Verb (Verbum)

The circumflex accent ( ˆ ) is used to denote the length of the vowels.

Verb is a word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being.

It was noted that the Latin thought in the classical period understood and faced the world actively, as it turns out, and this was reflected into the language by a relatively rich varieties of verbal modifications.
 

General Notions

Finite and Non-Finite Verbal Forms Persons (Personae) Tenses (Tempora) Moods (Modi) Voices (Genera) Verba infinita Transitive and Intransitive Verbs Conjugations (Conjugationes) Verbal Endings Conjunctive Vowels

 
 
Finite and Non-Finite Verbal Forms

The Latin grammarians have divided the verbal forms into two classes:

1. Verba finita, or personally defined verbal forms,
    and
2. Verba infinita, or personally undefined verbal forms.

Latin has three persons:

• First person referring to the speaker or writer of the utterance
• Second person referring to the person or thing addressed in the utterance
• Third person referring to one that is neither the speaker or writer of the utterance.

Tense is a distinction of form in a verb to express distinctions of time or duration of the action or state it denotes.
There are six tenses in Latin, traditionally divided into two groups:

I. Main tenses

1. The Present tense (Praesens) denotes a state or action in the very moment of the utterance;
2. The Future tense (Futurum) denotes a state or action that will take place very soon;
3. The Future Perfect tense (Futurum secundum or Futurum exactum) denotes a future state or action that will precede another future state or action.

1. The Imperfect tense (Imperfectum) denotes a past state or action that is taking place with another past state or action;
2. The Perfect tense (Perfectum) denotes a state or action that has taken place before the time of the utterance;
3. The Pluperfect tense (Plusquamperfectum) denotes a state or action that had happened in the remote past or had preceded another past state or action.

Mood is a distinction of verb to express whether the action or state it denotes is conceived as fact command, possibility, or wish. There are three moods in Latin:

1. The Indicative (Indicatiivus) represents the denoted act or state as an objective fact.
2. The Imperative (Imperativus) expresses the will to influence the behavior of another.
3. The Subjunctive (Conjunctivus or Subjunctivus) represents a denoted act or state not as fact but as contingent or possible or viewed emotionally (as with doubt or desire). It is used mainly in subordinite clauses. When used in main clauses, it expresses a slight command, insistence or invitation.

The voice indicates the relation of the subject of the verb to the action which the verb expresses. There are two voices in Latin:

1. The Active voice (Activum) asserts that the person or thing represented by the grammatical subject performs the action represented by the verb:
    Pater amat filiam suam. The father loves his daughter.

2. The Passive voice (Passivum) asserts that the grammatical subject of a verb is subjected to or affected by the action represented by that verb:
    Pater amatur a filia sua. The father is loved by his daughter.

The Passive voice has sometimes reflexive meaning.
A special class is formed by the so called deponent verbs (verba deponentia) that have passive forms only, but with active meaning:
    Imperator miilites hortatur. The general is encouraging the soldiers.

Verba infinita are non-personal verbal forms that are not conjugated. There are four such forms in Latin:

1. The Infinitive (Infinitivus) performs some functions of a noun and at the same time displays some characteristics of a verb like tense (present, future and perfect) and voice and may have an object.
2. The Participle (Participium) is a word having the characteristics of both adjective and verb. Like the infinitive, the Latin participles has distinction of tense (present, future and perfect) and voice and may have an object. On the other hand, it is declined like an adjective.
3. The Gerund (Gerundium) is a verbal noun that expresses generalized or uncompleted action. It is a neuter verbal noun of II declensiion, used in Singular only, without Nominative form.
4. The Supine (Supinum) is a verbal noun of IV declension used in Accusative of purpose (-um) and in Ablative of specification (–u).

The transitive verbs are those that may take a direct object. Only they may be used in Passive voice.
    The intransitive verbs cannot take a direct object and limit the effect of the action to the Subject itself. In the passive voice they are used impersonally in 3 p. sg. only, cf.:

curro I run and curritur it is run.

The Latin verbs have usually three stems: present, perfect and participial.
    According to the endings of the present stems the grammarians have classified the verbs into four classes (conjugations):

• First conjugation – the stem is ended by a long  –â (it is called a-conjugation): amâ|re to love; the present stem is amâ-.
• Second conjugation – the stem is ended by a long –ê (it is called e-conjugation): monê|re to advise; the present stem is monê-.
• Third conjugation – the stem is ended by a consonant or consonantic u (=[w]) (it is called consonantic conjugation): leg|ere to read, statu|ere to set up (the vowel –e- before the –re ending is short); the present stems are leg- and statu-.
• Fourth conjugation – the stem is ended by a long –i (it is called i-conjugation): audî|re to hear; the present stem is audî-.

The Latin tenses are formed from the relevant stems plus specific temporal characteristics and the personal verbal endings. These endings are identical for all tenses of Indicative and Subjunctive, except for the Perfect Indicative.
 

		Active	Passive	Perfect Indicative	Imperative
					Present	Future
Sg.	1. 2. 3.	-o, -m -s -t	-or, -r -ris -tur	-i -isti -it	-- = pres. stem --	-- -to -to
Pl.	1. 2. 3.	-mus -tis -nt	-mur -mini -ntur	-imus -istis -êrunt	-- -te --	-- -tôte -nto

When the verbal stem is ended by a consonant or –u (=[w]), there are inserted conjunctive vowels between the stem and the temporal characteristic or personal ending that follow it.
The conjunctive vowels are always short and they are as follows:
 

-e-	before –r	leg|e|re to read
-i-	before –m, –s, –t	leg|i|mus we read, leg|i|s thou read, leg|i|t he / she reads
-u-	before –nt	leg|u|nt they read, leg|u|ntur they are read