30.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [12]: 3rd conjugation

Vēnī: I came

Vīdī: I saw

Vīcī: I conquered

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veni,_vidi,_vici

This quotation attributed to Caesar shows a crucial point about the perfect tense in Latin:

The previous posts on the perfect tenses have shown that certain conjugations have a very frequent or more common occurrence of a certain type of perfect tense:

• laudō, laudāre, laudāvī [1]: praise
• habeō, habēre, habuī [2]: have
• audiō, audīre, audīvī [4]: hear 

However, those endings cannot be assumed; there are verbs that do not use those stems:

• dō, dare, dedī [1]

And, both from the Caesar quotation:

• videō, vidēre, vīdī [2]: see
• veniō, venīre, vēnī [4]: come

In previous posts, ways of learning have been discussed. When it comes to 3^rd conjugation verbs, while there are patterns that, in time, you begin to spot, it is not easy to predict what the perfect tense will be. I’ve made a  list here of some of the most common ones according to “patterns” i.e. in the way that I remembered them, but, from my own experience, I wouldn’t go into that too deeply at this stage otherwise you end up in linguistic discussions which, to be honest, are unnecessary otherwise you’ll be hit by expressions such as “reduplication” and “nasal infixes”. I’d leave that well alone.  Rather like irregular verbs in French, the best way is to learn them as they come up in reading.

Once again, the key point is that they will always have the same endings. Therefore, you only need to learn one perfect tense form:

dīcō, dīcere, dīxī [3]: say

surgō, surgere, surrēxī [3]: get up

trahō, trahere, trāxī [3]: pull; drag

vīvō, vīvere, vīxī [3]: live

lūdō, lūdere, lūsī [3]: play

mittō, mittere, mīsī [3]: send

discēdō, discēdere, discēssī [3]: leave

gerō, gerere, gessī [3]: many meanings including ‘bear’ ‘wear’ but very commonly found with bellum meaning ‘wage war’

pōnō, pōnere, posuī [3]: put

scrībō, scrībere, scrīpsī [3]: write

cadō, cadere, cecidī [3]: fall

currō, currere, cucurrī [3]: run

 

faciō, facere, fēcī [3-iō]: do; make

iaciō, iacere, iēcī [3-iō]: throw

 

bibō, bibere, bibī [3]: drink

edō, edere, edī [3]: eat

vincō, vincere, vīcī [3]: conquer

 

scrīpsī: I wrote / have written

ēdistī: you (sg.) ate / have eaten

cucurrit: he / she ran

mīsimus: we sent

fēcistis: you (pl.) did

discessērunt: they left

The only way that these eventually “stuck” in my head was through reading and not to think about what conjugation they belong to (although it helps) or why they are formed in that way.