Lesson 2 Notes

1. Verbs in Latin change their form in certain patterns depending upon person, number,
tense, mood, voice, aspect, and occasionally gender
a. All you need to worry about for now are person and number and tense
2. Verbs change in certain patterns called conjugations
a. There are four main conjugations and some irregular ones
3. The act of changing a verb is called conjugation and you conjugate a verb
4. Though there are other tenses, in this first lesson about verbs, we will be dealing with the
present tense
5. For our purposes in this lesson, verbs only change their form based upon the subject of
the sentence. They always change based upon the subject but there are other things that
change a verb that are not dealt with here
a. There are six subjects. They are categorized by Person and Number

Person
1. There are three Persons in Latin called first person, second person, and third person
a. The first person is comprised of any group of people where the speaker is
referring to himself/herself/themselves. First person is where I or We is the
subject
b. The second person is comprised of any group of people being referred to directly
in the presence of the speaker. The second person is where You is the subject
c. The third person is comprised of any group of people being referred that is not
included in a conversation. The third person is where He, She, It, and
They are the subjects
i. For words that are subjects that dont exactly fit in one of these areas, see
if substituting they, he, she, or it will fit and the subject belongs
in one of those areas.

Number
1. There are two numbers in Latin: singular and plural
a. A subject that is singular has only one object in a group
b. A subject that is plural has more than one object in a group

1. When Person and Number are combined, you get a chart that looks like this:

Number
Person
First

Singular
I

Plural
We

Second

You (sg.)

You (pl.)

Third

He/She/It

They

2. A Chart like this is called a Paradigm (Pair-a-dime)

3. Notice how there are two Yous. The you in the singular row is used when there is one
person being referred to. The you in the plural row is used when there is more than one
person being referred to.

Conjugations
1. There are four conjugations in Latin: the first conjugation, the second conjugation, the
third conjugation, and the fourth conjugation
2. Principle parts (p.p.) are four parts of a verb from which all other forms can be made
a. The first p.p. is the first person singular present form of the verb; marked by at
end of the verb
i. The first p.p. is how you define a Latin word
b. The second is the infinitive; marked by (vowel)re. The vowels are: , , e, and
i. The infinitive translates to: to (verb)
ii. The infinitive has no subject to modify the verb
c. The third is the first person singular perfect (Not important now)
d. The fourth is the perfect passive participle (Not important now)
3. Knowing the p.p. can tell you to which conjugation a verb belongs and how to change it.
4. When you first learn a verb, you will always be presented the p.p. and translation of it
5. There are general patterns for the principle parts of each conjugation:
a. 1st conjugation: - (1st p.p.), -re (2nd p.p.), -v (3rd p.p.), tus (4th p.p.)
i. Example: voc, vocre, vocv, voctus
ii. This pattern of , -re, -v, -tus is so very common that when presented
a verb of the first conjugation for the first time, or when asked to present
the principal parts of it, you will simply see: 1st p.p. followed by (1) and
then the definition
1. E.g.: ambul (1), to walk
nd
b. 2 conjugation: -e, -re, -u, itus
c. 3rd conjugation has no strict generalization. What tends to be a trend is:
-, -ere, -(s), -tus
d. 4th conjugation: -i, -re, -v, tus
6. In the first conjugation belong verbs whose infinitives end in re, the second
conjugation has re, the third: -ere, and the fourth: -re

7. If you arent using macrons, you can distinguish the 2nd and 3rd conjugations as so:
2nd conjugation first two p.p.: -eo, -ere (note the e). 3rd conjugation p.p.: -o, -ere (no e)

Conjugating
1. When a verb is conjugated, the end of the verb changes
2. The stem of the verb is made by taking the (vowel)re off the end of the infinitive
3. To conjugate a verb in the present tense, take the stem of a verb and put a personal ending
on the end
4. There are six personal endings, each of which correlate to the six pronouns of the
paradigm above, and they are:
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

-/-m

-mus

Second

-s

-tis

Third

-t

-nt

Memorize this paradigm as: o/s/t/mus/tis/nt

Applying this to the verb whose infinitive is amre (to love), a first conjugation verb:
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

am

ammus

Second

ams

amtis

Third

amat

amant

Note: 1) the as of the stem change between long and short and 2) the first person singular
drops the before the
Number
Person
First

Singular

Plural
mus

Second

tis

Third

at

ant

1. These are the conjugational endings. Notice the common conjugational vowel. Each
conjugation has its own set of conjugational endings.

When this paradigm for amre is translated:

Number
Person

Singular

First

I love

Plural
We love

Second

You (sg.) love

You (pl.) love

Third

He/she loves

They love

1. The stem of the verb provides the meaning of the verb and the personal endings provide
the subject. Because of this, Latin doesnt need an explicit (pro)noun to indicate person,
e.g. nos means we; you dont have to say nos ammus to say we love. Ammus
suffices.
2. If you are talking about Laura and her name was already stated, the subject is known. You
dont have to say Laura amat every time you want to say Laura loves; you may leave
Laura out and simply say amat meaning that she loves. Laura is understood in the
personal ending -t

A second conjugation verb, vidre (to see):

Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

vide

vidmus

Second

vids

vidtis

Third

videt

vident

Note that, although the e before the personal endings remains in all forms, its shortened in
some of them. This pattern for short and long vowels is seen in certain other conjugations in
certain tenses. Knowing the personal endings and the meaning of the verb vidre, you should
be able to translate each each form of the paradigm above. If not, base it off the translated
paradigm of amre
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

mus

Second

tis

Third

et

ent

1. The second conjugations conjugational endings

Third conjugation verb scribere (to write):
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

scrib

scribimus

Second

scribis

scribitis

Third

scribit

scribunt

Clearly notice how third conjugation verbs conjugated in the present dont follow 2 of the section
Conjugating

Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

imus

Second

is

itis

Third

it

unt

1. 3rd conjugational endings

Fourth conjugation audre (to hear):
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

audi

audmus

Second

auds

audtis

Third

audit

audiunt

Note: 1) the third person plural has unt rather than just nt and 2) that pattern of macrons
matches that of the first and second conjugations
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

mus

Second

tis

Third

it

iunt

1. 4th conjugational endings

I like to remember the pattern of the macrons as so:
Number
Person

Singular

Plural

First

short

long

Second

long

long

Third

short

short