Imperfect Tense

You have already learned the present tense. The imperfect and future tenses are the remaining two tenses of the present system.

The imperfect tense indicates an incomplete action or state of being in the past, a continual action or state of being in the past, or a habitual action or state of being. Most often the English equivalent uses auxiliary verbs “was” and “were” and “used to”:

They were reading.
I was sitting in the house.
She used to travel.
You were working.

The difference in meaning between the imperfect and perfect tenses is that, while the action expressed by a perfect tense verb is completed (< Latin perfectus, completed), that of the imperfect is not complete (< im [= “not”] perfectus]:

They spoke (action completed, so perfect tense): dixerunt

They were speaking (ongoing, incomplete action, so imperfect tense): dicebant 

First and Second Conjugation: The Latin imperfect tense is formed by inserting the tense indicator -ba- between the present stem and the personal ending:

ama-ba-m - I was loving

ama-ba-s - you were loving

etc.

First Conjugation

Second Conjugation

Third and fourth conjugations:  The Latin imperfect tense for the third conjugation is formed by retaining -e- on the end of the present stem and adding -ba- before the personal ending.  For third -io and fourth conjugations an -ie- replaces the vowel at the end of the stem (stem = cupe > cupie).   This is one of the many reasons you must be able to identify to which conjugation a verb belongs:

Third Conjugation -o

Third Conjugation -io

Fourth Conjugation

Future Tense

The future tense is used to indicate an action or state of being in the future. Most often the English equivalent uses the auxiliary verb “will.” 

They will sell.
I will pray in the house.
She will worship.
You will work.

First and second conjugations: the Latin future tense is formed by inserting the tense indicator -bi- between the present stem and the personal ending. 

ama-bo - I will love

ama-bi-s - you will love

As in the first conjugation present, the first person singular uses the vowel -o instead of the expected vowel -i. Notice that in the third person plural, -u- is added for euphony (sounding pleasant) to give amabunt.

First Conjugation

Second Conjugation

Third and fourth conjugations:  The Latin future tense for the third conjugation is formed by retaining -e- on the end of the present stem (-a- in the first person singular) and adding the personal ending.  For third -io and fourth conjugations an -ie- (-a- in the first person singular) replaces the vowel at the end of the stem (stem = cupe > cupie).   This is one of the many reasons you must be able to identify to which conjugation a verb belongs:

dic-a-m
dic-e-s
etc.

aud-ia-m
aud-ie-s
etc.

Third Conjugation -o

Third Conjugation -io

Fourth Conjugation

Sum, Possum, and Eo: Imperfect and Future Tenses

Imperfect Tense.  The irregular verbs sum, possum, and eo have Imperfect forms.  Notice that for sum and possum, the -b- of the -ba- is lost, but the -a- remains.

Future Tense.  These verbs also have Future forms.  Notice that for sum, and so possum, the -b- of the -bi- is lost, but the -i- (or -o- or -u- remains).

Noun-Adjective Agreement

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. 

In English, we know that an adjective modifies a specific noun by its placement in the sentence.  Usually adjectives in English come before the noun they modify.  For example:

My Aelia loves the good father.
“My” modifies “Aelia” and “good” modifies “father”

In Latin we know which adjectives modify nouns because they will agree with that noun in case, number, and gender. The endings may look different depending on declension, but as long as they are in the same case, number, and gender, they agree.

If we were to translate the above sentence into Latin, “my” would be nominative, singular, feminine, because “Aelia” is nominative, singular, feminine.  “Good” would be accusative, singular, masculine, because “father” is accusative, singular, masculine.  

Adjectives can modify any noun, of ANY gender; therefore, they will have forms that reflect all three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter).  

There are two types of adjectives: First and Second Declension Adjectives and Third Declension Adjectives.  Let’s explore how these adjectives decline.

First and Second Declension Adjectives

This category of adjectives uses endings from first and second declension nouns, which you have already learned.  Masculine adjectives use endings from the second declension, feminine from the first declension, and neuter from the second declension neuter. 

First and Second Declension Adjectives will be easily identified in the Verba by the ending -us, -a, -um (bonus, -a, -um).  In some instances, the masculine will end in -er (liber, libera, liberum), like some masculine second declension nouns (puer, pueri m. - boy).

The endings for first and second declension adjectives are as follows:

We form first and second declension adjectives by taking the stem (the feminine form without the ending: bona = bon • a) and adding the endings above to it:

bonus, -a, -um (Stem = bon-)

For adjectives that have a masculine ending in -er we still form them by taking the stem (feminine form without the ending: libera = liber • a) and adding the endings above to it:

liber, libera, liberum (stem = liber-)

If we return to our previous sentence we can see how adjective endings change to agree with the case, number, and gender of the noun they modify.  

My Aelia loves the good father.
Mea Aelia amat patrem bonum.

Although adjectives tend to be in close proximity to their nouns, these words can be put in any order and the meaning will still be the same.  The following two sentences are identical in meaning:

Mea patrem amat bonum Aelia.
Patrem mea amat Aelia bonum.

Because patrem is accusative, singular, masculine we know that bonum, which is also accusative, singular, masculine agrees with patrem.  Even though their endings are not the same, they both communicate “accusative, singular, masculine,” and so they agree.

Third Declension Adjectives

The other category of adjectives are called Third Declension Adjectives.  These adjectives use third declension i-stem endings.  Like third declension i-stem nouns they have the same endings for masculine and feminine, with one exception (ablative singular, m./f., uses -i instead of -e), and the same endings for neuter.

The endings are as follows:

Notice again that the masculine and feminine ablative singular ending changes to -i instead of -e (very occasionally the ending -e is used for all three genders).  This is the only difference from third declension i-stem noun endings.  

These adjectives will appear in three different ways in the Verba.

 1.  One-Ending Adjectives: These have the same ending for the nominative in all three genders. The entry in the Verba will only give that nominative and the genitive (in parentheses) since there is usually a stem change. To find the stem remove the -is ending from the genitive form. Example: ingens, (gen. ingentis). The stem is ingent-.

2.  Two-Ending Adjectives: These have the same ending for the nominative of masculine and feminine and a different nominative for neuter.  You will get the stem by removing the -is ending from the masculine and feminine form.  Example: omnis, omne (masculine and feminine nominative, neuter nominative).  The stem is omn-.

3.  Three-Ending Adjectives: These have different endings for the nominative of masculine, feminine, and neuter.  You will get the stem by removing the -is ending from the feminine form.  Example: acer, acris, acre (mascuine, feminine, neuter nominative).  The stem is acr-.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives are adjectives that show possession.  For example, in English, words like “my,” “your,” and “our” are possessive adjectives.  In Latin, these adjectives are:

meus, -a, -um - my
noster, nostra, nostrum - our
tuus, -a, -um - your (singular)
vester, vestra, vestrum - your (plural)
suus, -a, -um - his/her/its own (reflexive, see section on reflexive pronouns below)

The genitive pronoun is only used to show possession for the third person “his,” “her,” or “its.”  It is not used, however, when referring back to the subject (see section on reflexive pronouns below)

Here are some example sentences using possessive adjectives:

Mea filia audit tuum fratrem.  My daughter listens to your brother.
Aelia suam fratrem amat.  Aelia loves her own brother.
Noster amicus vestram sororem vocat.  Our friend calls your sister.

Substantive Adjectives

Sometimes adjectives appear without a noun.  These are called substantive adjectives.  We do this in English as well.  For example, “Out with the old, and in with the new.”  What noun does “old” modify?  What noun does “new” modify?  They are left out.  The implied noun, in this case, is “thing”; “out with the old thing, and in with the new thing.”  

In Latin, because the adjectives indicate number and gender, we can infer more specific nouns.  When an adjective appears without a noun in the feminine singular, you substitute “woman;” in the masculine singular, “man,” and so on.  Examine the following examples.

Bona abest.  The good woman is absent.  (Bona = feminine singular = good woman)
Bonae absunt. The good women are absent. (Bonae = feminine plural = good women)
Bonus abest. The good man is absent. (Bonus = masculine singular = good man)
Boni absunt. The good men are absent. (Boni = masculine plural = good men)
Bonum abest. The good thing is absent. (Bonum = neuter singular = good thing)
Bona absunt. The good things are absent. (Bona = neuter plural = good things)

What are Pronouns?

Pronouns replace nouns.  In English, they include such words as she, he, it, which, none, itself, etc.  There are several types of pronouns in Latin (and in English):

Personal Pronouns (I, we, me, us, you, you (pl), he, she, it, they, them, etc.)
Reflexive Pronouns (herself, itself, himself, themselves)
Demonstrative Pronouns (this, these, that, those) Unit 5
Relative Pronouns (who, which, whom, that) Unit 5
Interrogative Pronouns (who?, what?, whom?, whose?) Unit 5
Indefinite pronouns (e.g. aliquis, aliquid: someone, something) Unit 5

In this Unit, you will learn about Personal and Reflexive Pronouns.  Like nouns, pronouns have cases and numbers and sometimes genders.  First and Second Person pronouns do not show gender, but Third Person pronouns show different genders.

First and Second Person Pronouns

First Person Pronouns: In English these are I, me, we, and us.  First Person pronouns are declined and translated as follows:

*The possessive adjectives meus, -a, -um (my) and noster, nostra, nostrum (our) will be used instead of the genitive pronoun to show possession (there are other uses of the genitive you will learn later).  For example,

Aelia amat meas litteras.
"Aelia loves my letters."

Second Person Pronouns:  In English, these are you and you (pl).  Second Person pronouns are declined and translated as follows:

*The possessive adjectives tuus, -a, -um (your (s.)) and vester, vestra, vestrum (your (pl.)) will be used instead of the genitive pronoun to show possession.  For example,

Aelia amat tuas litteras.
"Aelia loves your letters."

Third Person Pronouns

Third Person Pronouns in English are he, she, it, and they.  Third Person pronouns are declined and translated as follows:

There are a few things we should note about is, ea, id.

• Other than the first three cases (nominative, genitive, and dative singular) the endings follow the same pattern as first and second declension adjectives.  
• These pronouns can refer to nouns other than people.  For example,

Apollonius scribit multas litteras Aeliae.  Aelia eas amat.
Apollonius writes many letters to Aelia.  Aelia loves them.

In Latin, we know that eas refers to the letters because they are feminine plural like litteras.  So we can see that the pronouns may not always need to be gendered in English (she, him, his, hers etc.) if the pronoun is masculine or feminine in Latin.  

• These pronouns can stand on their own, but when they accompany another noun they modify that noun as a weak demonstrative (pointing word) and will be translated as “this/these,” “that/those,” or even “the.” 

Eas litteras tibi scribo.
I write these letters to you.

In this sentence, eas agrees with litteras in case, number, and gender, and so it will act as an adjective, rather than a pronoun.

Reflexive Pronouns

The word “reflexive” (which comes from the Latin reflecto) means that it reflects the subject.  In English we indicate reflexive pronouns with the suffix “-self”.  For example,

You give gifts to yourself.
I love myself.
Aelia sees herself.

The first and second person reflexive pronouns are the same as the personal pronouns you learned above.  For example,

Dona tibi das.
Amo me.
Aelia se videt.

For the third person reflexive (himself, herself, itself, themselves), the following pronoun is used.

There are a few things we should note about the third person reflexive pronoun.

• There is no nominative, because the pronoun refers back to the subject, so it cannot BE the subject.
• It very closely resembles the pronoun tu, tui, tibi, te, te.
• The forms are the same in the singular and plural.  
• There are not separate forms for different genders. 

Our sentence above (Aelia sees herself.) would be translated as:

Aelia se videt. 

The possessive adjective suus, -a, -um will be used instead of the genitive pronoun to show possession.  For example,

Aelia amat suas litteras.
Aelia loves her own letters.