The Present Tense Verb System

I. Proper format of verbs Verbs are properly “named” with their four principle parts: amo , amare, amavi, amatus -to like, to love Note: This is how you will see verbs in the dictionary.

This year we only really need the first two principle parts: amo , amare 1st person sing., present tense infinitive Note: This is how you will see verbs in the vocabulary lists from now on.

ama re amare II. The parts of a verb base stem ending characteristic vowel

III. Four kinds of verbs Kind example vowel 1st Conjugation paro, parare a 2nd Conjugation habeo, habēre ē 3rd Conjugation mitto, mittere e 3rd –io iacio, iacere 4th Conjugation audio, audire i

IV. The Verb Party We now need to learn how to conjugate each kind of verb We start with the infinitive, as we usually do with verbs

1st Conjugation - parare The endings column is just filled with the personal endings. par o par a s The base does not change. par a t par a mus Now you need to know what the characteristic vowel does for each conjugation. par a tis par a nt Watch (and memorize) where the “a” appears. personal ending base

2nd Conjugation - habēre s t mus tis nt The “strong e” of the 2nd conjugation shows itself throughout the whole conjugation. e e e e e

3rd Conjugation - mittere s t mus tis nt The “weak e” of the 3rd conjugation never shows itself. Be sure to recite this strange pattern until you have it memorized well. i i i i u

4th Conjugation - audire s t mus tis nt The 4th conjugation has the “i” all the way down, but adds a “u” at the end. i i i i iu

The 3rd -io The 3rd –io is kind of a combination of 3rd and 4th conjugation From the infinitive, you know for sure that it is a 3rd conjugation verb Yet the 1st principle part ends in an “-io” instead of just an “-o” iacio, iacere the “-io” shows that it’s not a normal third “weak e” is always 3rd conj. continued…

3rd -io Conjugation - iacere s t mus tis nt Although it is a 3rd conj. verb, in the present tense it is conjugated exactly like a 4th i i i i iu

What are the four characteristic vowels. (Say them before they appear 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 4th Conj. a e ē i

Practice reciting the endings of all four conjugations 1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 4th Conj. -o -eo -o -io -as -es -is -is -at -et -it -it -amus -emus -imus -imus -atis -etis -itis -itis -ant -ent -unt -iunt