Conjugation

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Latin is an inflected language, and as such its verbs must be conjugated in order to express person, number, time, tense, mood or voice. A set of conjugated forms of the same verb pattern is called a conjugation (verb inflection group). There are four conjugations, which are numbered and grouped by ending.

This is a summary of the conjugation of Latin verbs.

Which conjugation a verb belongs to

Latin is a heavily inflected language, which means that Latin indicates grammatical information by changing the ending of the words. Verbs are grouped into four conjugations (verb inflection groups). If we change a verb’s ending to express the person or the time (tense), we say we “conjugate” it. To determine which conjugation group a verb belongs to, you have to look into a Latin dictionary.

In the case of the verb “have”, you will find:

habeo –ére, -bui, -bitum

This is 4 pieces of information:

(1) habeo; it is the first person singular of the verb “have”. It means “I have”.

(2) –ére; it’s an abbreviation of “habere”, the infinite of the verb. It means “to have”.

(3) –bui; it’s an abbreviation of “habui”, the perfect tense of the verb. It means “I have had” or “I had”.

(4) –bitum; abbreviation of “habitum”, it’s the supine (or the past participle).

This verb’s infinitive, “habére” (to have), indicated in the dictionary form as “–ére” shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugation, as all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation. The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The four types of infinitive endings and the four conjugations determined by the different genitive endings are:

-are = 1st conjugation; e.g.: am|o, -are, -avi, -atum (I love)

-ére = 2nd conjugation; e.g.: hab|eo, -ere, -bui, -bitum (I have)

-ere = 3rd conjugation; e.g.: dic|o, -ere, dixi, dictum (I say)

-ire = 4th conjugation; e.g.: aud|io, -ire, -ivi, -itum (I hear)

Note that “–ere”, which is short vowel, is different from “–ére”, which is long vowel.

How to conjugate a verb

You simply cut off the infinitive endings -are, -ére, -ere and -ire, and replace them with the personal endings shown below in the tables, respectively to the conjugation group to which the verb belongs to.

Present Tense

The Present Tense is equivalent of the English Present Progressive ("I am saying") and Present Simple ("I say").

Unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. These endings are in general the same for all conjugation groups, but there is some variation respectively to the stem vowel, which means that while, e.g. the singular third person ending is "-t" in all conjugations, in the 1st conjugation it's realized as "-at", because it's the A-Stem conjugation, in the 2nd conjugation it's "-et", (as they are the E-Stem) etc.

	First conjugation			Second conjugation			Third conjugation						Fourth conjugation
	A-Stem			E-Stem			Consonant Stem			Short I-Stem			Long í-Stem
	amó, -áre, -áví, -átum love			habeó, -ére, -buí, -bitum have			dícó, -ere, díxí, dictum say			capió, -ere, cépí, captum catch			audió, -íre, -íví, -ítum hear
S/1	amó	-ó	I love	habeó	-eó	I have	dícó	-ó	I say	capió	-ió	I catch	audió	-ió	I hear
S/2	amás	-ás	you love	habés	-és	you have	dícis	-is	you say	capis	-is	you catch	audís	-ís	you hear
S/3	amat	-at	he loves	habet	-et	he has	dícit	-it	he says	capit	-it	he catches	audit	-it	he hears
P/1	amámus	-ámus	we love	habémus	-émus	we have	dícimus	-imus	we say	capimus	-imus	we catch	audímus	-ímus	we hear
P/2	amátis	-átis	you love	habétis	-étis	you have	dícitis	-itis	you say	capitis	-itis	you catch	audítis	-ítis	you hear
P/3	amant	-ant	they love	habent	-ent	they have	dícunt	-unt	they say	capiunt	-iunt	they catch	audiunt	-iunt	they hear

Imperfect Tense

The Imperfect Tense indicates a perpetual, but incomplete action in the past. It simply expresses an action in the past that was not completed. This tense is similar to the English Past Progressive ("I was saying"), but depending on context, it can also be identified with English Past Simple ("I said"). "Dícébam" can be translated to mean, "I was saying," "I said," or "I used to say".

	First conjugation			Second conjugation			Third conjugation						Fourth conjugation
	A-Stem			E-Stem			Consonant Stem			Short I-Stem			Long í-Stem
	amó, -áre, -áví, -átum love			habeó, -ére, -buí, -bitum have			dícó, -ere, díxí, dictum say			capió, -ere, cépí, captum catch			audió, -íre, -íví, -ítum hear
S/1	amábam	-ábam	I was loving	habébam	-ébam	I was having	dícébam	-ébam	I was saying	capiébam	-iébam	I was catching	audiébam	-iébam	I was hearing
S/2	amábás	-ábás	you were loving	habébás	-ébás	you were having	dícébás	-ébás	you were saying	capiébás	-iébás	you were catching	audiébás	-iébás	you were hearing
S/3	amábat	-ábat	he was loving	habébat	-ébat	he was having	dícébat	-ébat	he was saying	capiébat	-iébat	he was catching	audiébat	-iébat	he was hearing
P/1	amábámus	-ábámus	we were loving	habébámus	-ébámus	we were having	dícébámus	-ébámus	we were saying	capiébámus	-iébámus	we were catching	audiébámus	-iébámus	we were hearing
P/2	amábátis	-ábátis	you were loving	habébátis	-ébátis	you were having	dícébátis	-ébátis	you were saying	capiébátis	-iébátis	you were catching	audiébátis	-iébátis	you were hearing
P/3	amábant	-ábant	they were loving	habébant	-ébant	they were having	dícébant	-ébant	they were saying	capiébant	-iébant	they were catching	audiébant	-iébant	they were hearing

Perfect Tense

The Perfect Tense refers to an action completed in the past. The Perfect Tense expresses a finished action in the past. If the action were not finished, but still lies in the past, one would use the Imperfect Tense. The Latin Perfect Tense is equivalent to the English Present Perfect ("I have said"), but unlike English, the Latin Perfect Tense is used in the function of English Past Simple whenever it describes a finished, completed event. Thus "díxí" can be translated as "I have said," or "I said".

	First conjugation			Second conjugation			Third conjugation						Fourth conjugation
	A-Stem			E-Stem			Consonant Stem			Short I-Stem			Long í-Stem
	amó, -áre, -áví, -átum love			habeó, -ére, -buí, -bitum have			dícó, -ere, díxí, dictum say			capió, -ere, cépí, captum catch			audió, -íre, -íví, -ítum hear
S/1	amáví	-í	I have loved	habuí	-í	I have had	díxí	-í	I have said	cépí	-í	I have caught	audíví	-í	I have heard
S/2	amávistí	-istí	you have loved	habuistí	-istí	you have had	díxistí	-istí	you have said	cépistí	-istí	you have caught	audívistí	-istí	you have heard
S/3	amávit	-it	he has loved	habuit	-it	he has had	díxit	-it	he has said	cépit	-it	he has caught	audívit	-it	he has heard
P/1	amávimus	-imus	we have loved	habuimus	-imus	we have had	díximus	-imus	we have said	cépimus	-imus	we have caught	audívimus	-imus	we have heard
P/2	amávistis	-istis	you have loved	habuistis	-istis	you have had	díxistis	-istis	you have said	cépistis	-istis	you have caught	audívistis	-istis	you have heard
P/3	amávérunt	-érunt	they have loved	habuérunt	-érunt	they have had	díxérunt	-érunt	they have said	cépérunt	-érunt	they have caught	audívérunt	-érunt	they have heard

Pluperfect Tense

The Pluperfect Tense expresses an action which was completed before another completed action. As with English, in Latin, the Pluperfect is used to assert an action that was completed before another. "Díxeram" translates as "I had said."

	First conjugation			Second conjugation			Third conjugation						Fourth conjugation
	A-Stem			E-Stem			Consonant Stem			Short I-Stem			Long í-Stem
	amó, -áre, -áví, -átum love			habeó, -ére, -buí, -bitum have			dícó, -ere, díxí, dictum say			capió, -ere, cépí, captum catch			audió, -íre, -íví, -ítum hear
S/1	amáveram	-eram	I had loved	habueram	-eram	I had had	díxeram	-eram	I had said	céperam	-eram	I had caught	audíveram	-eram	I had heard
S/2	amáverás	-erás	you had loved	habuerás	-erás	you had had	díxerás	-erás	you had said	céperás	-erás	you had caught	audíverás	-erás	you had heard
S/3	amáverat	-erat	he had loved	habuerat	-erat	he had had	díxerat	-erat	he had said	céperat	-erat	he had caught	audíverat	-erat	he had heard
P/1	amáverámus	-erámus	we had loved	habuerámus	-erámus	we had had	díxerámus	-erámus	we had said	céperámus	-erámus	we had caught	audíverámus	-erámus	we had heard
P/2	amáverátis	-erátis	you had loved	habuerátis	-erátis	you had had	díxerátis	-erátis	you had said	céperátis	-erátis	you had caught	audíverátis	-erátis	you had heard
P/3	amáverant	-erant	they had loved	habuerant	-erant	they had had	díxerant	-erant	they had said	céperant	-erant	they had caught	audíverant	-erant	they had heard