01.05.25: Level 1; readings [6] - [11]: review (15); verbs; 1st / 2nd conjugation [ii]

[1] image #1: key terms commonly used in Latin grammar courses / textbooks

verb

conjugation

stem

infinitive

personal endings

subject of the sentence

subject pronouns

person

number

singular

plural

tense

present tense

principal parts

[2] There are four conjugations of the regular verbs; conjugation refers to “groups” of verbs which have the same endings.

These conjugations are distinguished from each other by the final vowel of the present conjugation stem; the stem refers to the verb before any endings are added. This vowel is called the stem vowel*, and is best seen in the infinitive; the infinitive refers to the equivalent of English “to write”, “to go”, French “écrire”, “aller”, and German “schreiben”, “gehen” (and, of course, you can see where French got the -re ending from!)

*D’Ooge uses the term distinguishing vowel, which means the same but the term stem vowel is more commonly used now.

Image #2: the  infinitive of a verb of each conjugation, the stem, and the stem vowel.

[3] Image #3: to the stem, the personal endings  are added:

-ō: I

-s: you (singular)

-t: he / she / it

-mus: we

-tis: you (plural)

-nt: they

[i] Knowing these personal endings is crucial since they operate throughout the Latin verb systen i.e. they apply to all the conjugations and all the tenses.

[ii] Although Latin does have pronouns i.e. the equivalent of the English subject pronouns ‘I’, ‘you’ etc. they are most often not used in Latin because the personal ending shows the subject of the sentence i.e. the person / thing performing the action.

[iii] The verb is divided into [1] person, the term used in grammar to refer to who is performing the action, and

[iv] number i.e. singular (one person performing the action) or plural (more than one person performing the action)

Singular

1^st person: labōrō │ I work

2^nd person: labōrās│ you (singular) work

3^rd person: labōrat│ he / she / it works

Plural

1^st person: labōrāmus│ we work

2^nd person: labōrātis│ you (plural) work

3^rd person: labōrant │ they work

[v] There are two forms of the second person i.e. ‘you’: singular (talking to one person) and plural (talking to more than one person); unlike, for example, French tu and vous or German du, ihr or Sie where the choice of the second person pronoun can be dependent upon a person’s status e.g. family member, police officer, Classical Latin does not make that distinction: an Ancient Roman, whether talking to one emperor or to one slave, would use the second person singular

[vi] Tense refers to the time when the action was / is / will be performed. Here we are dealing with the present tense of the 1^st and 2^nd conjugation verbs. In English there are three ways of expressing present action. We may say, for example, I live, I am living, or I do live. In Latin the one expression habitō covers all three of these expressions.

[4] Images #4  and #5: because verbs belong to different conjugations, they, like nouns, are usually listed in dictionaries or vocabularies with specific additional information which, for verbs, is known as the principal parts. For most verbs there are four principal parts but, at this stage, only two will be listed:

amō [first person singular], amāre [infinitive]; the number of the conjugation may also be included

• amō, amāre [1]: love
• habeō, habēre [2]: have

1^st conjugation

amō, I love; amāre, to love

arō, I plough; arāre, to plough

cūrō, I care for; cūrāre, to care for

dēsīderō, I long for; dēsīderāre, to long for

dō, I give; dare, to give

habitō, I live, I dwell; habitāre, to live, to dwell

labōrō, I work; labōrāre, to work

laudō, I praise; laudāre, to praise

mātūrō, I hasten; mātūrāre, to hasten

And the rest we will put in abbreviated form:

nārrō, nārrāre [1]:  tell

necō, necāre[1]: kill

nūntiō, nūntiāre [1]: announce

parō,  parāre [1]:  prepare

portō, portāre [1]: to carry

properō, properāre [1]: to hasten

pugnō, pugnāre [1]: to fight

vocō, vocāre [1]: to call

2^nd conjugation

dēleō, I destroy; dēlēre, to destroy

habeō, I have; habēre, to have

iubeō, I order; iubēre, to order

moneō, monēre [2]: warn; advise

moveō, movēre [2]: move

pāreō, pārēre [2]: obey

possideō, possidēre [2]: possess

rideō, ridēre [2]: laugh

sedeō, sedēre [2]: sit; be seated

studeō, studēre [2]: [i] dedicate oneself (to something) [ii] (Late / Mediaeval) study

taceō, tacēre [2]: be silent

timeō, timēre [2]: fear; be afraid

valeō, valēre [2]: be strong / healthy / well

videō, vidēre [2]: see