LATIN VERBS
The Principal Parts
A foreigner learning English has to learn three parts of a verb:
go; went; gone.
make; made; made
fall; fell; fallen
The table below shows you what these three parts are called:
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1
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2
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3
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go
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went
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gone
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make
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made
|
made
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fall
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fell
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fallen
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present tense
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past tense
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past participle
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Most verbs in English make their past tense and past participle
by adding the suffix -ed, e.g. I walk, I walked, I have walked.
Verbs which behave like this, following a standard pattern, are called weak
verbs.
Verbs which do not follow the normal pattern are called strong verbs.
Make sure that you understand the difference between weak and strong verbs
before you try to understand how Latin verbs work
Exercise 1. What are the principal parts of the following English verbs?
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1
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2
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3
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I want
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wanted
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wanted
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write
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||
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take
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||
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give
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||
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stand
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||
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bring
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||
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need
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||
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feed
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||
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seek
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||
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pour
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||
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do
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||
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go
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hop
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drink
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To check your answers, click here.
A foreigner learning Latin has to learn four parts of a verbs:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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|
| Conjugation 1 |
amo (I love)
|
amare (to love)
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amavi (I loved)
|
amatum (loved)
|
| Conjugation 2 |
habeo
|
habere
|
habui
|
habitum
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| Conjugation 4 |
finio
|
finire
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finivi
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finitum
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present tense
|
present infinitive
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perfect tense
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supine (past participle)
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N.B. 1 The verbs shpown above are weak;
in a wordlist they appear as finio, -ire = to finish.
2 A strong
verb in these conjugations is listed in full, e.g. video, -ere, vidi, visum
= to see.
3 All the verbs
in conjugation 3 are strong, so you are always given the full parts.
Exercise 2. Use the table above to translate the following verbs in English:
1. amant
2. habes
3. finiverunt
4. habeo
5. finiunt
6. habere
7. finiebamus
8. amavit
9. finire
10. finiebant
To check your answers, click here.
Exercise 3. Look at the following Principal Parts:
| facio, -ere, feci, factum | to do |
| sto, stare, steti, statum | to stand |
| video, -ere, vidi, visum | to see |
You will notice that the second part (the present infinitive) is usually not written out in full, only the infinitive ending is used.
Using the principal parts listed above, translate the following verbs into English:
1. stabant
2. videmus
3. stetit
4. stare
5. vident
6. feci
7. faciebant
8. facimus
9. fecerunt
10. viderunt.
Exercise 4. Use the information below to translate the ten English verbs into Latin.
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1. he did |