Conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from one basic form. It may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood, voice or other language-specific factors. When, for example, we use a verb to function as the action done by a subject, most languages require conjugating the verb to reflect that meaning. (For more information on conjugation in general, see the article on grammatical conjugation.)

In Latin, there are four main patterns of conjugation composed of groups of verbs that are conjugated following similar patterns. As in other languages, Latin verbs have a passive voice and an active voice. Furthermore, there exist deponent and semi-deponent Latin verbs (verbs with a passive form but active meaning), as well as defective verbs (verbs with a perfect form but present meaning).

In a dictionary, Latin verbs are always listed with four principal parts which allow the reader to deduce the other conjugated forms of the verbs. These are:
* the first person singular of the present indicative active, active voice
* the present infinitive
* the first person singular of the perfect indicative active
* the supine or, in some texts, the perfect passive participle, which is nearly always identical. Texts that commonly list the perfect passive participle use the future active participle for intransitive verbs. Some verbs lack this principle part altogether.

For simple verb paradigms, visit the following Wiktionary appendices. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary_Appendix:Latin_first_conjugation , http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary_Appendix:Latin_second_conjugation , http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary_Appendix:Latin_third_conjugation , http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary_Appendix:Latin_fourth_conjugation

Latin verb properties

Latin verbs have the following properties.

:1. Two voices—active, passive
:2. Four moods—indicative, subjunctive, imperative
:3. Six tenses—
::
¹â€”may be fruitum; this is actually the form from which the future active participle comes from.

Syncopated verb forms

Like most Romance languages, syncopated forms and contractions are present in Latin. They may occur in the following instances.

*The ending –ris in the passive voice may be –re as in:
::port�b�ris → port�b�re
*The ending –ērunt in the perfect tense may be –ēre as in:
::port�vērunt → port�vēre
*Perfect stems that end in a –v maybe contracted when inflected.
::port�visse → port�sse
::port�vistī → port�stī
::port�verant → port�rant
::port�visset → port�sset
*The compounds of noscĕre (to learn) and movēre (to move, dislodge) are also able to be contracted.
::novistī → nostī
::novistis → nostis
::commoveram → commoram
::commover�s → commor�s

References

* New Latin Grammar , an eBook, originally written by Charles Edwin Bennett at the Project Gutenberg

See also

* Latin declension
* Grammatical conjugation
* Latin verbs

External links

* Verbix automatically conjugates verbs in Latin.
* Latin Verb Synopsis Drill tests a user on his ability to conjugate verbs correctly.

Category:Latin language