Chapter 10
Morphology
Conjugations
- Latin nouns belong to three groups or declensions. Verbs belong to groups as well, they are called verb conjugations.
- There are four verb conjugations, plus a subset and the irregular verbs.
- Each conjugation can be recognized, and is usually written using the first person singular, followed by the infinitive. (E.g. laboro, laborare)
- Take a look at the paradigm chart. You may remember these from chapter 8.
Habitare
Habito Habitas Habitat Habitamus Habitatis Habitant |
To Live
I live You live He/she/it lives We live You (pl) live They live |
- We already learned some verb paradigms. These were 1st conjugation paradigms. The 1st conjugation endings are -o, -as, -at, -amus, -atis, -ant (I, you, he/she/it, we you (pl), they). You may have found that not all verbs sound right with these endings. That is probably because they are from a different conjugation. Let's take a look at timēo, timēre (I fear, to fear). Timo, timare doesn't sound very good, does it?
- That is because timēo, timēre is a 2nd conjugation verb. The second conjugation endings are: -ēo, -ēs, -et, -ēmus, -ētis, -ent. The infinitive is -ēre.
- Now lets look at the paradigms of timēo, timēre:
Timēre
Timēo Timēs Timet Timēmus Timent |
To fear
I fear You fear He/she/it fears We fear You fear They fear |
- Compare these paradigms to the paradigms of habito, habitare. How are they different? How are they the same?
- Notice, that in Latin, when you change person, the ending changes, but in English when you change person, the beginning changes. But with English it is much easier because you don't have to worry at all about conjugations.
- In second conjugation, long marks are ESSENTIAL. They are the only way to differ them from 3rd conjugation verbs. In the second conjugation infinitive, (e.g. timēre) the e has a long mark over it. But in the third conjugation infinitive, (currere), the e has no long mark over it, which brings us to our next topic: 3rd conjugation!
- 3rd conjugation endings are -o, -is, -it, -imus, -itis, -unt. The infinitive is -ere. THERE ARE NO LONG MARKS IN 3RD CONJUGATION. Let's take a look at the paradigms for a 3rd conjugation verb: Currere.
Currere
Curro Curris Currit Currimus Curritis Currunt |
To Run
I run You run He/she/it runs We run You (pl) run They run |
- Compare the paradigms of curro, currere to the other two.
- Finally, we have 4th conjugation verbs. We only know four 4th conjugation verbs. Venīre, Audīre, Nescīre, and Dormīre. There are more, we just haven't learned them yet. The 4th conjugation endings are: -īo, -is, -it, -imus, -itis, -iunt. The infinitive ending is -īre. Let's take a look at the paradigms for Dormīre.
Dormīre
Dormīo Dormis Dormit Dormimus Dormitis Dormiunt |
To Sleep
I sleep You sleep He/she/it sleeps We sleep You (pl) sleep They sleep |
Irregular and 3rd - IO
- Not all verbs follow these paradigms. We call them irregular, because they are completely different. Here is an example:
Esse
Sum Es Est Sumus Estis Sunt |
To Be
I am You are He/she/it is We are You (pl) are They are |
- Completely different from what we've seen, right? Irregular endings may vary based on the verb, but most of them will have -sum, -es, -est, -sumus, -estis, -sunt. Here are a few examples of irregular verbs: sum, esse; possum, posse; and fero, ferre.
- Now, there's just one more conjugation: 3rd - IO.
- This is a subset of third conjugation, and the only difference is that the first person singular ending is -io instead of -o and the third person plural ending is -iunt instead of -unt.
- We only know 5 3rd-IO conjugation verbs: Iacere, Facere, Arripere, Conspicere, Excipere. Use the Acronym IFACE to help you remember the 5 3rd-IO verbs that we know. Let's look at the paradigms for Iacere.
Iacere
Iacio Iacis Iacit Iacimus Iacitis Iaciunt |
To throw
I throw You throw He/she/it throws We throw You (pl) throw They throw |
Imperatives
- Imperatives are command verbs.
- Imperative verbs often have a second person package deal subject. This is an "understood you" subject.
This is how you make a positive imperative:
- Take the -RE of the infinitive. Now you have a singular positive imperative!
- Add -TE* to make a plural positive imperative.
*This does not work for 3rd conjugation, take off the -E and add -ITE.