups all its verbs into four major groups called declensions. They are called:
First declension
Second declension
Third declension
Fourth declension
These declensions are what makes Latin verb a horrible phenomenon.
However, the good news is that the virtual class has only covered the first and second declensions and difficulty is still at manageable level1. The following provide an opportunity for you to review what’s been learned and hope it will prepare you for the exams and assignments that you must do well.
Four Principal Parts
As the book requires to do, for every Latin verb, you must remember its four principal parts. Take the famous Latin verb “amare” (= love) as an example. Its four principal parts are:
Amo, amare, amavi, amatus.
The first part, amo, is the verb form for the first person singular (I), and so amo means “I love”.
The second part, amare, is the infinitive form of this verb. In other words, amare = to love.
The third part, amavi, is used to form the three perfect active tenses (perfect active, pluperfect active, and future perfect active).
The fourth part, amatus, is used to form the three perfect passive tenses (perfect passive, pluperfect passive, and future perfect passive).
If you remember the four principal parts of any Latin verbs, the six tense, with active and passive, with singular or plural, will be quite manageable. If you don’t remember them, you are basically dean in Latin. In this sense, remembering the four principal parts is a must.
First and Second Declensions
OK, what are they? The verb infinitive indicator is an ending “-re”. The infinitive is formed by adding the infinitive ending “-re” to the verb stem. Take the love verb “amare” again. In “amare” which is an infinitive, “ama-” is the verb stem, “-re” is the infinitive ending, and the “-a” before “-re” is called stem vowel. In Latin, there are a group of verbs whose infinitive always ends in “-are” and this group is called the first declension. In other words, every first declension verb has “-a” as its stem vowel.
There are another group of verbs whose infinitive ends in “-ere” and whose stem vowel is “-e-”. This group is called the second declension. “docere” (= lead) is an example.
Present Tense
We will do the six tenses for the active voice first.
Technically, the formation of Latin present tense is the simplest: it is the preset stem plus present personal endings.
What is the present stem? It is the infinitive form minus the infinitive ending “-re”. For instance, the present stem of “amare” is “ama-“ and that of “docere” is “doce-”.
Next, the present personal endings are: -o/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. What are they? Before the Latin invented the personal subject pronouns like what we have in English (I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they), Latin tried to use these personal endings to indicate the person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural) of the subject of a verb. So, -o/-m = I, -s = you (singular), -t = he/she/it, -mus = we, -tis = you (plural), and –nt = they. Latin still keeps this practice today.
According to the present tense formula (present stem + present personal ending), the present tense for “docere” is:
Singular Plural
doceo = I lead docemus = we lead
doces = you lead docetis = you lead
docet = he/she/it leads docent = they lead
The present tense of “amare” is:
Singular Plural
amo = I love amamus = we love
amas = you love amatis = you love
amat = he/she/it loves amant = they love
Yeah, you may want to say: “oops, there is a typo. For “I love”, it should be “amao” according to the formula. Actually, it is not. Rather, it is an exception. But you are quite observing. Remember from now on, the correct present tense form for the first person singular is the present stem with the stem vowel “-a-“ dropped, then with the personal ending “-o” added on. This goes for the whole first declension group only.
You may want to ask that the personal ending “-m” equals “I”, too. When this will be used? “-m” will be used in the following situation.
Imperfect Tense
The tense that expresses the action in the past that has the characteristic of “happening, often, repetitively, and on-going” is called imperfect. The English translation is often equivalent to “used to do…” or “kept doing…” or “often did…”.
The formula for Latin imperfect tense is “present stem + (-ba-) + present personal endings”. Here, a short “-ba-” is the indicator for imperfect.
The following are the conjugations (ending changes) of imperfect tense for sample verbs “amare” and “docere”
Singular Plural
amabam = I used to love amabamus = we used to love
amabas = you used to love amabatis = you used to love
amabat = he/she/it used to love amabant = they used to love
Singular Plural
docebam* = I used to lead docebamus = we used to lead
docebas = you used to lead docebatis = you used to lead
docebat = he/she/it used to lead docebant = they used to lead
* Now you see where “-m” = “I” is used.
Future Tense
In order to safe some space, I’ll assume that you understand the definition, meaning and usage of a particular Latin tense so that we will only focus on the technical formation or formula of the various tenses.
The formula for future tense is easy, too: present stem + (-bi) + present personal endings.
We do again the conjugations for “amare” and “docere” in the following:
Singular Plural
amabo* = I will love amabimus = we will love
amabis = you will love amabitis = you will love
amabit = he/she/it will love amabunt* = they will love
* again, these are not typos, rather exceptions that you must pay attention to. Strict formula provides wrong ones (amabio and amabint) in these instances.
Perfect Tense
Let’s list the four principal parts for the two verbs we have used so far;
amo, amare, amavi, amatus
doceo, docere, docui, doctus
We have talked about the first two parts and use of them. Now the perfect tenses will give us a chance to use the third part. We can call it the active perfect part because it is used for the active perfect tenses only. From this part, we form a new stem called perfect stem, which is just this third principal part with the ending “-i” dropped. So the perfect stem of “amare” is “amav-” and the perfect stem of “docere” is “docu-”.
In order to form the perfect tense, we will need another personal endings and this time we call them the perfect personal endings. They are:
-i = I, -isti = you, -it = he/she/it, -imus = we, -istis = you, -erunt = they
The perfect tense formula is just: perfect stem + perfect personal ending.
Now let’s conjugate “amare” and “docere”:
Singular Plural
amavi = I have loved (or I loved) amavimus = we have loved (we loved)
amavisti = you’ve loved (you loved) amavistis = you’ve loved (you loved)
amavit = he/she/it has loved (he loved) amaverunt = they’ve loved (they loved)
Singular Plural
docui = I have led (I led) docuimus = we’ve led (we led)
docuisti = you’ve led (you led) docuistis = you’ve led (you led)
docuit = he/she/it has led (he led) docuerunt = they’ve led (they led)
Note, these perfect personal endings are only used here fore the perfect tense. They won’t be used for pluperfect and future perfect tenses. Let’s continue.
Pluperfect Tense
The formula is: perfect stem + (-era-) + present personal endings. Your attention is needed here: it is the present personal endings, not the perfect personal endings that are used in the pluperfect tense. Again, “-era” can be considered as the indicator for the pluperfect tense.
Look at the conjugations:
Singular Plural
amaveram = I had loved amaveramus = we had loved
amaveras = you had loved amaveratis = you had loved
amaverat = he/she/it had loved amaverant = they had loved
Singular Plural
docueram = I had led docueramus = we had led
docueras = you had loved docueratis = you had led
docuerat = he/she/it had loved docuerant = they had led
Future Perfect Tense
The formula is: perfect stem + (-eri-) + present personal endings. Yes, it is the present personal endings that are used again, not the perfect personal endings. However, pay attention to the exceptions, as future tenses tend to generate exceptions as the previous examples have shown.
Singular Plural
amavero* = I will have loved amaverimus = we will have loved
amaveris = you will have loved amaveritis = you will have loved
amaverit = he/she/it will have loved amaverint = they will have loved
* exception, but for the third person plural there is no exception this time.
Singular Plural
docuero* = I will have led docuerimus = we will have led
docueris = you will have led docueritis = you will have led
docuerit = he/she/it will have led docuerint = they will have led
* exception, but for the third person plural there is no exception this time.
Passive Present Tense
In order to formulate tenses in passive voice, we need a new set of personal endings, called passive personal endings. They are:
-r = I, -ris = you, -tur = he/she/it, -mur = we, -mini = you, -ntur = they.
Now, the formula for the passive present tense: Present stem + passive personal endings.
Try to digest the conjugations:
Singular Plural
amor* = I am loved amamur = we are loved
amaris = you are loved amamini = you are loved
amatur = he/she/it is loved amantur = they are loved
Singular Plural
doceor* = I am led docemur = we are led
doceris = you are led docemini = you are led
docetur = he/she/it is led docentur = they are led
* If the active counterpart is ended in personal ending “-o-“, then the passive ending “-r” is added after “-o-“, not to replace “-o-“. This is again an exception to remember.
Passive Imperfect Tense
The formula is: Present stem + (-ba-) + passive personal endings. Again, “-ba-“ is the imperfect indicator.
See the conjugations:
Singular Plural
amabar = I used to be loved amabamur = we used to be loved
amabaris = you used to be loved amabamini = you used to be loved
amabatur = he/she/it used to be loved amabantur = they used to be loved
Singular Plural
docebar = I used to be led docebamur = we used to be led
docebaris = you used to be led docebamini = you used to be led
docebatur = he/she/it used to be led docebantur = they used to be led
Passive Future Tense
The formula is: present stem + (-bi-) + passive personal endings, with the “-bi-“ as the indicator for future tenses. Let’s do the conjugations:
Singular Plural
amabor* = I will be loved amabimur = we will be loved
amaberis* = you will be loved amabimini = you will be loved
amabitur = he/she/it will be loved amabuntur* = they will be loved
Singular Plural
docebor* = I will be led docebimur = we will be led
doceberis* = you will be led docebimini = you will be led
docebitur = he/she/it will be led docebuntur = they will be led
* Again, they are correct exceptions you need to find a way to remember. The hint is when it is a future tense, look for exceptions. Use previous examples as mnemonics.
Passive Perfect Tense.
Let’s list again the four principal parts for the two verbs we have used so far;
amo, amare, amavi, amatus
doceo, docere, docui, doctus
We have used the first three parts already. Now it is the time to use the fourth part, which is particularly tailored for the passive perfect tenses. First, this part is used as if it is an adjective and so it must match with the subject in gender. Therefore, “amatus (amati)” is masculine, its feminine and neuter counterparts are “amata (amatae)” and “amatum (amata)”, with its plural in parenthesis. For the same reason, we have “doctus (docti)”, “docta (doctae)”, and “doctum (docta)”. This part is also called the passive perfect participle (PPP).
In order to formulate passive perfect tense, we need conjugations for different tenses of the special verb “esse” (to be). Remember that the English passive verbs are formed by the auxiliary verb “to be” plus the past participle of the verb. This may give you some hints of how the Latin passive perfect tenses will be formed.
The present tense of “esse”
Singular Plural
sum = I am sumus = we are
es = you are estis = you are
est = he/she/it is sunt = they are
The imperfect tense of “esse”
Singular Plural
eram = I was eramus = we were
eras = you were eratis = you were
erat = he/she/it was erant = they were
The future tense of “esse”
Singular Plural
ero = I will be erimus = we will be
eris = you will be eritis = you will be
erit = he/she/it will be erunt = they will be
Now we have what we need to form the passive perfect tense. The formula is:
ppp + present tense of “esse”
Let’s conjugate:
Singular Plural
amatus (-a, -um) sum = I have been loved amati (-ae, -a) sumus = we’ve been loved
amatus (-a, -um) es = you’ve been loved amati (-ae, -a) estis = you’ve been loved
amatus (-a, -um) est = he has been loved amati (-ae, -a) sunt = they’ve been loved
Singular Plural
doctus (-a, -um) sum = I’ve been led docti (-ae, -a) sumus = we’ve been led
doctus (-a, -um) es = you’ve been led docti (-ae, -a) estis = you’ve been led
doctus (-a, -um) est = he’s been led docti (-ae, -a) sunt = they’ve been led
Passive Pluperfect Tense
The formula is: ppp + imperfect tense of “esse”.
Conjugations:
Singular Plural
amatus (-a, -um) eram = I had been loved amati (-ae, -a) eramus = we’d been loved
amatus (-a, -um) eras = you’d been loved amati (-ae, -a) eratis = you’d been loved
amatus (-a, -um) erat = he had been loved amati (-ae, -a) erant = they’d been loved
Singular Plural
doctus (-a, -um) eram = I had been led docti (-ae, -a) eramus = we had been led
doctus (-a, -um) eras = you had been led docti (-ae, -a) eratis = you had been led
doctus (-a, -um) erat = he had been led docti (-ae, -a) erant = they had been led
Passive Future Tense
The formula is: ppp + future tense of “esse”
Look at the conjugations:
Singular Plural
amatus (-a,-um) ero = I’ll have been loved amati (-ae,-a) erimus= we’ll have been loved
amatus (-a,-um) eris=you’ll have been loved amati (-ae,-a) eritis =you’ll have been loved
amatus (-a,-um) erit =he’ll have been loved amati (-ae,-a) erunt= they’ll have been loved
Singular Plural
doctus (-a, -um) ero = I will have been led docti (-ae,-a) erimus = we will have been led
doctus (-a, -um) eris= you’ll have been led docti (-ae,-a) estis = you will have been led
doctus (-a, -um) erit = he’ll have been led docti (-ae,-a) erunt = they will have been led
This is so much that has bee covered up to module 6 for the verb part. The assignment indicates that it is likely that he will be tested on portion of what we have discussed. Actually one of the assignment is to ask Yige to write in three tables the six active tenses and six passive tenses for the first person plural (one table), the third person plural (another table), and the second person singular (third table for 5 extra points, I believe).
Hope this will be of help.
P.S.
Four parts of esse: sum, esse, fui, futurus
Perfect tense of esse: fui, fuisti, fuit, fuimus, fuistis, fuerunt
Pluperfect tense of esse: fueram, fueras, fuerat, fueramus, fueratis, fuerant.
Future Perfect Tense of esse: fuero, fueris, fuerit, fuerimus, fueritis, fuerint
