Making Latin Accessible to Everyone
An Introduction to Latin Verbs
To tackle the progressively more advanced sentences, you should begin by understanding the present and perfect tenses of verbs. All verbs come under 4 conjugation groups, and each group has a different ending for each tense and pronoun.
For the purposes of ease, the examples to convey each conjugation group are:
Group 1: Confirmo – I Confirm
Group 2: Teneo – I Hold
Group 3: Concedo – I Grant
Group 4: Servio – I Serve
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Listed below is the present tense with their corresponding verb endings:
Group 1:
Confirmo - I Confirm
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Confirmo
You (s) - Confirmas
He/She/It - Confirmat
We - Confirmamus
You (pl) - Confirmatis
They - Confirmant
Group 2:
Teneo - I Hold
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Teneo
You (s) - Tenes
He/She/It - Tenet
We - Tenemus
You (pl) - Tenetis
They - Tenent
Group 3:
Concedo - I Grant
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Concedo
You (s) - Concedis
He/She/It - Concedit
We - Concedimus
You (pl) - Conceditis
They - Concedunt
Group 4:
Servio - I Serve
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Servio
You (s) - Servis
He/She/It - Servit
We - Servimus
You (pl) - Servitis
They - Serviunt
There are subtle changes within each conjugation group but it should be fairly straightforward on how to distinguish between them. Moving on, the perfect tense is a form of the past tense (in Medieval Latin there are a few different past tenses; perfect, imperfect, pluperfect) and it translates as such:
Group 1: Confirmavi – I Confirmed
Group 2: Tenui – I Held
Group 3: Concessi – I Granted
Group 4: Servio – I Served
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When comparing present and perfect verbs, you will notice that the stem changes within each group.
For group 1 verbs, the present stem: Confirm- changes to the perfect stem: Confirmav-
In other words, the stem of group 1 verbs gain ‘av’ when in the perfect tense.
The other groups also extend their stems:
In Group 2, the present stem: Ten- changes to become the perfect stem Tenu-, thus gaining ‘u’.
Group 3 verbs are irregular meaning that the whole stem changes in the perfect tense. Whilst the stem in the present tense is: Conced-, in the perfect tense it becomes Concess- (Note that dictionaries will give the stem of group 3 verbs).
In Group 4, the present stem: Serv- changes to become the perfect stem Serviv-, thus gaining ‘iv’.
Group 1:
Confirmavi - I Confirmed
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Confirmavi
You (s) - Confirmavisti
He/She/It - Confirmavit
We - Confirmavimus
You (pl) - Confirmavistis
They - Confirmaverunt
Group 2:
Tenui - I Held
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Tenui
You (s) - Tenuisti
He/She/It - Tenuit
We - Tenuimus
You (pl) - Tenuistis
They - Tenuerunt
Group 3:
Concessi - I Granted
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Concessi
You (s) - Concessisti
He/She/It - Concessit
We - Concessimus
You (pl) - Concessistis
They - Concesserunt
Group 4:
Servivi - I Serve
Below is a list of the pronoun with their corresponding verb form. Note that the conjugation verb ending is highlighted:
I - Servivi
You (s) - Servivisti
He/She/It - Servivit
We - Servivimus
You (pl) - Servivistis
They - Serviverunt