Tag Archives: verbal morphology

Non-personal verbal forms

Posted on 15. Jun, 2012 by in Latin Language

The verb forms which do not have personal ending are known as non-personal verbs or noun-verbs. These verb forms simultaneously have nouns’ characteristics (they are nouns or adjectives) and verbs’ characteristics (tense, voice…).

In Latin we have three verbal nouns (infinitive, gerund and supine) and two verbal adjectives (participle and gerundive). Morphology is as follows:

Infinitive:

 

Present Past Future
Active amā-re amāv-isse amāt-ārus,
-a,
-um (esse)
Passive amā-rī amātus,
-a,
-um (esse)		 amātum
īrī
  • The present passive infinitive of third conjugation has -ī  morpheme (i.e. dīcī from the verb dīcō).
  • The future passive infinitive -um īrī is hardly used and it is replaced in most cases infinitive of the passive periphrastic conjugation (gerundive + esse). I.e. Amandus,-a,-um (esse).

 

Participle:

Present Past Future
Active amāns-
ntis		 amāt-ūrus,
-a,
-um
Passive amātus,
-a,
-um

 

Gerund:

Accusative Genitive Dative-ablative
(ad)
ama-nd-um		 ama-nd-ī ama-nd-ō 

 

Gerundive:

ama-nd-us,
-a,
-um

 

Supine:

Accusative Dative-ablative
amāt-um amat-ū

Verbal morphology II

Posted on 10. Jun, 2012 by in Latin Language

Active voice

Time characteristics of time and mood for active personal forms are:

 

PRESENT TENSE

Indicative

Subjunctive

Imperative
Present

1st conjugation:

-e-

2nd, 3rd, 4th
conjugations:

-a-
Past imperfect

-ba-

-re-
Future

1st & 2nd conjugations:

-b-

3rd, 4th conjugations

1st singular person:

-a-

Rest of persons:

-e-

 

The imperative has no temporal morphemes, but has special personal endings that make it unique to any other mode:

Present imperative:

  • 2nd person singular: it has no morpheme or personal ending, so it is like the present form. I.e. Ama (from the verb amare).
  • 2nd person plural: -te personal ending. I.e. Amate.

Future imperative:

  • 2nd and 3rd person singular: -to personal ending. I.e. Amato.
  • 2nd person plural: -tote personal ending. Amatote.
  • 3rd person plural: -nto personal ending. Amanto.

 

 PERFECT TENSE

Indicativo

Subjuntivo

Perfect

(See personal endings)

-eri-

Pluperfect

-era-

-isse-

Future perfect

-ero
(1st pers. sing.)

-eri-

 

Passive voice

The personal forms of the Latin passive voice have two ways of creating them: one for the present system, and one for the perfect.

 

Present system Perfect system
The formation of tenses is made with the same morphemes as in the active voice, but with passive personal endings.

-r

-ris (-re)

-tur

-mur

-mini

-ntur

 

It is formed with the perfect participle of the conjugated verb +SUM in the corresponding present or perfect tense.

(See conjugation below)

 

 

INDICATIVE

 

SUBJUNCTIVE

 

PERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

sum (fui)

 

es (fuisti)

 

est (fuit)

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

sim (fuerim)

 

sis (fueris)

 

sit (fuerit)

 
 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

sumus (fuimus)

 

estis (fuistis)

 

sunt
(fuerunt)

 

  

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

simus (fuerimus)

 

sitis (fueritis)

 

sint
(fuerint)

 

PLUPERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

eram (fueram)

 

eras (fueras)

 

erat (fuerat)

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

essem (fuissem)

 

esses (fuisses)

 

esset (fuisset)

 
 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

eramus (fueramus)

 

eratis (fueratis)

 

erant
(fuerant)

 

  

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

essemus (fuissemus)

 

essetis (fuissetis)

 

essent
(fuissent)

 

FUTURE PERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

ero (fuero)

 

eris (fueris)

 

erit (fuerit)

 

  
 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

erimus (fuerimus)

 

eritis (fueritis)

 

erunt
(fuerint)

 

  

 

Verbal morphology I

Posted on 02. Jun, 2012 by in Latin Language

General characteristics of the Latin conjugation

Latin conjugation is distributed in two voices: active and passive.

How to set out and how to determine the conjugations:

The statement of a verb consists, in that order, of the following forms:

  • First person singular indicative present.
  • Second person singular indicative present.
  • Present infinitive.
  • First person singular indicative perfect (praeteritum perfectum).
  • Supine

To determine the conjugation of a verb it is enough to look to the characteristics of its statement match those highlighted in bold in the following models:

 

Here we will show you a system of analysis of verb forms which will let you recognize any word found in a text without having to memorize from the beginning all the features, exceptions, phonetic changes, etc.., which may occur in verb conjugation.

 

CONJUGATIONS PRESENT PERFECT SUPINE
1st amo, -as, -are, -avi, -atum am(a)- amav- amat-
2nd deleo, -es, -ere, -evi, -etum dele- delev- delet-
3rd rego, -is, -ere, rexi, rectum reg(e)- rex- rect-
4th audio, -is, -ire, -ivi, -itum audi- audiv- audit-

 

Personal verb tenses (with personal desinences) are distributed in two systems: present and perfect; and three modes: indicative, subjunctive and imperative.

The non-personal forms in Latin are:

  • Verbal nouns: infinitive, gerund, supine.
  • Verbal adjectives: participle and gerundive.

Personal desinences:

 

Active desinences

Pasive desinences

All tenses except indicative perfect

Indicative perfect

Present tenses

-m, -o

-s

-t

-mus

-tis

-nt

-i

-isti

-it

-imus

-istis

-erunt (-ere)

-r

-ris (-re)

-tur

-mur

-mini

-ntur

calamus and writing objects