Verb Endings
Present Tense
The present tense is used to describe things (actions) that are currently happening:
I am running / They are sitting
The basic process for getting a verb into the present tense is to take the second principle part, remove the -re, add the correct ending based on who is doing the action, and applying the necessary rules to ensure that the verb is formed correctly.
| English Person | Latin Verb Ending |
| I | -o |
| You | -s |
| He / She / It | -t |
| We | -mus |
| You all | -tis |
| They | -nt |
1st Conjugation
- The letter 'a' is crushed by the -o ending
2nd Conjugation
- There are no special rules for the 2nd conjugation!
3rd Conjugation
- The 'e' is crushed by the -o ending
- The 'e' changes to an 'i' before the endings -s, -t, -mus, and -tis
- The 'e' changes to a 'u' before the ending -nt
3rd -io Conjugation
- The 'e' changes to an 'i' before all of the endings
- A 'u' is added between the 'i' and the ending -nt
4th Conjugation
- The letter 'u' is added between the 'i' and the ending -nt
Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense is used to talk about an action that was happening in the past and was in the process of being done when something else happened ot when we think about the action:
I was running / They were sitting
The basic process for getting a verb into the imperfect tense is to take the second principle part of the verb, remove the -re, add the a ba, add the correct ending, and then change the verb according to the rules
| English Person | Latin Verb Ending |
| I | -m |
| You | -s |
| He / She / It | -t |
| We | -mus |
| You all | -tis |
| They | -nt |
1st Conjugation
- the 'a' before the 'ba' should have a macron (ā)
2nd Conjugation
- the 'e' before the 'ba' should have a macron (ē)
3rd Conjugation
- the 'e' before the 'ba' should have a macron (ē)
3rd -io Conjugation
- the 2 letters before the 'ba' must be 'iē'
4th Conjugation
- the 2 letters before the 'ba' must be 'iē'
Perfect Tense
The perfect tense is used to talk about actions that happened in the past and have been completed when something else happens or when we think about the action.
I (have) ran / They (have) sat
The process to get a verb into the perfect tense is to take the third principle part, remove the -ī, and add the correct ending. There are no special rules for the perfect tense!
| English Person | Latin Verb Ending |
| I | -ī |
| You | -istī |
| He / She / It | -it |
| We | -imus |
| You all | -istis |
| They | -ērunt |
Future Tense
The future tense is used to talk about actions that will happen in the future.
I will run / I will sit
The process to get a verb into the future tense is to take the second principle part remove the -re, add the correct letters to the stem, and add the correct personal ending. Finally, you take the verb and change it according to the rules.
| English Person | Latin Verb Ending |
| I | -m / -o (first and second conjugation only) |
| You | -s |
| He / She / It | -t |
| We | -mus |
| You all | -tis |
| They | -nt |
1st Conjugation
- take the second principle part and remove the -re
- add the letters -bi
- add the personal ending
- remove the i at the end of -bi when the ending is -o
- change the i at the end of -bi to a u when the ending is -nt
2nd Conjugation
- take the second principle part and remove the -re
- add the letters -bi
- add the personal ending
- remove the i at the end of -bi when the ending is -o
- change the i at the end of -bu to a u when the ending is -nt
3rd Conjugation
- take the second principle part and remove the -re
- add a macron to the e (ē)
- add the personal ending
- the ē changes to an a when the ending is -m
- the ē loses the macron when the ending is -t or -nt
3rd -io Conjugation
- take the second principle part and remove the -re
- add add macron to the e (ē)
- add the personal ending
- the ē changes to an a when the ending is -m
- the ē loses the macron when the ending is -t or -nt
4th Conjugation
- take the second principle part and remove the -re
- remove the marcron from the ī (i)
- add a -ē
- add a personal ending
- the ē changes to an a when the ending is -m
- the ē loses the macron when the ending is -t or -nt
Pluperfect Tense
The pluperfect tense is used to talk about actions that had happened before another action that also occured in the past.
I had ran / They had sat
The process to get a verb into the pluperfect tense is to take the third principle part, remove the -ī, add a -era, then add the correct ending. There are no special rules for the pluperfect tense!
| English Person | Latin Verb Ending |
| I | -m |
| You | -s |
| He / She / It | -t |
| We | -mus |
| You all | -tis |
| They | -nt |