The Verb Party

I. Proper format of verbs

Verbs are properly “named” with their first two principle parts:

amo , amare1st person sing., present tense infinitive

Note: This is how you will see verbs in the dictionary, and in the vocabulary lists from now on.

II. The parts of a verb

amareama re

stem ending

characteristic vowel

III. Four kinds of verbs

Kind example vowel

1st Conjugation paro, parare a 2nd Conjugation habeo, habēre ē 3rd Conjugation mitto, mittere e

3rd –io iacio, iacere

4th Conjugation audio, audire i

IV. The Verb Party

We now need to learn how to conjugate each kind of verb

We start with the infinitive, as we usually do with verbs

1st Conjugation - parare

par a re

endings columnunchanging stem

The endings column is just filled with the verb endings.o

stmustisnt

The unchanging stem can just be filled down.

parparparparparpar

Now you need to know what the characteristic vowel does for each conjugation.

Watch (and memorize) where the “a” appears.

aaaaa

2nd Conjugation - habēre

hab ē rehabhabhabhabhabhab

ostmustisnt

eeeeee

The “strong e” of the 2nd conjugation shows itself throughout the whole conjugation.

3rd Conjugation - mittere

mitt e remittmittmittmittmittmitt

ostmustisnt

iiiiu

The “weak e” of the 3rd conjugation never shows itself. Be sure to recite this strange pattern until you have it memorized well.

4th Conjugation - audire

aud i reaudaudaudaudaudaud

ostmustisnt

iiiiiiu

The 4th conjugation has the “i” all the way down, but adds a “u” at the end.

The 3rd -io The 3rd –io is kind of a combination of 3rd and 4th

conjugation From the infinitive, you know for sure that it is

a 3rd conjugation verb Yet the 1st principle part ends in an “-io”

instead of just an “-o”

iacio, iacere

“weak e” is always 3rd conj.the “-io” shows that it’s not a normal third

continued…

3rd -io Conjugation - iacere

iac e reiaciaciaciaciaciac

ostmustisnt

iiiiiiu

Although it is a 3rd conj. verb, in the present tense it is conjugated exactly like a 4th

What are the four characteristic vowels?(Say them before they appear.)

1st Conj. 2nd Conj. 3rd Conj. 4th Conj.

a ē e i

Practice reciting the endings of all four conjugations

1st Conj.

-o-as-at-amus-atis-ant

2nd Conj.

-eo-es-et-emus-etis-ent

3rd Conj.

-o-is-it-imus-itis-unt

4th Conj.

-io-is-it-imus-itis-iunt