Jenney’s First Year LatinLesson 2

1. Lesson 2 Vocabulary2. Basics of Latin Verbs

3. Present Tense of 1st Conjugation Verbs4. Subject-Verb Agreement

5. Accusative of Direct Object

Lesson 2 Vocabulary

amō, amāre, amāvī, amātus

to love

dō, dare, dedī, datus

to give

laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātus

to praise

nāvigō, nāvigāre, nāvigāvī, nāvigātus

to sail

occupō, occupāre, occupāvī, occupātus

to seize, capture

parō, parāre, parāvī, parātus

to prepare, prepare for

portō, portāre, portāvī, portātus

to carry

pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus

to fight

spectō, spectāre, spectāvī, spectātus

to watch, look at

vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus

to call

ad

to, towards

cum

with

et

and

sed

but

nōn

not

amīcitia, amīcitiae, f.

friendship

patria, patriae, f.

country, fatherland, native land

Latin Verbs – The Basics

Basics – Conjugations

• Like English verbs, verbs in Latin express an action or state of being

• Latin verbs are inflected– the inflection of verbs is called conjugation

• Like nouns, verbs are divided into families.– these families are called conjugations; there are 4

(1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th)

Characteristics of Latin Verbs

• Verbs have FIVE characteristics– Person– Number– Tense– Voice – Mood

Characteristic 1: Person• Person indicates who the subject of the verb is with

reference to the speaker• There are THREE persons in both numbers: 1st, 2nd, and

3rd

• In English, we show person by personal pronounsPerson Singular Plural

1st I We

2nd You You (pl.) [y’all]

3rd he/she/it they

Characteristic 1: Person

• In Latin, person is shown by personal endings

Person Singular Plural

1st ō / m mus

2nd s tis

3rd t nt

Characteristic 2: Number

• Just like nouns, verbs can be either singular or plural

• Number is coded into the personal endings

Review

• So, just like nouns have case endings, verbs have personal endings

• Two important pieces of information are coded into the endings of both nouns & verbs:– Nouns: case and number– Verbs: person and number

Characteristic 3: Tense

• Tense (<tempus, temporis, n.: time) tells you when the action or state of being of the verb is happening

• There are six tenses: present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, future perfect. (see timeline)

• Present Tense: indicates the verb is happening or being NOW

Characteristics – A Review

• Verbs belong to families, called conjugations– there are 4: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

• Verbs have five characteristics: person, number, tense, voice, and mood

• Person indicates who the subject of the verb is with reference to the speaker

• Tense indicates the time when the action is taking place

Dictionary Entry

• Most verbs have four principal parts• Dictionary entry = principal parts + definition

pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus: to fight1 2 3 4 5

Dictionary Entry

pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus: to fight1 2 3 4 5

1. pugnō – 1st Principal Part

– 1st SG present tense form (“I fight”)

Dictionary Entry

pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus: to fight1 2 3 4 5

2. pugnāre – 2nd Principal Part– Present Infinitive (“to fight”)– Vowel next to ending –re tells you a verbs

conjugation [–ā– = 1st conjugation]– Dropping the –re gives you present stem

Dictionary Entry

pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus: to fight1 2 3 4 5

3-4. pugnāvī, pugnātus– 3rd-4th Principal Parts– don’t worry about these for now

5. to fight – definition/meaning– definition should always be in the infinitive form

(to…)

Forming the Present Tense

1. Find the PRESENT STEM– go to the 2nd principal part– drop the –re

2. Add the PERSONAL ENDINGS– -ō/m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt

e.g. pugnō, pugnāre, pugnāvī, pugnātus: to fight

Translating the Present Tense

• Latin does not have special forms for progressive or emphatic verbs

• So, present tense verbs can be translated from Latin THREE ways:– am/is/are ___________ing (present progressive)

– _____________s (simple present)

– does/do _____________ (emphatic present)

Translating the Present Tense

• E.g.: Pugnāmus.– We fight.

– We are fighting.

– We do fight.

Subject Verb Agreement

Subject Verb Agreement

• All subjects must agree with (aka match) their verbs in person and number

• singular verbs must have singular subjects• plural verbs must have plural subjects

NO EXCEPTIONS!

Subject Verb Agreement

Agricola puellam amat.[sg. subject + sg. verb]

The farmer loves the girl.

Agricolae pugnant.[pl. subject + pl. verb]

The farmers are fighting.

Accusative of Direct Object

Recap…

• subject of a sentence = doer of the action or state of being

• subject is represented by the nominative casein Latin

Accusative of Direct Object

• direct object = the receiver of the action of a verb

• direct object is represented by the accusative case in Latin

Poētās laudāmus.We praise the poets.

Puella poetam laudat.

The girl is praising the poet.