Latin for Beginners

    and its object.]

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  Second Review, Lessons IX-XVII, Secs. 506-509

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LESSON XVIII

CONJUGATION
THE PRESENT, IMPERFECT, AND FUTURE TENSES OF /SUM\

  [Special Vocabulary]

  NOUNS
   lu:dus, -i:, m.,_school_
  /socius, soci:\, m., _companion, ally_ (social)

  ADJECTIVES
  /i:ra:tus, -a, -um\, _angry, furious_ (irate)
  /laetus, -a, -um\, _happy, glad_ (social)

  ADVERBS
   hodie:, _to-day_
  /ibi\, _there, in that place_
   mox, _presently, soon_, of the immediate future
  /nunc\, _now, the present moment_
  /nu:per\, _lately, recently_, of the immediate past

_119._ The inflection of a verb is called its _conjugation_ (cf. Sec.
23). In English the verb has but few changes in form, the different
meanings being expressed by the use of personal pronouns and
auxiliaries, as, _I am carried, we have carried, they shall have
carried_, etc. In Latin, on the other hand, instead of using personal
pronouns and auxiliary verbs, the form changes with the meaning. In
this way the Romans expressed differences in _tense, mood, voice,
person_, and _number_.

_120._ The Tenses. The different forms of a verb referring to
different times are called its _tenses_. The chief distinctions of
time are present, past, and future:

  1. /The present\, that is, _what is happening now_, or
     _what usually happens_, is expressed by
        THE PRESENT TENSE

  2. /The past\, that is, _what was happening, used to happen,
      happened, has happened_, or _had happened_, is expressed by
        THE IMPERFECT, PERFECT, AND PLUPERFECT TENSES

  3. /The future\, that is, _what is going to happen_, is expressed by
        THE FUTURE AND FUTURE PERFECT TENSES

_121._ The Moods. Verbs have inflection of _mood_ to indicate the
manner in which they express action. The moods of the Latin verb are the
_indicative, subjunctive, imperative_, and _infinitive_.

    _a._ A verb is in the _indicative_ mood when it makes a statement or
    asks a question about something assumed as a fact. All the verbs we
    have used thus far are in the present indicative.

_122._ The Persons. There are three persons, as in English. The first
person is the person speaking (_I sing_); the second person the person
spoken to (_you sing_); the third person the person spoken of (_he
sings_). Instead of using personal pronouns for the different persons in
the two numbers, singular and plural, the Latin verb uses the personal
endings (cf. Sec. 22 _a_; 29). We have already learned that -t is the
ending of the third person singular in the active voice and -nt of the
third person plural. The complete list of personal endings of the active
voice is as follows:

              SINGULAR                  PLURAL
  _1st Pers._ _I_             -m or -o:  _we_   -mus
  _2d Pers._  _thou_ or _you_ -s        _you_  -tis
  _3d Pers._  _he, she, it_   -t        _they_ -nt

_123._ Most verbs form their moods and tenses after a regular plan and
are called _regular_ verbs. Verbs that depart from this plan are called
_irregular_. The verb _to be_ is irregular in Latin as in English. The
present, imperfect, and future tenses of the indicative are inflected as
follows:

  PRESENT INDICATIVE
              SINGULAR                        PLURAL
  _1st Pers._ su-m, _I am_                    su-mus, _we are_
  _2d Pers._  e-s, _you[1] are_               es-tis, _you[1] are_
  _3d Pers._  es-t, _he, she_, or _it is_     su-nt,  _they are_

  IMPERFECT INDICATIVE
              SINGULAR                        PLURAL
  _1st Pers._ er-a-m, _I was_                 er-a:'-mus, _we were_
  _2d Pers._  er-a:-s, _you were_              er-a:'-tis, _you were_
  _3d Pers._  er-a-t, _he, she_, or _it was_  er-a:-nt,   _they were_

  FUTURE INDICATIVE
              SINGULAR                        PLURAL
  _1st Pers._ er-o:,   _I shall be_            er'-i-mus, _we shall be_
  _2d Pers._  er-i-s, _you will be_           er'-i-tis, _you will be_
  _3d Pers._  er-i-t, _he will be_            er-u-nt,   _they will be_