Questions tagged [conjugation]

For questions about conjugating verbs.

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Why does the conjugation of Ēsse (Edere) vary dictionary-wise?

I am using LLPSI to learn latin. I came across the word "ēst" meaning "He/She/It eats". I looked further to see the whole conjugation table. I found that there are some differences ...
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7 votes
2 answers
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Why does "abesse" have a present active participle while "adesse" does not?

I found that the verb "Abesse" unlike "Esse" or "Adesse" has a present active participle. What makes "Abesse" different?
Sapiens's user avatar
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-1 votes
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What are the regular rules that govern the deriving of the perfect active stem from the present stem? [duplicate]

In Keller's Learn to Read Latin: In the third principal part of capio, capere, ce(long)pi, caphls, the root vowel changes to a long -e-. The change of the vowel indicates a change in tense. A change ...
Tim's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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How are the 3rd and 4th principal parts of a verb formed from their stems and endings?

In Keller's Learn to Read Latin: Most verbs of the first conjugation have principal parts that follow the pattern of ambulō, ambulāre, ambulāvī, ambulātum (an intransitive verb) or amō, amāre, amāvī, ...
Tim's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Translating "I came, I saw, I cried" in Latin for a yearbook quote

I am searching for a yearbook quote, and had the idea of modifying the quote "Veni vidi vici", by replacing the last verb with "I cried". Having searched, online, I have found the ...
Juju1234's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
116 views

To Latin, what is the gender of an English word?

Suppose one writes, in English, a sentence in which some Latin is embedded, such as Eventually, they declared the rodent to be a squirrel non grata in their garden. Of course this alludes to the ...
user570286's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
84 views

Does the old English second person verb ending -est (eg thou comest) come from Latin conjugation?

I feel like the question has all the information but yeah I'm just curious if the Latin verb endings influenced the old English -est endings.
hive's user avatar
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Is there a latin helper word that can used with infinitives (and implies that the subsequent word may be an infinitive)?

As I'm working on vocabulary, I'm doing all I can on my flashcards to stay "in Latin" as much as possible (as opposed to English translations), and also to use as much "natural" ...
Josh's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
100 views

Declensions and Conjugations in Latin

I have noticed that in charts parsing the Declensions and Conjugations of Latin words, that the words are sometimes parsed with what looks like multiple options. For example, if you take the root &...
Display name's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
262 views

Vowel Quantity in Third Person Plural of Passive Voice

Cārī collēgae, The third person plural of the passive voice in the present stem has a peculiarity that I noticed a couple of weeks ago (far later than I should have, I might add) and have been curious ...
Emma Neureiter's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
557 views

Why does the length of a vowel before verb endings change?

I'm learning Latin and I see that the stem I am supposed to add things onto keeps changing from long to short and back again. For example, take teneō, tenēre, tenuī, tentum. As I see the present ...
John Matthew's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
261 views

Best conjugation for memento vivere or viveri

Memento vivere or viveri, as a complementary phrase (not necessary an opposite) to memento mori?
user11680's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
200 views

Helpful tips for the learning of latin verbs

I have lately begun learning latin (about two-three months in) and have thus far memorised all the noun and adjective declensions. But the task of committing to memory and understanding sufficiently ...
Jack's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
111 views

“Itis” Versus “Is” in Latin

I am learning Latin on Duolingo, and the app does not clarify when to use “itis” and when to use “is”. They both mean “to go”, for the second person singular in present tense. Clarification would be ...
ArthD21's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why "inscripserim" and not "inscripsi" in Haury's translation of "Le Petit Prince"?

Haury's translation of the dedication of "Le Petit Prince" begins like this: Pueros oro ut mihi ignoscant quod librum hunc ad adultum hominem inscripserim. I don't get why we have a ...
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6 votes
0 answers
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Paradigm of (reduplicated) "fhefhaked"?

Do we have any reasonable speculations about a possible paradigm of archaic fhefhaked? I found an unreduplicated paradigm on Wikipedia, but I cannot judge its validity: 1st Sing. *fēkai 2nd Sing. ...
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On the basis of "Veni, vidi, vici" is "Veni, bibi, oblidi" remotely correct?

When using Google Translate or eprevodilac from Latin to English, both tools translate the following phrases as shown: Veni, vidi, vici → I came, I saw, I conquered (Google Translate) Veni, vidi, ...
pdeli's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
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Use of passive verb in "Echō iuvenem sēcrētō sequitur"

In chapter XIII of Latin Via Ovid, the authors have the following sentences (bolding is mine): Ōlim Narcissus cum cēteris iuvenibus animālia fera in silvīs et montibus sequitur. Forte sōlus errat, et ...
Adam's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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What happened to the expected -ε- thematic vowel in present active indicative 1 p sg and 3 p pl?

I am trying to understand how Greek verbs are formed, having just begun learning their formation in present active indicative. The model verb used is λύω, which I understand to be formed as such: ...
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3 votes
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What are the verb conjugation names called in Latin?

What are the terms in Latin for the Latin verb conjugations? I would like to also know the Latin for the mixed conjugation (or if preferred that known as the io sub conjugation) and any term for verbs ...
fantome's user avatar
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0 answers
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Does the PPA occur in a periphrastic form? [duplicate]

Can you put a PPA in a periphrastic construction, with a form of esse? I was working on the periphrastic declension of the future active parts and the future passive parts. Now it occurred to me: ...
Johannes Kwadraat's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
284 views

Is it possible to have an imperative feel without using the imperative form of a verb?

In English, we can have a sentence that doesn't include a verb but is taken as a directive. Consider the following phrase from the HBO television show, Carnivale: Every prophet in his house. In the ...
Adam's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
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Parsing "quae cum audisset"

I'm having trouble parsing the phrase "quae cum audisset," which I've seen translated as "when [subject] heard" or "and when [subject] heard" in the latin vulgate. For ...
Josh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Is there an alternative way to label verb conjugations?

Similar to my question about labeling declensions by something other than just numbers, is there a way to describe the four groups of regular conjugations using something other than just numbers? The ...
Adam's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
350 views

Is quod too ambiguous for "that which"?

I'm trying to write a variation of Ovid's phrase "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" — "Everything changes, nothing perishes". So far I've came up with "quod mutat, non pereat&...
cvsguimaraes's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
180 views

Fourth conjugation imperfect -e

in the fourth conjugation imperfect after the stem and before the imperfect indicator there is -e. e .g. audi + e + ba +t. Where this -e comes from?
Dachi Pachulia's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
71 views

What is the difference between passive and past participle?

Is there a semantic difference between a past participle followed by esse and a passive verb? Example. Roma destructa est. / Roma destruitur.
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3 votes
1 answer
130 views

Conjugating confluo for app title

I have a software product called Continua. I want to make another with a title like Confluo. What are some reasonable variants of that word for this purpose — confluere, etc.? I'm feeling like it ...
dwn's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
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Numbering of persons

It is conventional to number the three persons of Latin and Greek and many other languages so that the first person is the speaker, the second one is the listener, and the third one is anyone else. ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
128 views

When conjugating a verb, when should the vowel preceding a personal ending contain a macron? [duplicate]

I am working through ch 1 of Wheelock's Latin, and I am confused as to when the vowel immediately preceding a personal ending should receive a macron. For example, here is the present indicative ...
zacts's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
150 views

Should I learn the four conjugations?

So I did well in my Latin GCSE this year but we just learned that -o is first person, -s is second person, etc. But I had a closer look at the textbook today and it lists verbs in four conjugations ...
Owl's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
74 views

Contraction of the v-perfect in the first person singular

When there is talk about the v-perfect contraction, I don't ever see first person forms used as examples, only forms like "amavisti" becoming "amasti". So my question is whether first person singular ...
Kaskade's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
2k views

May they rest in peace

This may become an inscription written on a historical marker commemorating a mass grave. Which of the following is correct: Requiesce in Pace or Requiescant in Pace? The former was offered up by a ...
Michael Owen Sartin's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
432 views

What evidence points to a long ō in the first syllable of nōscō's present-tense form?

I've read in various sources that the verb nosco 'know' had a long vowel in the first syllable in Classical Latin pronunciation: nōscō [noːskoː]. I'm wondering what the linguistic evidence is for the ...
Asteroides's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
225 views

What evidence is there for volēre over volere?

In this answer, fdb mentions the Classical verb volō, velle transforming into *voleō, volēre in Vulgar Latin. The main evidence for this is a form volendi in Augustine and reflexes like voglio, volere ...
Draconis's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
224 views

Second vs. third person in future imperative for a general rule or maxim

I am trying to translate "plan [in order] to achieve" into Latin. Is it more appropriate to use second ("meditator ut consequaris") or third person ("meditator ut consequatur") in future imperative ...
Yuriy's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
82 views

Alternative forms in second-person singular present active subjunctive [duplicate]

I am trying to translate "plan [in order] to achieve" into Latin. From the dictionary it looks like both "meditator ut consequaris" and "meditator ut consequare" are grammatically correct. Are they, ...
Yuriy's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
192 views

Is it better to memorize verb's 1st person perfect tense?

Is it necessary to memorize verb's perfect form like paro, parare, paravi? Or can I predict a verb's perfect forms if I remember the rules by which perfect stems are formed. Like, the suffix -v/iv or ...
vinum's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
87 views

What do I do when "ait" fails me?

In a separate answer, I was trying to use ait in an English sentence: If the Lex Julia can ait its wording… …but I ran into a problem. Even ignoring my bastard mixture of English and Latin, "can ...
Draconis's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
105 views

Is ulcantur a subjunctive of ultus?

I have a prayer I say every morning. It includes the word ulcantur. I can't find a translation. I think it is a subjunctive for ultus? O Piisima Virgo Maria, quæ caput serpentis contrivisti, protege ...
Maria O'connell's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
366 views

Why "amatus est" instead of "*amavitur"

Is there any diachronic reason whereby synthetic perfective passive forms like *amavitur (and similar ones) are not possible and analytic forms like amatus est (and similar ones) are selected instead? ...
Mitomino's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
88 views

Are there Latin verbs with Greek cognates in all four conjugations?

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few Latin verbs with obvious Greek cognates: pherō~ferō "to bear", pheugō~fugiō "to flee". But all the words I can think of are in the third conjugation. Are ...
Draconis's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
176 views

Is the U long or short in the forms ussi and ustus of the verb ūro?

I'm uncertain about the length of the u in the perfect and perfect passive participle stems of the verb uro /uːroː/. My research Lewis (1890) gives "ūrō ūssī, ūstus" but doesn't explain why....
Asteroides's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
6k views

How to find the stem of any word?

I am wondering if the stem of every word has an exact form? For example: For the word genus, how could you determine is it gen or gener? For the word līber, how could you determine is it līber or ...
zzzgoo's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
261 views

Did the Romans create any irregular verbs?

Most newly-formed Latin verbs were put into the nice, regular first conjugation: both deriving from existing words (dīcō, -ere > dīctō, -āre) and with borrowings (Graecissō, -āre). English is mostly ...
Draconis's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
189 views

How to do indefinite person with verbs

In English you can conjugate like so: I eat You eat He/she/it eats We eat You all eat They eat But you can also conjugate with a variety of “indefinite” pronouns: One eats Everyone ...
TheIronKnuckle's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
106 views

Conjugation/grammar for fictitious title

In a work of fiction, I have an Order of ordained detectives that do not exist. I use the term Lictor Rebus Sanctorae for the Order, and Lictor Rebus Sanctorus for the male protagonist. I know this ...
Michael Page Frank's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
75 views

Translating sentence but how do I deal with conjugation - if it's plural in English, is it plural in Latin?

I want to translate "Fear is a crossroads" but I'm confused because in English, "crossroads" is plural, but uses the singular article "a". So would my sentence be "Timor est compitum" or "Timor sunt ...
Jann's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
459 views

'plecto, plectere, plexi', -tor/-sor form (agent noun)

How would one add the agent noun suffix (normally -tor) to the verb 'plecto' (I weave/twist)? It's been a few years — about 10 — but if I recall correctly, verbs whose stem ends in 't' ...
Clinton J's user avatar
  • 143
4 votes
2 answers
394 views

Aperio - to reveal?

I’m trying to conjugate aperio to say, “I reveal/uncover/disclose”. So, I guess I have two questions. First, is aperio the correct verb to say this? And, if so, what is the correct conjugation?
Todd's user avatar
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