Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context UsefulNotes / LatinLanguage

Go To

1-> ''"Latina lingua mortua est, mortua quam maxime. Prima necavit Romanos et nunc necat me."''
2-->-- Famous adage of embattled Latin students. [[labelnote:translation]]"The Latin language is dead, as dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans and now it's killing me."[[/labelnote]]
3
4An ancient language, the predominant language of AncientRome, and for centuries following the Empire's fall it remained the ''[[CommonTongue lingua franca]]'' of UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. It's still extensively studied by academics and is an official language of the Vatican, but is considered a dead language because nobody speaks it natively. Latin was the language of AncientRome, the Catholic Church, government, law, trade, taxonomy, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] Creator/JohnCleese. The most recent common ancestor of Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and around 25 more obscure regional languages[[note]] including Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, Friulian, Galician, Gallo, Genoese, Guernésiais, Jèrriais, Ladino, Ladin, Lombard, Mirandese, Moldovan, Occitan, Piedmontese, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Venetian, and Walloon[[/note]] collectively called the ''Romance languages''. It also inserted its influence into many other languages, even those outside of its immediate family, most notably English, which is a West Germanic language (therefore closely related to Dutch and German), but acquired a dose of Latin thanks to the medieval conquest by the Normans who brought with them the Latin-influenced French, and this Latin influence to the English vocabulary has been augmented ''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle in extremis]]'' through the education and utility of Latin in the Renaissance and Enlightenment as the language of Science, Intellectualism, Law, ''et cetera''.
5----
6!!General
7[[foldercontrol]]
8
9[[folder:History]]
10Archaic Latin was in fact extant in Italy for centuries before Rome was even founded. However, written Latin did not begin in proper until the the 200s B.C. Before then, there was some written Latin, but mostly it was for official purposes such as religious rites or laws. The period of approximately 75 BC to AD 14 is known as the golden age of Latin, and later Latin writers have adopted the Latin of this period as a "standard" of what is "good" Latin.
11
12During the medieval period, the lower vernacular forms of Latin mutated away from the base language and became the Romance languages. Latin was still used by the church, intellectuals, governments, nobility, and businesses. It was also a language of international communication, [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage although thanks to linguistic drift and differences in pronunciation, this did not always work.]] The Church, possessing the only sort of even rudimentary educational system, used Latin for everything. However, over time the Church Latin came to differ greatly from the Classical Latin. Church Latin dropped much of the subjunctive mood, allowed purpose and result infinitives, introduced the soft c and g sounds and the v sound, removed much of the more esoteric grammar, and corrupted much of the vocabulary. The result was a language that differs significantly from Classical Latin, known as Ecclesiastical Latin, the kind most used in modern OminousLatinChanting because it did sound more familiar and less awkward (e.g., Classical Latin always pronounced V as U or W, "vita" would have been "wita" and "Veni Vidi Vici" would have been Weni Widi Wiki", see UsefulNotes/LatinPronunciationGuide).
13
14During the Renaissance and early modern period, Latin was used as the origin of a lot of scientific and legal jargon, and Classical Latin was celebrated and taught to those of power, intellect and money. Thus the association that SmartPeopleKnowLatin. This trend halted in the United States in the period following UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Now, unfortunately, the language is in decline. In public schools, there are both increasingly fewer Latin teachers and ever fewer people who want to take Latin. And of those, the attrition rates are growing ever higher; a notable exception is Italy, where Latin is a compulsory subject in the vast majority of high schools (such as the Liceo Classico, Liceo Scientifico and Liceo Linguistico). As a result many Italian students are familiar with the language, but even there Latin studies are increasingly neglected in favour of more practical subjects. Elsewhere, Latin still survives in places that do classical education, like Saint John's College, as well as in established private schools for the gentry, which are the only places where Ancient Greek survives.
15
16However, classics scholars are trying to revive Latin as a living language. There are many conferences and programs devoted to Latin as a Living Language. [[https://www.paideiainstitute.org/ More details here]].
17[[/folder]]
18
19[[folder:Alphabet and Pronunciation]]
20The Latin Alphabet is the same as the English alphabet, except that there is no ''w'' or, if the Latin is Classical, ''j'', or ''u''. ''Y'' is rare and used for Greek loanwords. The following is a pronunciation guide of the Latin Alphabet. Note that the pronunciation depends on whether the Latin is Classical or Ecclesiastical. Note that there is a competing hypothesis that in classical pronunciation, vowels differed only in length and not in sound quality. In any case, vowel length is very important, especially in poetry.
21
22||Vowel||Classical Pronunciation||Ecclesiastical Pronunciation||
23||Ă ă||"a" similar to “a” in "father", but more fronted, like “a” in Italian or Spanish, or more like “o” in American English “hot”, “stop”||Generally the same as the Classical Latin, albeit a bit more flexible.||
24||Ā ā||"a" as in "father"||"||
25||E e||"e" as in "pet"||"||
26||Ē ē||like "a" as in "late", but without transitioning to an “i” sound||"||
27||Ĭ ĭ||"ee" as in "meet", but clipped to the same length as “i” as in “hit”||"||
28||Ī ī||"ee" as in "meet"||"||
29||Ŏ ŏ||”o” as in "thought" in East Coast American English or "not" in British Received Pronunciation||"||
30||Ō ō||"a" as in "call", “law” in British or East Coast American English||"||
31||Ŭ ŭ||"u" as in "lunatic" but clipped to the same length as “u” as in “put”||"||
32||Ū ū||"u" as in “lunatic”||"||
33||Y̆ y̆||Approximately "ü" as in the German "Hütte"||"||
34||Ȳ ȳ||Approximately "ü" as in the German "über"||"||
35
36Some of the diphthongs are pronounced differently.
37||Diphthong||Classical Pronunciation||Ecclesiastical Pronunciation||
38||ae||similar to "y" as in "Why?", particularly in Australian English||"a" as in "late"||
39||au||similar to "ow" as in "Ow!"||Same as Classical||
40||ei||"ey" as in "Hey."||Same as Classical||
41||eu||similar to "eu" as in "Hey, you!"||Same as Classical||
42||oe||similar to "oi" as in "oil"||"a" as in "late"
43||ui||”ui” as in "pfui"; after q, "wee" as in "week"||Same as Classical||
44
45Some of the consonants are also pronounced differently, depending on the kind of Latin.
46||Consonant||Classical Pronunciation||Ecclesiastical Pronunciation||
47||B b||English "b"||English "b"||
48||C c||always a hard "c" as in "car", but sometimes stands in for (and pronounced as) “g”[[note]]which started out as a variant of “c” before becoming a separate letter before the Classical period[[/note]] in abbreviations and ad-hoc spellings||before "e", "i", "ae", or "or", the "c" has a "ch" sound. Otherwise, a hard "c"||
49||D d||English "d"||English "d"||
50||F f||English "f"||English "f"||
51||G g||always a hard "g" as in "gunman"||before "e" or "i", a soft "g" like "gentleman". Before other letters except g and n, a hard "g"||
52||H h||English "h"||English "h" in general, but often replaced by a glottal stop at the beginning of words (influenced by Italian)||
53||I i||"y" as in "Yes!" when short and placed before another vowel||Same as Classical, though “short” reanalyzed as “unstressed”. Usually written as "j" at the beginning of a word and between vowels||
54||K k||English "k"||English "k"||
55||L l||English "l"||English "l"||
56||M m||English "m" except at the end of a word, where it becomes a nasal quality of the preceding vowel (like modern French or Portuguese), but resurfaces before “b” “m” “p” in its regular pronunciation, before “n” “t” “d” as /n/, and before “c” “g” as /ng/ as in “thing”. Final “m” is also frequently elided in poetry if the next word starts with a vowel, and this may also have been true in speech||English "m"||
57||N n||English "n"||English "n"||
58||P p||English "p" but always unaspirated||English "p" but always unaspirated||
59||Q q||English "q"||English "q"||
60||R r||The "r" is [[TrrrillingRrrs trilled]]||Same as Classical||
61||S s||always "s" as in "song", though some evidence it was retracted as "s" in Modern Greek or Castilian Spanish||"s" as in "sing". When between two vowels or when final and preceded by a voiced consonant, the "s" sounds more like a "z" as in "dozen".||
62||T t||English "t", but unaspirated, like "water"||Same as Classical||
63||U u||"w" as in ”wine” when short and preceding another vowel; otherwise treated as a vowel, above||”v” as in “vice” when short (reanalyzed as “unstressed”) before a vowel at the beginning of a word or between two vowels otherwise; now always written as “v”, below||
64||V v||same as “u”, which is not a separate letter||“v” as in “vice” before a vowel at the beginning of a word or between vowels otherwise; never written as “u” in modern contexts||
65||X x||"x" as in "six"||"x" as in "six". In words beginning with "ex" and followed by "h" or "s", the "x" sounds more like "gz".||
66||Z z||"dz" as in "adze"||Same as Classical||
67
68The consonant groups are pronounced as follows:
69||Consonant Group||Classical Pronunciation||Ecclesiastical Pronunciation||
70||bs||"ps" as in "Psst!"||"bs" as in "obsessed". If at the end, "bs" sounds more like "bz".||
71||bt||"pt" as in "crypt"||"bt" as in "obtain"||
72||cc||"kk" as in "bookkeeper"||before "e" or "i", "ch" as in "church". Before other letters, "kk" as in "bookkeeper".||
73||ch||"ch" as in "chaos"||Same as Classical||
74||gg||"gg" as in "leg guard"||before "e" or "i", "dj" as in "adjorn". Before other letters, "gg" as in "leg guard"||
75||gn||"ngn" as in "hangnail"||"ny" as in "canyon"||
76||gu||See consonant u||Same as Classical||
77||ph||"p h" as in "top heavy"||"ph" as in "phoenix"||
78||qu||See consonant u||Same as Classical||
79||sc||"sc" as in "scope" or "sky"||before "e" or "i", "sh" as in "shock". Before other letters, "sc" as in "scope" or "sky"||
80||su||See consonant u||Same as Classical||
81||th||"t" as in "tundra"||Same as Classical||
82||ti||"ti" as in the English "patio"||when preceded by "s", "t", or "x" or followed by a consonant, then "ti" as in the English "patio". When unaccented, followed by a vowel, and preceded by any other letter that is not "s", "t", or "x", then "tzy" as in "Huitzi"||
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Nouns]]
86Latin nouns are actually rather similar to Russian nouns in that their role in the sentence and other implied meanings are centred around the utility of affixes and mutation of the word itself, an "inflected" language (most English use of affixes such as ab-, inter-, trans-, super-, sub-, re-, -ion, and such are borrowed from Latin as a result). Latin also differs from English in having more freedom in the arrangement of words, but typically in any phrase the most important word comes first. For example, in the term ''Homo sapiens'', the most important word is "homo", with "sapiens" being said of "homo". The sentence structure, as with all sentences, is the same, the subject being first and the predicate last, and a tendency to place verbs last of all. If someone were to write "knowledge is power" in Latin, the result would be ''scientia potentia est''. Although this does not always have to be the case, since the grammar order is more dependent on inflection, suffix and implied role than word order. For example, ''femina togam texuit'', "the woman wove a toga," which is the preferred word order, could be expressed as ''texuit togam femina'' or ''togam texuit femina''. In each word the suffix: -a, -am and -uit, and not the position in the sentence, marks the word's grammatical function.
87
88Nouns are grouped by declension or stem, which are similar patterns of how nouns behave when the endings are applied. There are, strictly speaking, only five declensions, but assuming that you consider the 3rd io, and both the neuters to be their own declensions, then the number becomes eight. For the sake of simplicity, we'll limit it to five.
89
90The noun endings in each declension indicate number, person, gender, and case, as well as other pronouns. The number indicates whether a noun is singular or plural. Person refers to first, second, or third person, meaning it is about something the speaker, the person spoken to, or the person spoken of, does. Gender is normally by far the easiest thing to tell from the outset. It is often tied to declension, but not quite.
91
92Latin has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Any noun in any declension could be masculine or feminine, but that is often tied to declension. Neuter nouns occur only in the second, third, and fourth declensions. The most obvious rule for telling genders apart is that the endings for feminine nouns often include a's and the endings for masculine nouns often include u's. Neuter nouns are a bit harder to spot and normally need to just be memorized (especially as the accusative and nominative have the same endings).
93
94Latin has seven noun cases, and each one has its own version for singular and plural and for different declensions. The cases are nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative, and locative. Nominative is easy enough, being for sentence subjects. Accusative is for direct objects and for non-SIDSPACE prepositions. Genitive is used for possessive. Dative means to or for something and works with indirect objects and with prepositions. Ablative is used generally to express motion away from something, and also mostly for dealing with a set of prepositions called SIDSPACE; without a preposition it generally means 'by', 'with', or 'from'. Vocative is for calling things by name. Locative is for referring to places without motion being implied. (The locative case is used for cities, towns, and small islands, and the words domus (home), humus (ground) and rus (countryside).)
95
96The prepositions called SIDSPACE stands for Sub/super (below/above), In (in/inside/into), De (about/of), Sine (without), Per (through), Ad/ab/a (towards/away/by), Cum (with, pronounced "koom" not that "cum"), Ex/e (outside/out/out of). Some of these prepositions, such as in, ad, and ex, have different meanings when used with accusative and ablative cases. In accusative, in means into, e means out of (ex is not used in accusative), and there are different semantic differences. In general, accusative tends to be more literal in its meaning. Note that Latin lacks articles entirely, so there are no words like of, a, the, or it. These are all implied.
97
98Many nouns have a rather predictable gender. Most first declension nouns are feminine, except those referring to (at the time) male occupations like farmer or sailor. Most second declension nouns are masculine or neuter. The third declension has a mix of all three genders, and is the hardest to predict. Some endings indicate a likely gender, but others must simply be memorized. Fourth declension nouns are mostly masculine with some neuter and a couple feminine. Fifth are mostly feminine with a couple masculine. Note that gender of Latin nouns often does make some sense in advance instead of being totally random. Also, as a hint, thanks to adjective noun agreement, all nouns and adjectives must match in gender, number, and case.
99
100!Declensions
101
102Most nouns can be either singular or plural and have an equal number of cases for each. Only a few are exclusively singular or plural. The common number of cases taught and regularly encountered is 5 for singular and 5 for plural. However, there are actually 7 cases, but often certain cases sound very similar to one another. This gives most nouns, depending on how you count, between 8 and 14 variants.
103
104[[AC:First Declension]]
105First declension (or a-stems) tends to contain mostly feminine nouns. Its endings almost all contain the letter "a". However, some words in it are masculine. These are referred to as [[FunWithAcronyms PAIN words.]] They include Poeta (poet), Agricola (tenant), Insula (Island), Nauta (Sailor), and many others. First declension lacks a neuter variation.
106
107The endings for the first declension are as follows:
108||Case||Singular||Plural||
109||Nominative||-a||-ae||
110||Genitive||-ae||-arum||
111||Dative||-ae||-is||
112||Accusative||-am||-as||
113||Ablative||-a||-is||
114||Vocative||-a||-ae||
115
116The conjugation is as follows, as applied to "puella". Note the stem endings:
117||Case||Singular||Plural||
118||Nominative||puell-a||puell-ae||
119||Genitive||puell-ae||puell-arum||
120||Dative||puell-ae||puell-is||
121||Accusative||puell-am||puell-as||
122||Ablative||puell-a||puell-is||
123||Vocative||puell-a||puell-ae||
124
125[[AC:Second Declension]]
126Second declension (or o-stems) are predominantly masculine. However, some words in it are feminine, but they are rare and outnumbered by the neuter nouns it contains. Neuter nouns have the same nominative, accusative, vocative, and locative forms in the singular. In neuter, the plural nominative, accusative, vocative, and locative all use the root word with "a" as the ending. This holds true for all neuter words in all declensions. Do be aware that times, the word stem will change between singular and plural.
127
128The endings for the second declension are as follows. Note the neuter following the (predominantly) masculine gender:
129||Case||Singular||Plural||
130||Nominative||-us, -um||-i, -a||
131||Genitive||-i||-orum||
132||Dative||-o||-is||
133||Accusative||-um, -um||-us, -a||
134||Ablative||-o||-is||
135||Vocative||-e, -um||-i, -a||
136
137The conjugation is as follows for masculine second declension nouns, like "circulus" (with stem circulo-):
138||Case||Singular||Plural||
139||Nominative||circul-us||circul-i||
140||Genitive||circul-i||circul-orum||
141||Dative||circul-o||circul-is||
142||Accusative||circul-um||circul-us||
143||Ablative||circul-o||circul-is||
144||Vocative||circul-e||circul-i||
145
146Neuter second declension nouns like "donum" (stem dono-) are conjugated as follows:
147||Case||Singular||Plural||
148||Nominative||don-um||don-a||
149||Genitive||don-i||don-orum||
150||Dative||don-o||don-is||
151||Accusative||don-um||don-a||
152||Ablative||don-o||don-is||
153||Vocative||don-um||don-a||
154
155[[AC:Third Declension]]
156Third declension has both masculine/feminine and neuter forms. They consist of consonant stems or "i-stem words". Consonant stems come in two kinds: mute stems and liquid/nasal stems. I-stems tend to be either pure i-stems or mixed i-stems.
157
158Mute stems come in three types: labial (-p or -b), dental (-t or -d), and palatal/velar (-c or -g).
159
160The stem endings for consonant stems are, typically, as follows. The neuter case endings, if available, are next to the masculine/feminine case endings:
161||Case||Singular||Plural||
162||Nominative||-s, bare stem||-es, -a||
163||Genitive||-is||-um||
164||Dative||-i||-ibus||
165||Accusative||-em, bare stem||-es, -a||
166||Ablative||-e||-ibus||
167||Vocative||-s||-es, -a||
168
169A consonant stem word like "rex" (stem reg-) would be conjugated like this. This also applies to feminine nouns:
170||Case||Singular||Plural||
171||Nominative||reg-s → rex||reg-es||
172||Genitive||reg-is||reg-um||
173||Dative||reg-i||reg-ibus||
174||Accusative||reg-em||reg-es||
175||Ablative||reg-e||reg-ibus||
176||Vocative||reg-s → rex||reg-es||
177
178Neuter consonant stem words like "poema" (stem poemat-) are conjugated as follows:
179||Case||Singular||Plural||
180||Nominative||poema-||poemat-a||
181||Genitive||poemat-is||poemat-um||
182||Dative||poemat-i||poemat-ibus||
183||Accusative||poema-||poemat-es||
184||Ablative||poemat-e||poemat-ibus||
185||Vocative||poema-||poemat-a||
186
187I-stem words are conjugated just like consonant stems, with some subtle differences:
188||Case||Singular||Plural||
189||Nominative||-s, -e||-es, -a||
190||Genitive||-s||-um||
191||Dative||-i||-ibus||
192||Accusative||-em, -e||-es, -a||
193||Ablative||-e, bare stem||-ibus||
194||Vocative||-s, -e||-es, -a||
195
196A masculine or feminine i-stem word like the feminine "turris" (stem turri-) is declined as follows:
197||Case||Singular||Plural||
198||Nominative||turri-s||turri-es → turr-es||
199||Genitive||turri-s||turri-um||
200||Dative||turri-||turri-ibus||
201||Accusative||turri-em → turrim (-em)||turri-es → turri-s||
202||Ablative||turri- (-e)||turri-ibus||
203||Vocative||turri-s||turri-es → turr-es||
204
205Neuter i-stem words like "sedile" (stem sedili-) tend to be conjugated like this:
206||Nominative||sedili-e → sedile||sedili-a||
207||Genitive||sedili-s||sedili-um||
208||Dative||sedili-||sedili-ibus||
209||Accusative||sedili-e → sedile||sedili-a||
210||Ablative||sedili-||sedili-ibus||
211||Vocative||sedili-e → sedile||sedili-a||
212
213[[AC:Fourth Declension]]
214Fourth declension nouns have a u-stem, and have both masculine/feminine and neuter case endings. Their case-endings are as follows:
215||Case||Singular||Plural||
216||Nominative||-us, -u||-us, -ua||
217||Genitive||-us||-uum||
218||Dative||-ui, -u||-ibus||
219||Accusative||-um, -u||-us, -ua||
220||Ablative||-u, -u||-ibus||
221||Vocative||-us, -u||-us, -ua||
222
223Masculine or feminine u-stem words like the masculine "lacus" (stem lacu-) are often conjugated like this:
224||Case||Singular||Plural||
225||Nominative||lacu-s||lacu-s||
226||Genitive||lacu-s||lac-uum||
227||Dative||lacu-i||lacu-ibus → lacubus||
228||Accusative||lacu-um||lacu-s||
229||Ablative||lacu-||lacu-ibus → lacubus||
230||Vocative||lacu-s||lacu-s||
231
232Neuter u-stem words like "genus" (stem genu-) are conjugated like this:
233||Case||Singular||Plural||
234||Nominative||genu-||genu-a||
235||Genitive||genu-s||genu-um||
236||Dative||genu-||genu-ibus → genibus||
237||Accusative||genu-||genu-a||
238||Ablative||genu-||genu-ibus → genibus||
239||Vocative||genu-||genu-a||
240
241[[AC:Fifth Declension]]
242The fifth declension (e-stem) is almost exclusively Feminine, although certain words like ''dies'' (day) can be used with any gender of adjective.
243
244The case-endings of fifth declension nouns are like this:
245||Case||Singular||Plural||
246||Nominative||-es||-es||
247||Genitive||-ei||-erum||
248||Dative||-ei||-ebus||
249||Accusative||-em||-es||
250||Ablative||-e||-ebus||
251||Vocative||-es||-es||
252
253Fifth declension nouns are conjugated as follows, with "res" (stem re-) as an example:
254||Case||Singular||Plural||
255||Nominative||r-es||r-es||
256||Genitive||r-ei||r-erum||
257||Dative||r-ei||r-ebus||
258||Accusative||r-em||r-es||
259||Ablative||r-e||r-ebus||
260||Vocative||r-es||r-es||
261[[/folder]]
262
263[[folder:Verbs]]
264Latin verbs are different from nouns in that they do not take declensions. However, [[DoubleEntendre verbs get conjugated- a lot.]] Verbs are much more complicated than nouns.
265----
266!!!Conjugation
267Verb conjugation is absolutely everything when it comes to determining the meaning and target of a verb. Conjugation refers to the different endings that can be thrown onto verbs. They determine tense, number, person, voice, and mood. There are either 4 or 5 verb conjugations depending on whom you ask[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the past, and in the commonly-used Literature/EcceRomani instructional book series, there were 5 conjugations because there was both a regular Third Conjugation and a variant called Third -io. In most sources since then, this conjugation variant is assimilated into the Fourth Conjugation.[[/labelnote]]. There are then [[UsefulNotes/HowDoIUsedTense 6 tenses]], 2 numbers, 3 persons, 2 voices, and 2 moods. These do not stack together, so you have to learn use different variants for each different combination of tense, number, person, voice, and mood. For a typical verb, this is going to come out to a total of approximately 120 variants before parts, infinitives, absolutes, gerunds, and gerundives.
268
269A verb's conjugation can be determined by looking at its principle parts. Most verb have 4 principle parts. The first principle part is the most basic form of the word (first person singular present active indicative). The second principle part is the word in its present active infinitive form. The third principle part is the form of the word for when it is first person singular perfect active indicative. The fourth principle part is the perfect passive participle, with its masculine singular ending.
270
271'''First Conjugation:'''
272
273First conjugation verb stems end in "-a".
274* Example: Necō, necāre, necāvī, necātus (to kill)
275** First Principle Part: Necō (I kill)
276** Second Principle Part: Necāre (To kill)
277** Third Principle Part: Necāvī (I killed/ I have killed)
278** Fourth Principle Part: Necātus (Having been killed)
279
280'''Second Conjugation:'''
281
282Second conjugation verb stems end in "-e". Their future tenses are formed differently from third conjugation, and may be distinguished in their standard dictionary entries from third conjugation by either the presence of an "e" before the "-o" in the first principle part or by a macron over the "e" in its second principle part (ē).
283* Example: Habēo, habēre, habuī, habitus (Have)
284** First Principle Part: Habēo (I have)
285** Second Principle Part: Habēre (To have)
286** Third Principle Part: Habuī (I had)
287** Fourth Principle Part: Habitus [[ShapedLikeItself (Having been had)]]
288
289'''Third Conjugation:'''
290
291Third conjugation verb stems end in "-e". Their future tenses are formed differently from second conjugation, and may be distinguished in their standard dictionary entries from second conjugation by the lack of an "e" before the "-o" in the first principle part or by the lack of a macron over the "e" in its second principle part.
292* Crēdō, crēdere, crēdidī, crēditus (to believe)
293** First Principle Part: Crēdō (I believe)
294** Second Principle Part: Crēdere (To believe)
295** Third Principle Part: Crēdidī (I believed)
296** Fourth Principle Part: Crēditus (Having been believed).
297
298'''Third -iō:'''
299
300Third -iō is interesting in that its present active infinitive is like that of a normal third conjugation verb, but, as its name implies, its first principle part features an -iō ending like fourth conjugation. Its conjugated forms look very similar to fourth conjugation.
301* Faciō, facere, fēcī, factus (to make)
302** First Principle Part: Faciō (I make)
303** Second Principle Part: Facere (to make)
304** Third Principle part: fēcī (I made/have made)
305** Fourth Principle Part: factus (having been made)
306
307'''Fourth Conjugation:'''
308
309Fourth conjugation verb stems end in "-i".
310* Pūniō, pūnīre, pūnīvī, pūnītus (to punish)
311** pūniō (I punish)
312** pūnīre (to punish)
313** pūnīvī (I punished/have punished)
314** pūnītus (having been punished)
315
316!Tense
317Latin has six tenses: present, future, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect. The present and future tenses are exactly what they look like, and the tenses with 'perfect' in them deal with things in the past. The present, future, and imperfect are built off the first principal part and the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect are built off the third principal part.
318
319'''Present Tense:'''
320
321For any action currently happening or going on right now.
322* In all conjugations: built by adding the number/person endings (-o/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt) to the stem of the first principal part.
323** First Conjugation: neco, necas, necat, necamus, necatis, necant
324** Second Conjugation: habeo, habes, habet, habemus, habetis, habent
325** Third Conjugation: ago, agis, agit, agimus, agitis, agunt
326** Fourth Conjugation: audio, audis, audit, audimus, auditis, audiunt
327
328'''Future Tense''':
329
330For any action that will happen in the future. Confusingly, the third of the future looks like the present of the second conjugation. This is something you have to look out for, as it can easily trip you up.
331* In the first and second conjugations: built by adding -bi- to the end of the stem of the first principal part and then adding the number/person endings to it.
332* in the third and fourth conjugations: built by adding -e- to the end of the stem of the first principal part and then adding the number/person endings to it.
333** First Conjugation: necabo, necabis, necabit, necabimus, necabitis, necabunt
334** Second Conjugation: habebo, habebis, habebit, habebimus, habebitis, habebunt
335** Third Conjugation: agam, ages, aget, agemus, agetis, agent
336** Fourth Conjugation: audiam, audies, audiet, audiemus, audietis, audient
337
338'''Imperfect Tense''':
339
340For any action that happening recent in the past and is carrying on into the present.
341* In all conjugations: built by adding -ba- to the end of the stem of the first principal part and then adding the number/person endings to it.
342** First Conjugation: necabam, necabas, necabat, necabamus, necabatis, dabant
343** Second Conjugation: habebam, habebas, habebat, habebamus, habebatis, habebant
344** Third Conjugation: agebam, agebas, agebat, agebamus, agebatis, agebant
345** Fourth Conjugation: audiebam, audiebas, audiebat, audiebamus, audiebatis, audiebant
346
347'''Perfect Tense''':
348
349For any action that happened in the past. The generic past tense.
350* In all conjugations: built by adding the number/person endings (modified in the second person and first singular) to the stem of the third principal part. Except in the third plural, where its built by appending the third plural future active indicative of esse.
351** First Conjugation: necavi, necavisti, necavit, necavimus, necavitis, necaverunt
352** Second Conjugation: habui, habuisti, habuit, habuimus, habuistis, habuerunt
353** Third Conjugation: egi, egisti, egit, egimus, egistis, egerunt
354** Fourth Conjugation: audivi, audivisti, audivit, audivimus, audivistis, audiverunt
355
356'''Pluperfect Tense''':
357
358For any action that happens even further in the past than the past tense. If, for instance, in a sentence there were an action that happened in the past ('I went to the store...') an action that happened before it ('...after I had grabbed my wallet.') would be in the pluperfect.
359* In all conjugations: built by adding the imperfect form of esse with the correct number and person to the stem of the third principal part.
360** First Conjugation: necaveram, necaveras, necaverat, necaveramus, necaveratis, necaverant
361** Second Conjugation: habueram, habueras, habuerat, habueramus, habueratis, habuerant
362** Third Conjugation: egeram, egeras, egerat, egeramus, egeratis, egerant
363** Fourth Conjugation: audiveram, audiveras, audiverat, audiveramus, audiveratis, audiverat
364
365'''Future Perfect Tense''':
366
367For any action that will have happened in the past in the future. Confusing, right? Generally translated in to English as 'X shall have Y-ed' (e.g., 'You shall have read this.').
368* In all conjugations: built by adding the future of form of esse with the correct number and person to the stem of the third principal part. Except in the third plural, where 'erunt' is turned into 'erint' so that is doesn't look like the third plural of the perfect.
369** First Conjugation: necavero, necaveris, necaverit, necaverimus, necaveritis, necaverint
370** Second Conjugation: habuero, habueris, habuerit, habuerimus, habueritis, habuerint
371** Third Conjugation: egero, egeris, egerit, egerimus, egeritis, egerint
372** Fourth Conjugation: audivero, audiveris, audiverit, audiverimus, audiveritis, audiverint
373
374!Voice
375Latin has two voices, active and passive. In active voice, the subject is the one performing the action; in passive, they are the one receiving the action. In Tenses using the present Stem, active verb endings (-o/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt) are simply replaced with their passive counterparts (-r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur).[[note]]For first person singular forms ending in -o, -r is added, while in forms ending in -m, the ending is changed to -r. In the second person singular forms of the present tense in third conjugation and the future in the first and second conjugations, the "i" before the -ris ending changes to an "e".[[/note]] In tenses using the perfect stem, the passive forms are formed with the fourth principle part followed the verb "to be" (present for perfect tense, imperfect for pluperfect, and future for future perfect). The English translations of the tenses are the same as the active, but with "being" or "been" being added, i.e. is being, will be, was being, has been, had been, will have been.
376
377* '''Present Passive:'''
378** First Conjugation: necor, necaris, necatur, necamur, necamini, necantur
379** Second Conjugation: habeor, haberis, habetur, habemur, habemini, habentur
380** Third Conjugation: agor, ageris, agitur, agimur, agimini, aguntur
381** Fourth Conjugation: audior, audiris, auditur, audimur, audimini, audiuntur
382
383* '''Future Passive:'''
384** First Conjugation: necabor, necaberis, necabitur, necabimur, necabimini, necabuntur
385** Second Conjugation: habebor, habeberis, habebitur, habebimur, habebimini, habebuntur
386** Third Conjugation: agar, ageris, agetur, agemur, agemini, agentur
387** Fourth Conjugation: audiar, audieris, audietur, audiemur, audiemini, audientur
388
389* '''Imperfect Passive:'''
390** First Conjugation: necabar, necabaris, necabatur, necabamur, necabamini, necabantur
391** Second Conjugation: habebar, habebaris, habebatur, habebamur, habebamini, habebantur
392** Third Conjugation: agebar, agebaris, agebatur, agebamur, agebamini, agebantur
393** Fourth Conjugation: audiebar, audiebaris, audiebatur, audiebamur, audiebamini, audiebantur
394
395* '''Perfect Passive:'''
396** First Conjugation: necatus sum, necatus es, necatus est, necati sumus, necati estis, necati sunt
397** Second Conjugation: habitus sum, habitus es, habitus est, habiti sumus, habiti estis, habiti sunt
398** Third Conjugation: actus sum, actus es, actus est, acti sumus, acti estis, acti sunt
399** Fourth Conjugation: auditus sum, auditus es, auditus est, auditi sumus, auditi estis, auditi sunt
400
401* '''Pluperfect Passive:'''
402** First Conjugation: necatus eram, necatus eras, necatus erat, necati eramus, necati eratis, necati erant
403** Second Conjugation: habitus eram, habitus eras, habitus erat, habiti eramus, habiti eratis, habiti erant
404** Third Conjugation: actus eram, actus eras, actus erat, acti eramus, acti eratis, acti erant
405** Fourth Conjugation: auditus eram, auditus eras, auditus erat, auditi eramus, auditi eratis, auditi erant
406
407* '''Future Perfect Passive:'''
408** First Conjugation: necatus ero, necatus eris, necatus erit, necati erimus, necati eritis, necati erunt
409** Second Conjugation: habitus ero, habitus eris, habitus erit, habiti erimus, habiti eritis, habiti erunt
410** Third Conjugation: actus ero, actus eris, actus erit, acti erimus, acti eritis, acti erunt
411** Fourth Conjugation: auditus ero, auditus eris, auditus erit, auditi erimus, auditi eritis, auditi erunt
412
413'''Deponent Verbs:'''
414
415Some verbs are known as deponent verbs. While these verbs appear Passive, they are translated as if they were active. Since the fourth principle part is used for the passive forms of the perfect stem tenses, deponent verbs only have three principle parts. Also of note are semi-deponent verbs, such as audeo ("to dare"), which use active forms in the present stem tenses and passive forms in the perfect stem tenses.
416
417* Examples of deponent verbs:
418** First Conjugation: miror, mirari, miratus sum
419** Second Conjugation: liceor, liceri, licitus sum
420** Third Conjugation: loquor, loqui, locutus sum
421** Fourth Conjugation: molior, moliri, molitus sum
422
423 Latin has two Voices (Active and Passive), four Moods (Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative, and Infinitive -- though the Infinitive is ''technically'' the "locative case of an abstract noun, expressing the action of a verb", but let's call it a Mood for [relative] simplicity), and six Tenses, divided between the Present System, which implies continued action (this comprises the Present, Imperfect, and Future Tenses) and the Perfect System, for completed actions (this comprises the Perfect, Pluperfect, and Future Perfect Tenses). The Indicative Mood has all six Tenses; the Subjunctive Mood has four (it lacks the Future and Future Perfect); the Imperative Mood has only two, the Present and Future; and the Infinitive Mood has three Tenses: Present, Perfect, and Future. Latin has three Persons: First, Second, and Third; and two Numbers: Singular and Plural.

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top