18.03.24: 3rd-iō conjugation

When you complete this post, you’ll have reached a major milestone because you will have seen all the verb conjugations in the present tense; that will provide the basis for you to move on to other tenses which will give you the inroad into reading the authors.

If you look at the first image posted, you see two verbs side by side; in grammar books they are generally presented this way because both of them are classified as 3rd conjugation, the infinitive in short /e/. However, the verb on the right can be noted as [3-iō] although wiktionary (rather threateningly) lists this verb type as “third conjugation iō-variant”.

Why is it called this?

[i] Here’s a 3rd conjugation

bibō, bibere [3]: drink

1. bibō
2. >> bibis <<
3. >> bibit <<
4. >> bibimus <<
5. >> bibitis <<
6. bibunt

[ii] Here’s a 4th conjugation

audiō, audīre [4]; hear

1. >> audiō <<
2. audīs
3. audit
4. audīmus
5. audītis
6. >> audiunt <<

[iii] Now, the final ‘tick box’ of the conjugations:

faciō, facere [3-iō]: do; make

Take a second look; the first person singular looks like audiō [4th conjugation] but the infinitive is short /e/ -ere, like bibere [3rd conjugation], and what emerges is a combination of the two:

[1] fáciō [like 4th conjugation; compare audiō]: I do

***

Now it has the endings of the 3rd conjugation

[2] fácĭs [compare: bíbĭs]: you (sg.) do

[3] fácĭt [compare: bíbĭt]: he / she / it does

[4] fácĭmus [compare: bíbĭmus]: we do

[5] fácĭtis [compare: bíbĭtis]: you (pl.) do

***

Then …

[6] fáciunt [like 4th conjugation: audiunt]: they do

Some frequently occurring verbs are of the 3-iō type:

accipiō, accipere [3-iō]: receive

capiō, capere [3-iō]: take; capture

cupiō, cupere [3-iō]: desire

effugiō, effugere [3-iō]: flee / escape from

fugiō, fugere [3-iō]: flee

iaciō, iacere [3-iō] throw

interficiō, interficere [3-iō]: kill

rapiō, rapere [3-iō]: seize; of course, the highly unpleasant word ‘rape’ is derived from this, but the original word, which, yes, could mean ‘rape’ also had a far wider meaning of ‘snatch; carry off; abduct’

You’ve now been introduced to all the present tense conjugations and all the principal parts that you need for the moment. They are shown in the second image.