Understanding Latin Verbs: Conjugations and Meanings

1. Chapter 3 - Verbs In Latin, Verbs have endings just like nouns. They are called personal endings and each ending actually means something . . . .

2. Personal Endings nt - they o - I mus - we tis – you (pl) s - you t– he, she, it

3. How do you translate present tense verbs? There are THREE ways! e.g. (exempli gratia – for example) Narro – the ‘o’ on the end means “I” It can be translated- I tell, I am telling . . . or I do tell

4. First Conjugation narro, narrāre, narrāvi, narrātus To get the present stem, take the –re off the second principal part: narra - Narro – I tell. Narrāmus – we tell Narrās – you tell Narrātis – You guys tell Narrāt – he, she, it tells Narrānt – they tell

5. Second Conjugation video, vidēre, vidi, visus To get the present stem, take the –re off the second principal part: vidē - video – I see vidēmus – we see vidēs – you see vidētis – You guys see vidēt – he, she, it sees vidēnt – they see

6. So, let’s translate some verbs . . . They walk ambulānt They are walking They do walk The Tiber River, the river that Runs through Rome. You see vidēs You are seeing You do see

7. One common verb is irregular and needs to be memorized. It is the verb . . .. To be - sum, esse, fui, futurus sum – I am sumus – we are es - you are estis – you are est – he, she, it is sunt - they are