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What are the key differences between the main Latin verbs meaning "to kill"?

The thesauri and dictionaries offer marvelous help with some of these. Adapted from Döderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes: Interficere and perimere are the most general expressions for ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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18 votes
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Did the Romans derive verbs from names?

I have another entry for this exhibit that answers your question with a resounding yes. Enter Plautus, in the Menaechmi, with three verbs derived from proper names in his prologue: Atque hoc ...
brianpck's user avatar
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16 votes
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How can I say "undo" in Latin?

You could use retexo, literally "unweave, unravel", but also used to mean the below: B. Trop., to break up, cancel, annul, reverse It depends a little bit on the context, though, what the best ...
Cerberus's user avatar
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16 votes
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What did the Romans consider the "basic" form of a verb?

First person singular (laudo) appears to be most common Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC) wrote De Lingua Latina, which survives in partial, corrupted form, but which provides valuable testimony on ...
brianpck's user avatar
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15 votes
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What were the original Latin verbs for the Spanish verbs?

Unfortunately, your source is slightly misleading. It's true that verbs formed from nouns and verbs denoting repeated action in Latin tend to be in the -āre conjugation. However, many other ...
Draconis's user avatar
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14 votes
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Can a verbum deponens go along with an accusativus?

Yes, a deponent verb can have an accusative object just like non-deponent verbs do. If I threaten someone with something in Latin, then alicui aliquid minor. The person (or other entity) being ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
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Why "dilatasti" instead of "dilatavisti" in Psalm 4:2?

This is a contracted perfect form, which is fairly common in poetry, particularly in the first conjugation. Basically, whenever you have a second person perfect active ending in -āvisti (like ...
Draconis's user avatar
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13 votes
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What does the word "habe" (habere) mean?

Bonum animum habere means "to have good courage, to be confident." This expression is used, for example, in the plays of Plautus. I think you are somewhat mistaken when you characterize (in ...
Sebastian Koppehel's user avatar
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What are the future imperatives of sum?

There certainly is a future imperative of esse in Latin: see Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar: IMPERATIVE PRESENT SING. 2. ĕs, be thou PLUR. 2. este, be ye FUTURE 2. estō, ...
brianpck's user avatar
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12 votes
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Which verb for drinking is least related to alcohol?

A look at Lewis & Short suggests that perhaps bíbó is what you want: to drink to arrive at the region of the river the inhabitants of the country through which the river passes to be ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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12 votes
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How do you show an infinitive for reason?

In Latin, the infinitive is not used to introduce a reason, or "purpose clause" as a Latin grammar would put it. Here are some other options, which I will gear toward the (very broad) use ...
brianpck's user avatar
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12 votes
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Verbing in Latin

There are at least some cases in which this can be done, with different shades of meaning. graecisso (-izo), āre, v. n., = Γραικίζω, to imitate the Greeks, to adopt a Grecian manner or tone: atque ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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12 votes
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Does 'verbum' mean both word and verb?

The OLD provides several examples of verba meaning "verb" (as opposed to vocabulum or nomen, "noun." Aside from two instances in Varro: Hor.Ars 235; nec a ~is modo, sed ab nominibus quoque deriuata ...
cmw's user avatar
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12 votes
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What's the difference between mutantur and mutamur?

Both are conjugated in the present tense, passive voice, and indicative mood, from the same verb: muto. The difference is that mutamur is conjugated in the 1st person (plural) (“we change”), while ...
Der Übermensch's user avatar
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Dropping "to be" and other verbs in Latin?

It definitely isn't rare, and it definitely isn't found only in poetry. Any good Latin grammar will address this topic. In Gildersleeve and Lodge, Latin grammar, the index entry for esse includes a ...
cnread's user avatar
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11 votes
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How do you parse "futurum est" in Matthew 2:13?

Futurum est is a future active periphrastic form. It is built from futurum, the future active participle of sum (here in the neuter), which by itself means "going to be, about to be". With the ...
TKR's user avatar
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11 votes

Why is there no future perfect subjunctive in Latin?

It's not just Latin. As far as I'm aware, the only language that has a future subjunctive is Spanish, and it's disappearing there as well. (I don't speak Spanish, so I can't say from personal ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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11 votes
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Why is there no predicate in "in vino veritas"?

Pinkster 2015 mentions the following observable trends regarding the omission of esse. it is more frequent with the 3rd person than in the 1st or 2nd; it is more frequent with present indicative ...
Alex B.'s user avatar
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11 votes
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How do I use gerundives of obligation for deponent verbs?

Before we understand the gerundive of a deponent verb, we need to first understand the particples of deponent verbs. Participles of Deponent Verbs Deponent verbs are often described as verbs with &...
brianpck's user avatar
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11 votes
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How can one predict the length of theme vowels in verbs?

Whether or not this is how the forms really developed, this is how I organize it in my head. And it has proven quite efficient, so I consider it a good description of what classical Latin conjugation ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
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What verb is wine made with?

Cato Maior devotes a large subsection of De Agri Cultura to wine. You can read the entire text here, and as can be expected, he sticks to very simple verbs: general: making: vinum Graecum sic facito ...
blagae's user avatar
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11 votes
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Why is it "dare" and not "dāre" when most first conjugation verbs spell like "amāre"?

The story, as often, has to do with Proto-Indo-European laryngeals. Both these verbs had a laryngeal as the last consonant of the root: *deh₃-, *steh₂-. All the forms in Latin are based on the zero ...
TKR's user avatar
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11 votes
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What form is 'numerārī'?

You are correct, this is a passive infinitive: "to be counted". The passive versions of amāre, habēre, currere, and audīre are amārī, habērī, currī, and audīrī.
Draconis's user avatar
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Why does the length of a vowel before verb endings change?

Most people just memorize it. There are only four patterns to learn—all first-conjugation verbs will go -ō -ās -at -āmus -ātis -ant, for example—so this tends to be enough. From a historical-...
Draconis's user avatar
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10 votes
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Was the plural future imperative ever used?

In the Perseus Project, I see many occurrences of estote; a disproportionate number of them appear to be in St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Here are two examples: 1 Maccabees 2:50, Latin Vulgate nunc ...
James Kingsbery's user avatar
10 votes
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Three forms of a Latin verb?

Actually, Latin dictionaries tend to list four forms of a Latin verb. These forms are known as "principal parts." So the "official" listing for your example consists of four principal parts: sedeō, ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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10 votes
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How do you translate the phrase "regnum obtinuerat"?

The trick here is to broaden your translation not of obtinuere but of regnum. Lewis Elementary gives the following definition: kingly government, royal authority, kingship, royalty dominion, ...
Joel Derfner's user avatar
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10 votes
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Latin for English "has been" + adjective?

I'd say you want the present tense. A&G 466, "Present with iam diu etc.": The Present with expressions of duration of time (especially iam diu, iam dudum) denotes an action continuing in the ...
TKR's user avatar
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How do you show an infinitive for reason?

The answer above is pretty comprehensive! I don't yet have the reputation points to make this into a comment, rather than a full answer, but there are a few things worth adding. First, In the case ...
Max 's user avatar
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10 votes
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Imperatives of derivatives of facere, dicere and ducere

To supplement Tom Cotton's answer— There's one other verb which similarly shortens its imperative: ferō, ferre, tulī, lātus, imperative fer, ferte. Compounds always use the shortened/apocopated form (...
Draconis's user avatar
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