INDICATIVE VERBS
Before learning any verb forms in the Latin language, it is important to understand a few terms:
- Tense – This expresses the time of an event (e.g. Present, Future, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect)
- Voice – Whether the subject of the verb is doing the action or having the action done to themselves (e.g. Active or Passive) – I attacked (active) vs. I am being attacked (passive)
- Mood – This refers to the attitude of the verb and thus how it is used. There are 3:
o Indicative – this is the most common mood of verbs and expresses facts – ‘I play’
o Infinitive – A verb which expresses the action but has no subject – ‘to love’ or ‘to shout’
o Subjunctive – This expresses uncertainty or a wish and is used in various constructions – ‘I wish I were tired’
o Imperative – This mood expresses commands – ‘Don’t shout!’
- Person – the person doing the verb (e.g. I, you (sg), he/she/it, we, you (pl), they)
o 1st person singular = I
o 2nd person singular = You (sg)
o 3rd person singular = He/she/it
o 1st person plural = We
o 2nd person plural = You (pl)
o 3rd person plural = They
Whilst there are many combinations of tenses, moods and voices in the Latin language, GCSE level only requires you to learn a handful of them.
This section of grammar focuses on the indicative mood - Indicative verbs are the most common type of verbs and state facts.
E.g. ‘He is fighting’ or ‘We are sleeping’.
There are 5 conjugations or groups of verbs for each tense. Although the endings are the same, the stem of the verb alters.
We can learn the stem of the verb from its principal parts – when you look up a verb, dictionaries will give you 4 principal parts (present tense, infinitive, perfect tense, and perfect passive participle).
To find the stem of any verb:
- Take the first principal part (e.g. amo) and remove the ending (-o)
- Then add the appropriate vowel for that conjugation
- Then add the ending!
PRESENT TENSE
Just like English, the present tense in Latin is translated as ‘I love’ or ‘I am loving’ (active) or ‘I am being loved’ (passive)
The endings are as follows:
1st Conjugation:
This conjugation is for verbs with infinitives ending -are.
We use the vowel ‘-a-’
2nd Conjugation:
This conjugation is for verbs ending -eo and an infinitive ending -ere.
We use the vowel ‘-e-’.
3rd Conjugation:
This conjugation is for verbs with the infinitive ending in -ere (like the 2nd conjugation), but the first principal part ends in only ‘-o’,
We use the vowel ‘-i-’.
*The vowel ‘i’ is not present in the 1st singular
** The vowel becomes ‘u’ instead of ‘i’ in the 3rd plural and ‘e’ in 2nd singular passive.
3rd/4th Conjugation:
This is for verbs with the infinitive -ere and first principal part ending in ‘-io’
We use the vowel ‘-i-’
*In the 3rd plural, a ‘u’ is added after the conjugation vowel ‘-i-’
** The conjugation vowel in the 2nd sg passive is ‘e’ instead of ‘i’
4th Conjugation:
This is for verbs with the infinitive ending -ire.
We use the vowel ‘-i-’
*In the 3rd pl., a ‘u’ is added after the conjugation vowel ‘-i-’
That is all you need to know for the present tense in the indicative mood!
Although it looks like a lot, the endings are the same, and it is only stem changes that need to be learnt!
Once you have learnt the endings and the stem rules/conjugation vowels, you can form the present tense of any verb!
FUTURE TENSE:
Again, just like the English, the future tense in Latin is translated as ‘I shall fight’ (active) or ‘they will be led’ (passive)
Conjugations also apply here!
The endings are as follows:
1st Conjugation:
2nd Conjugation:
Conjugation 1 and 2 follow the same conjugation vowels as the present indicative.
The only thing to watch out for in the endings are:
- The 3rd pl = ‘-bu-’ instead of ‘-bi-’
- The 2nd sg passive = ‘-be-’ instead of ‘-bi-’
3rd, 3rd/4th, and 4th conjugations:
These conjugations are different endings in the future to the 1st and 2nd conjugations.
The easiest way to remember them is that they are pretty much the present tense endings with an ‘-e-’ put before it.
3rd Conjugation:
No conjugation vowel needed!
3rd/4th and 4th Conjugations:
Conjugation vowel of ‘-i-’ (like the present)
Because the endings are so similar to the present, it is crucial to know the conjugation of the verb and thus spot the addition of the ‘-e-’ to the ending.
IMPERFECT TENSE:
This is a past tense in Latin translated as ‘I was ---ing’ or ‘I used to ---’. There is a sense of continuity in the action or incompleteness in the imperfect tense.
The conjugation vowels are just like the present tense, with the 3rd/4th and the 4th having the additional ‘-e-’ like the future.
ACTIVE:
PASSIVE:
PERFECT TENSE:
This is another past tense in Latin denoting a completed action. It is translated as ‘I loved’ or ‘I have loved’ (active) or ‘I have been loved’ (passive)
The Perfect Active Indicative is formed with the root of the third principal part (e.g. amav-) + the endings. This is the same in all conjugations!
The Perfect Passive Indicative is formed with the perfect passive participle (4th principal part – e.g. amatus) + the present active indicative of esse (the verb ‘to be’).
PLUPERFECT TENSE:
This is another past tense in Latin which denotes completed actions at a certain point in the past. It is translated as ‘I had ---ed’ (active) or ‘I had been ---ed’ (passive)
This tense is formed just like the perfect tense but with different endings.
Again, for the Pluperfect Active Indicative, take the root of the third principal part (e.g. amav-) and add the ending.
The Pluperfect Passive Indicative (just like the Perfect) is the perfect passive participle (fourth principal part) + the imperfect active indicative of esse.
And with that, you have learnt all the tenses of the indicative mood that you need to know!
If you learn the principal parts of your verbs, you can form any tense – just follow the rules!
Patterns are super important in Latin, and they are very visible in verb forms – the more patterns, the easier to remember :)
