Latin for beginners (1911)/Part II/Lesson XIX

by Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge

Layout 2

LESSON XIX

THE FOUR REGULAR CONJUGATIONS • PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE OF AMŌ AND MONEŌ

126. There are four conjugations of the regular verbs. These conjugations are distinguished from each other by the final vowel of the present conjugation-stem.^[1] This vowel is called the distinguishing vowel, and is best seen in the present infinitive.

Below is given the present infinitive of a verb of each conjugation, the present stem, and the distinguishing vowel.

Conjugation	Pres. Infin.	Pres. Stem	DISTINGUISHING VOWEL
I.	amā're, to love	amā-	ā
II.	monē're, to advise	monē-	ē
III.	re'gere, to rule	rege-	e
IV.	audī're, to hear	audī-	ī

a. Note that the present stem of each conjugation is found by dropping -re, the ending of the present infinitive.

Note. The present infinitive of sum is esse, and es- is the present stem.

127. From the present stem are formed the present, imperfect, and future tenses. 128. The inflection of the Present Active Indicative of the first and of the second conjugation is as follows:

a'mō, amā're (love)			mo'neō, monē're (advise)
Pres. Stem amā-			Pres. Stem monē-	personal endings
Sing.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	a'mō, I love	mo'neō, I advise	-ō
		a'mās, you love	mo'nēs, you advise	-s
		a'mat, he (she, it) loves	mo'net, he (she, it) advises	-t
Plur.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	amā'mus, we love	monē'mus, we advise	-mus
		amā'tis, you love	monē'tis, you advise	-tis
		a'mant, they love	mo'nent, they advise	-nt

1. The present tense is inflected by adding the personal endings to the present stem, and its first person uses -ō and not -m. The form amō is for amā-ō, the two vowels ā-ō contracting to ō. In moneō there is no contraction. Nearly all regular verbs ending in -eō belong to the second conjugation.

2. Note that the long final vowel of the stem is shortened before another vowel (monē-ō = mo'nĕō), and before final -t (amăt, monĕt) and -nt (amănt, monĕnt). Compare § 12.2.

129. Like amō and moneō inflect the present active indicative of the following verbs:^[2]

	Indicative Present	Infinitive Present
	a'rō, I plow	arā're, to plow
	cū'rō, I care for	cūrā're, to care for
*	dē'leō, I destroy	dēlē're, to destroy
	dēsī'derō, I long for	dēsīderā're, to long for
	dō,[3] I give	da're, to give
*	ha'beō, I have	habē're, to have
	ha'bitō, I live, I dwell	habitā're, to live, to dwell
*	iu'beō, I order	iubē're, to order
	labō'rō, I labor	labōrā're, to labor
	lau'dō, I praise	laudā're, to praise
	mātū'rō, I hasten	mātūrā're, to hasten
*	mo'veō, I move	movē're, to move
	nār'rō, I tell	nārrā're, to tell
	ne'cō, I kill	necā're, to kill
	nūn'tiō, I announce	nūntiā're, to announce
	pa'rō, I prepare	parā're, to prepare
	por'tō, I carry	portā're, to carry
	pro'perō, I hasten	properā're, to hasten
	pug'nō, I fight	pugnā're, to fight
*	vi'deō, I see	vidē're, to see
	vo'cō, I call	vocā're, to call

130. The Translation of the Present. In English there are three ways of expressing present action. We may say, for example, I live, I am living, or I do live. In Latin the one expression habitō covers all three of these expressions.

Give the voice, mood, tense, person, and number of each form.

I.

1. Vocāmus, properātis, iubent.
2. Movētis, laudās, vidēs.
3. Dēlētis, habētis, dant.
4. Mātūrās, dēsīderat, vidēmus.
5. Iubet, movent, necat.
6. Nārrāmus, movēs, vident.
7. Labōrātis, properant, portās, parant.
8. Dēlet, habētis, iubēmus, dās.

N.B. Observe that the personal ending is of prime importance in translating a Latin verb form. Give that your first attention.

II.

1. We plow, we are plowing, we do plow.
2. They care for, they are caring for, they do care for.
3. You give, you are having, you do have (sing.).
4. We destroy, I do long for, they are living.
5. He calls, they see, we are telling.
6. We do fight, we order, he is moving, he prepares.
7. They are laboring, we kill, you announce.

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References

1. The stem is the body of a word to which the terminations are attached. It is often identical with the base (cf. § 58). If, however, the stem ends in a vowel, the latter does not appear in the base, but is variously combined with the inflectional terminations. This point is further explained in § 230.
2. The only new verbs in this list are the five of the second conjugation which are starred. Learn their meanings.
3. Observe that in dō, dăre, the a is short, and that the present stem is dă- and not dā-. The only forms of dō that have a long are dās (pres. indic.), dā (pres. imv.), and dāns (pres. part.).