52
CONJUGATION
(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. § 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 -ō | 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 | |||
1st Pers. | er-a-m, I was | er-ā´-mus, we were | |
2d Pers. | er-ā-s, you were | er-ā´-tis, you were | |
3d Pers. | er-a-t, he, she, or it was | er-a-nt, they were | |
Future Indicative | |||
1st Pers. | er-ō, 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 |
- a. Be careful about vowel quantity and accent in these forms, and consult §§ 12.2; 14; 15.