Verbs
A verb expresses an action or state.
Latin verbs change their endings according to mood, voice, tense, person and number.
Verbs are grouped according to the forms of these changes. A verb group is called a conjugation. There are four main conjugations (1st-4th) and a pseudo-conjugation (sometimes called “5th,” “mixed” or “3rd/4th”). Verbs which fit into one of these conjugations are called regular verbs.
There are a small number of irregular verbs in Latin. The forms of these verbs need to be known especially well, since they appear frequently.
Verb Properties
Mood: | indicative |
subjunctive | |
imperative | |
Voice: | active |
passive | |
Tense: | present |
future | |
imperfect | |
perfect | |
pluperfect | |
Person: | 1st |
2nd | |
3rd | |
Number: | singular |
plural |
Verbals
Verbals are nouns and adjectives derived from verbs. They can have some properties of a verb (e.g. tense and voice) but are not constrained by person or mood (and so are also known as non-finite verbs).
Verbal: | infinitive | (noun) |
participle | (adjective) | |
gerundive | (adjective) |