Present Active Verbs

First and Second Conjugation

Implicit and Explicit Subjects

• For Latin verbs, there is always a built-in (implicit) subject, e.g., sum, “I am”; amant, “they love”

• There is often an explicit subject as well. An explicit subject will be a noun separate from the verb, e.g., feminae amant, “the women love”

Principal Parts of the Verb

• Examples of principal parts of verbs in English: think-thought-thought; sing-sang-sung

• The first principal part of the verb in Latin is also the first-person singular present active form of the verb, e.g., amō, “I love,” habitō, “I live,” cogitō, “I think”

The Verb Stem

• For (finite) verbs there are two parts: the stem and the personal ending.

• The stem is derived from the second principal part of the verb (= infinitive)

Determining the Verb Stem

• To determine the stem of a verb, drop the final –re from the second principal part:

• amō, amāre amāre amāre • stem = ama• moneo, monēre monēre monēre

• stem = mone

Conjugations

• As nouns are grouped into declensions, verbs are grouped into conjugations.

• The first and second conjugation are very similar, and their stems are derived by the same process described above.

Second Principal Part

• The 2d principal part of a 1st-conjugation verb ends in –āre

• The 2d principal part of a 2d-conjugation verb ends in –ēre

• Note: the macron over the penultimate e in the infinitive of a second-conjugation verb is important to include. Without the macron, the verb appears to be third conjugation.

Personal Endings

• The personal endings are the same for both conjugations:

• -ō first person singular, “I”• -s second person singular, “you”• -t 3d person sg., “she,” “he,” “it”• -mus 1st pl., “we”• -tis 2d pl., “you”• -nt 3d pl., “they”

Forming present-tense verbs

• the first principal part is also the first person singular; just copy it

• get the stem: from the second principal part, drop the final –re

• to the stem, add the personal endings: -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt

Example I

• amō, amāre• 1st person singular: amō, “I love”• Stem: ama

Example – Part II

• Stem: amā• 2d sg. = ama + s = amas, “you love”• 3d sg. = ama + t = amat, “she loves”• 1st pl. = ama + mus = amamus, “we

love”• 2d pl. = ama + tis = amatis, “you love”• 3d pl. = ama + tis = amant, “they love”

Example II

• moneō, monēre• 1st person singular: moneō, “I warn”• Stem: mone

Example II – Part II

• Stem: mone• 2d sg. = mone + s = mones, “you warn”• 3d sg. = mone + t = monet , “he warns”• 1st pl. = mone+mus = monemus , “we

warn”• 2d pl. = mone + tis = monetis , “you warn”• 3d pl. = mone + nt = monent, “they warn”

Translating the Present Tense

• moneō• “I warn”• “I am warning” (present

progressive)• “I do warn” (present emphatic)

Present Tense of the Verb “To Be”

• The verb “to be” is irregular in all languages. (Cf. I am, you are, she is, we were, they have been.)

• It must simply be memorized.

• The first two principal parts are sum, esse

Present Forms of Sum, Esse

• Sum, “I am”

• Es, “you [sg.] are”

• Est, “s/he is”

• Sumus, “we are”

• Estis, “y’all are”

• Sunt, “they are”

Similarity to Regular Verbs

• Sum, “I am”

• Es, “you [sg.] are”

• Est, “s/he is”

• Sumus, “we are”

• Estis, “y’all are”

• Sunt, “they are”