INTRODUCTION TO PRESENT SYSTEM/ Imperfect and Future

PRESENT SYSTEM

  • Latin verbs can occur in six tenses, three in the PRESENT SYSTEM and three in the PERFECT SYSTEM.
  • Present System:
  • Uses the1stand2ndprincipal parts, e.g. oppugnō, oppugnāre
  • This group of tenses is called “present system” because it uses the present stem (formed from the 2nd principal part)
  • ConsistsofPresent, Imperfect, and Future Tenses
  • Perfect System:
  • Usesthe3rdand4thprincipalparts, e.g. oppugnāvī, oppugnātus (-a, -um)
  • This group of tenses is called “perfect system” because it uses the perfect stem (formed from the 3rdprincipal part)
  • Consists ofPerfect, Pluperfect, and Future Perfect Tenses
  • REMEMBER that the active voice personal endings of Latin verbs (also printed on p. 9 of your textbook) are as follows:

singularplural

1st person-ō or m-mus

2nd person-s-tis

3rd person-t-nt

  • IMPERFECT: Now look at this imperfect (tense), active (voice), indicative (mood) paradigm of the first conjugation verb oppugnāre, to attack. The endings will appear in boldfaced blue.

singularplural

1st personoppugnābamoppugnābāmus

I was attackingwe were attacking

I used to attackwe used to attack

I kept on attackingwe kept on attacking

2nd personoppugnābāsoppugnābātis

you were attackingya’ll were attacking

you used to attackya’ll kept on attacking

(etc…)

3rd personoppugnābatoppugnābant

(s)he/it was attackingthey were attacking

(s)/he/it kept on attackingthey used to attack

(etc…)

  • FUTURE: Now look at this future (tense), active (voice), indicative (mood) paradigm of the first conjugation verb oppugnāre, to attack. The endings will appear in boldfaced blue.

singularplural

1st personoppugnābōoppugnābimus

I will attackwe will attack

2nd personoppugnābisoppugnābitis

you will attackya’ll will attack

3rd personoppugnābitoppugnābunt

(s)he/it will attackthey will attack

ConjugatingVerbs in the Present System

  • To conjugate ANY Latin verb in the present system (present, imperfect, and future tenses), you need to follow a few simple steps.
  • STEP #1: Start with the verb in its 2nd principal part.
  • N.B. All Latin dictionaries list the first principal part of the verb followed by the other principal parts
  • If a dictionary includes a dot ( · ), it does that to show you where you can remove the first principal part ending and add the additional information listed to form the second, third, and fourth principal parts
  • SAMPLE ENTRY: quae·rō, -rere, -sīvī or -siī, sītus, tr to look for, search for; to try to get
  • quaerō is the 1st principal part
  • quae- + -rere = quarere, the 2nd principal part
  • quae- + -sīvī (or -siī) = quaesīvī(or quaesiī), the 3rd principal part
  • quae- + -sītus = quaesītus, the 4th principal part
  • STEP #2: Remove the –re from the verb’s second principal part(remove the -ere if the verb is 3rd conjugation)
  • TIP: you may want to think of conjugating like a simple math problem.
  • Memorize this “formula” for conjugating:
  • (2nd principal part) –– (-re) = present stem of the verb
  • EXAMPLE:
  • 1st conjugation: (amāre) –– (-re) = amā-
  • 2nd conjugation: (docēre) –– (-re) = docē-
  • 3rd conjugation: (quaerere) –– (-ere) = quaer-
  • 4th conjugation: (audīre) –– (-ere) = audī-
  • STEP #3: Add an ending to the verb’s present stem
  • Now that you have the present stem of the verb, you can change the verb to whatever person, number, and tense you want for the present, imperfect, and future tenses.

  • So how do I conjugate the verbs in these various tenses?
  • Present tense: just add the personal endings to the stem (this is not quite the case for 3rd conjugation, which you will learn later)
  • Imperfect Tense:
  • add the imperfect endings
  • -bam, -bās, -bat, -bāmus, -bātis, -bant
  • Future Tense:
  • add the future endings
  • -bō, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt

ACTIVE VOICE

Indicative Mood / 1st Conjugation / 2nd Conjugation / 3rd Conjugation / 3rd-io Conjugation / 4th Conjugation

PRESENT

/ Pres. stem + ending / Pres. stem + ending / Pres. stem (+ vowel) + endings / Pres. stem (+ i) + endings / Pres. stem + ending
1 singular / par-ō / doce-ō / reg-ō / capi-ō / audi-ō
2 / parā-s / docē-s / reg-i-s / capi-s / audī-s
3 / para-t / doce-t / reg-i-t / capi-t / audi-t
1 plural / parā-mus / docē-mus / reg-i-mus / capi-mus / audī-mus
2 / parā-tis / docē-tis / reg-i-tis / capi-tis / audī-tis
3 / para-nt / doce-nt / reg-u-nt / capi-u-nt / audi-u-nt

IMPERFECT

/ Pres. stem + tense sign + ending / Pres. stem + tense sign + ending / Pres. stem (+ ē) + tense sign + endings / Pres. stem (+ iē) + tense sign + endings / Pres. stem (+ ē) + tense sign + endings
1 singular / parā-ba-m / docē-ba-m / reg-ē-ba-m / capi-ē-ba-m / audi-ē-ba-m
2 / parā-bā-s / docē-bā-s / reg-ē-bā-s / capi-ē-bā-s / audi-ē-bā-s
3 / parā-ba-t / docē-ba-t / reg-ē-ba-t / capi-ē-ba-t / audi-ē-ba-t
1 plural / parā-bā-mus / docē-bā-mus / reg-ē-bā-mus / capi-ē-bā-mus / audi-ē-bā-mus
2 / parā-bā-tis / docē-bā-tis / reg-ē-bā-tis / capi-ē-bā-tis / audi-ē-bā-tis
3 / parā-ba-nt / docē-ba-nt / reg-ē-ba-nt / capi-ē-ba-nt / audi-ē-ba-nt

FUTURE

/ Pres. stem + tense sign + ending / Pres. stem + tense sign + ending / Pres. stem + tense sign + ending / Pres. stem +tense sign + ending / Pres. stem +tense sign + ending
1 singular / parā-b-ō / docē-b-ō / reg-a-m / capi-a-m / audi-a-m
2 / parā-bi-s / docē-bi-s / reg-ē-s / capi-ē-s / audi-ē-s
3 / parā-bi-t / docē-bi-t / reg-e-t / capi-e-t / audi-e-t
1 plural / parā-bi-mus / docē-bi-mus / reg-ē-mus / capi-ē-mus / audi-ē-mus
2 / parā-bi-tis / docē-bi-tis / reg-ē-tis / capi-ē-tis / audi-ē-tis
3 / parā-bu-nt / docē-bu-nt / reg-e-nt / capi-e-nt / audi-e-nt

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