#grammar verbs

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Imperfect Tense (September 20- Late Post)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

Like the perfect tense, the imperfect tense shows an action in the past. But unlike the perfect tense, the action is not completed. The imperfect tense shows an incomplete action, or an action that is still happening. In English, the imperfect tense would be translate to “was ____ing” or “used to ____”. An example would be “I was running”; it’s not completed like “I ran”, but it’s not present like “I am running” or “I run”.

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Imperfect Tense endings:

  To form the imperfect tense- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Conjugations (-ō)

1. use infinitive (2nd principal part)

2. remove -re

3. for the third conjugation, change e to ē

4. add imperfect tense endings

portō, portāre, portāvī, portātus (carry, 1st conj.)

terreō, terrēre, terruī, territus (frighten, 2nd conj.)

trahō, trahere, trāxī, tractus (drag, 3rd conj.)

The third conjugation has verbs that end in -ō in the first principal part, and verbs that end in -iō in the first principal part.

To form the imperfect tense- 3rd Conjugation (-iō) and 4th Conjugation

1. use infinitive (2nd principal part)

2. remove -re

3. for the third conjugation, change e to iē; for the fourth conjugation, change ī to iē

4. add imperfect tense endings

capiō, capere, cēpī, captus (drag, 3rd conj.)

audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus (listen, 4th conj.) 

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Lower Level Grammar: Perfect Tense- 3rd and 4th Conjugations (September 14th, Late Approval)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

Last time, we learned about the 1st and 2nd conjugations in the perfect tense. This week, I will finish my lesson on the perfect tense with the 3rd and 4th conjugations.

Remember the perfect tense endings: 

Third and Fourth Conjugations

trahō, trahere, trāxī, trāctus (drag; 3rd conj.)

audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus (hear; 4th conj.)

It’s the same for all 4 conjugations.

1. Use 3rd principal part

2. Remove -ī

3. Add appropriate perfect tense endings

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Lower Level Grammar: Perfect Tense- 1st and 2nd Conjugations

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Beniaminus

The present tense shows actions that are happening currently. The perfect tense is used to show actions that have already happened. The perfect tense in Latin, when translated into English, is “have ____ed”, or “____ed”.

These are the endings for the perfect tense:

First Conjugation

4 principal parts: portō, portāre, portāvī, portātus (carry)

The third principal part, portāvī, is what we will use to form the perfect tense. This is already the 1st person singular form. All we need to do is remove the ī, and add the perfect tense endings.

Second Conjugation

4 principal parts: terreō, terrēre, terruī, territus (frighten)

It’s pretty much the same way as the first conjugation. We use the third principal part, terruī, without the ī, then add the perfect tense endings.

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Irregular Verb: sum, esse, fui, futurus (present active indicative and infinitive)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

Not all verbs look the same. Some don’t conjugate the same way as those in their conjugation, and some don’t fit into a conjugation at all. These are called irregular verbs. I will have lessons on different irregular verbs along the way. This week, I will cover the irregular verb sum, esse, fui, futurus in the present tense and infinitive. Since this is a verb we’ll be seeing very often, I will include this verb with other lessons on tenses.

Why is it an  Irregular Verb?

Even in its principal parts, it’s hard to tell what conjugation sum, esse is in. Its first principal part, sum, does not end in ō, but it ends in m. Yes, -m is an acceptable first person singular ending in the present tense, but it doesn’t give us the correct present stem. Its second principal part is esse, which does not end in -re like most infinitives do. Even if we remove the -e, there is no vowel before it, just an s. So which conjugation is it in so I can conjugate it? It’s not in a conjugation at all*. It’s irregular.

Forms of sum, esse

sum, esse, fui, futurus- to be

Notice how this verb isn’t completely “irregular”. It still retains the present tense endings (-ō/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt).  

*sum, esse may be part of the third conjugation, but it should not be used as an example for the third conjugation because of its principal parts

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Present Active Infinitives and More on Conjugations (July 26th-LATE)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

In my first lesson, I introduced the present tense and maybe a little about conjugations. Conjugations are like declensions, but for verbs, and there are four of them. To find out which conjugation a verb fits into, we have to look at the infinitive. Note: When I say “infinitive” in this lesson and others, I am referring to the present active infinitive.

Conjugations

A conjugation, like a declension, groups words (in this case, verbs,) based on their endings. Verbs in the first conjugation will have similar endings throughout all the tenses, verbs in the second conjugation will have different endings from the first, and so on. There are four conjugations, first (ā), second (ē), third (e), and fourth (ī). An infinitive can show which conjugation a verb is in.

Infinitives

The present active infinitive is the second principal part. An infinitive is a verb that is not finite (infinitus- endless). This means that it does not have person, or number. In English, an example of an infinitive would be a verb with the word “to”, as in “to write”. Here we do not know who is doing the writing, because there is no person or number. In Latin, this phrase would be “scrībere”, conveniently in one word. Infinitives in the present tense end in -re.

Using Infinitives to Determine the Conjugation of a Verb

Each conjugation has a vowel that is in the majority of the endings of its verbs. Since infinitives in the present tense end in -re, we can remove the -re, and the vowel before it shows which conjugation the verb is in.

principal parts: portō, portāre, portāvī, portātus

infinitive: portāre vowel before -re: ā conjugation: 1st

principal parts: terreō, terrēre, terruī, territus

infinitive: terrēre vowel before -re: ē conjugation: 2nd

principal parts: trahō, trahere, trāxī, trāctus

infinitive: trahō, trahere, trāxī, trāctus vowel before -re: e conjugation: 3rd

principal parts: audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus

infinitive: audīre vowel before -re: ī conjugation: 4th

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Etymology: Verbs from Other Verbs, Part 2 (July 8th)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Beniaminus

In this post I shall first explain diminutives and desideratives, and then show off some of the verbs that I created from other verbs.

Diminutives are created by adding -illāre to a verb stem. They denote a feeble or petty action.

cantillāre, “to chirp,” from cantāre, “to sing”;

sorbillāre, “to sip,” from sorbēre, “to drink.”

Desideratives express longing or wishing. They are formed with the suffixes -turīre and -surīre, each of which is attached to the same form of the verbal stem or root to which the supine-stem-forming ending -t- or -s- is attached.

ēsurīre, “to be hungry,” from edere (supine stem ēs-), “to eat”;

nūpturīre, “to want to marry,” from nūbere (supine stem nūpt-), “to marry.”

Iteratives and desideratives can be difficult to create when the verbs to which the respective suffixes are attached do not have easily deducible supine stems. However, in such cases, iteratives can be formed with the suffix -itāre and desideratives can be formed with the suffix -iturīre: e.g. pavitāre from pavēre. The vowel i in those suffixes is used in imitation of verbs that insert an i before t to form supine stems: e.g. agere, ag- + -i- + -t- = supine stem agit-.

Now I want to introduce some of the words that I have created!

  Inceptives

īscere, “to begin to go,” from īre, “to go”;

sēscere, “to begin to be,” from esse, “to be”;

sternuēscere, “to begin to sneeze,” from sternuere, “to sneeze.”

  Iteratives

fīxāre, “to keep posting,” from fīgere (supine stem fīx-), “to post”;

fūtāre, “to keep on being,” from esse (supine stem fūt-), “to be”;

vexitāre, “to keep on annoying,” from vexāre (supine stem vexāt-), “to annoy.”

  Meditatives

legessere, “to read eagerly,” from legere, “to read”;

sessere, “to exist eagerly,” from esse, “to be”;

tēlephōnessere, “to use the phone eagerly,” from tēlephōnāre, “to use the telephone.”

  Diminutives

rīdillāre, “to snicker,” from ridēre, “to laugh”;

sillāre, “to exist somewhat,” from esse, “to be”;

vīvillāre, “to live a little,” from vīvere, “to live.”

  Desideratives

conāturīrī, “to want to try,” from conārī (supine stem conāt-), “to try”;

fūturīre, “to want to exist,” from esse (supine stem fūt-), “to be”;

dormīturīre, “to want to sleep,” from dormīre (supine stem dormīt-), “to sleep.”

Adventurous students may wish to try creating their own verbs from other verbs. The words that I created and presented above should serve as more examples of what these verbs mean and how they are formed. Those who follow these procedures should also follow the general rules of word formation (e.g. elision of vowels). Armed with all of these instructions and procedures, the amateur word-coiner should be able to form new verbs from just about any other verb.

Source

  New Latin Grammar, Allen and Greenough.

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Upper Level Grammar: Using Active Verbs instead of Deponent Verbs in Certain Situations (June 14)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

While deponent verbs are slightly more difficult than active verbs for the student to recognize, and some of the forms of deponent verbs are liable to cause some amount of confusion (e.g. present passive imperative amāre looks like the present active infinitive amāre), these verbs do offer us forms that allow us to express certain sorts of ideas not available to us through active-form verbs.

If, for instance, we need to say “having used,” which has an active sense, we can use ūsus, the perfect participle of ūtī, “to use.” This same idea works for other deponents and their perfect participles:

conātus, “having tried,” from conārī, “to try”;

locūtus, “having spoken,” from loquī, “to speak”;

pollicitus, “having promised,” from pollicērī, “to promise.”

All of this is well and good of course, but what if we want to say something more in line with what the perfect participles of active verbs can express? How can we say “having been used” in Latin?

Since the perfect participles of deponent verbs normally have an active sense, we do not have the option of using these verbs if we want to have perfect participles that have a passive sense. Instead, we must use active verbs that are synonyms. Thus, instead of looking at ūtī for an active perfect participle, we need to look at a verb like ūsūrpāre, “to use,” instead: ūsūrpātus, “having been used.” Similarly we have these participles from active verbs:

temptātus “having been tried,” from temptāre, “to try”;

dictus, “having been spoken,” from dīcere, “to speak”;

prōmissus, “having been promised,” from prōmittere, “to promise.”

Ahn’s Latin Vocabulary for Beginners is a book that is more than one hundred years old, but it is still worth a look if you are interested in learning Latin vocabulary. It has a very handy list of deponent verbs and active verbs that have the same meaning, and we can use this list to substitute one verb for another (as seen above):

    Naturally, when we use an active verb instead of a deponent one, we must not forget that the new verb uses its own constructions and not the constructions of the old verb. Thus, in Computātrō ūsus, dēcēssit, “Having used the computer, he left,” the ūsus takes an ablative. The active and transitive verb ūsūrpāre takes an accusative, not an ablative, and can be used in the passive: Computātrum ūsūrpat, “She is using the computer”; computātrum ūsūrpātum, “the computer having been used.”

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Lower Level Grammar: Practice Problems #1: Review of Active Indicative Present Tense (June 11th-Late)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

Hey look, it’s our first set of practice problems! I’ll be using the previous topics I posted and past vocab lists, along with some words not on the lists. :D Anything from the #vocab-ll tag is fair game for me to use. This is recommended for beginners.

If you need to go back, use these links:

[1st conjugation] [2nd and 4th conjugation] [3rd conjugation] [#vocab-ll tag]

[latintutorial: present tense] [latintutorial: singular of the present tense]

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A. Which conjugation is _____?

1. vincō, vincere, vīcī, victus

2. cēnō, cēnāre, cēnāvī, cēnātus

3. dormiō, dormīre, dormīvī, dormītus

4. moneō, monēre, monuī, monitus (to warn; to advise)

B. What is the _______? (All present tense)

1. third person singular of cōnficiō, cōnficere, cōnfēcī, cōnfectus

2. second person singular of servō, servāre, servāvī, servātus

3. third person plural of videō, vidēre, vīvī, vīsus (to see)

4. first person singular of aperiō, aperīre, aperuī, apertus

5. second person plural of laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātus (to praise)

6. first person plural of reddō, reddere, reddidī, redditus (to give back; to return)

C. Translate. (These words are from the vocab lists.)

1. aperīmus

2. scrībis

3. efflōrēscit

4. persistitis

5. cōnficiunt

6. pariō

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more practice:

[latinata: identify the person and number]

[slu.edu: recognition-speed- present tense]