Review- Verb Endings, Present Tense: 1 st and 2 nd Conjugations Latin II Magister Henderson

Latin Verbs Latin verbs belong to one of four groups called conjugations. Each conjugation has its own theme vowel. The theme vowel of the first conjugation is “ā”, its infinitive form ends in “-āre”. The theme vowel of the second conjugation is “ē”, its infinitive form ends in “-ēre”. The infinitive is the form of the verb that carries its basic meaning.

Latin Verb Endings These endings are attached to the base of a Latin verb to create the conjugated forms of the verb. All regular Latin verbs use these endings, the conjugation of the verb determines the vowels that will come before the endings.

The First Conjugation amō, amāre = to love First conjugation verbs drop the theme vowel “ā” before the –ō of the first person singular form. The long mark of the theme vowel shortens in the third person singular and plural forms.

First Conjugation Verbs ambulō, ambulāre = to walk [ambulate] clamō, clamāre = to shout [claim] donō, donāre = to give [donate] dubitō, dubitāre = to doubt [indubitably] monstrō, monstrāre = to show [demonstrate] nuntiō, nuntiāre = to announce [pronunciate] portō, potāre = to carry [portable] spectō, spectāre = to watch [spectator]

The Second Conjugation habeō, habēre = to have Second conjugation verbs add the ending –ō to the theme vowel “e” in the first person singular form. The long mark of the theme vowel shortens in the third person singular and plural forms.

Second Conjugation Verbs doceō, docēre = to teach [doctrine] maneō, manēre = to stay [remain] moveō, movēre = to move [movement] sedeō, sedēre = to sit [sediment] teneō, tenēre = to hold [tenacity] terreō, terrēre = to frighten [terror] timeō, timēre = to fear [timid] videō, vidēre = to see [video]

About the Present Tense Latin has one form for the present tense, while English has three different “aspects”. The three aspects in English are called the simple, progressive, and emphatic aspects. SimpleProgressiveEmphatic parō= I prepare= I am preparing= I do prepare vocāmus= we call= we are calling= we do call exercent= they train= they are training= they do train So for every Latin verb, you have at least three possible translations, depending on the aspect you are attempting to show.