Verb tenses

Verb tenses

Present Tense

• The present tense is used to describe actions happening right now or actions that happen regularly.
• The Latin for ‘I love’ is amo. Other examples include capio (I take, I am taking), rego (I rule, I am ruling).
• The endings for the present tense are: -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt.

Imperfect Tense

• The imperfect tense describes actions that were ongoing or incomplete in the past.
• The Latin for ‘I was loving’ is amabam. Other examples include capiebam (I was taking), regebam (I was ruling).
• The endings for the imperfect tense are: -bam, -bas, -bat, -bamus, -batis, -bant.

Future Tense

• The future tense describes actions that will happen in the future.
• The Latin for ‘I will love’ is amabo. Other examples include capiam (I will take), regam (I will rule).
• The endings for the future tense in the 1st and 2nd conjugation are: -bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt.
• The endings for the future tense in the 3rd and 4th conjugation are: -am, -es, -et, -emus, -etis, -ent.

Perfect Tense

• The perfect tense describes completed actions that happened in the past.
• The Latin for ‘I have loved/I loved’ is amavi. Other examples include cepi (I have taken/I took), rexi (I have ruled/I ruled).
• The endings for the perfect tense are: -i, -isti, -it, -imus, -istis, -erunt/-ere.

Pluperfect Tense

• The pluperfect tense describes actions that had been completed before another past action.
• The Latin for ‘I had loved’ is amaveram. Other examples include ceperam (I had taken), rexeram (I had ruled).
• The endings for the pluperfect tense are: -eram, -eras, -erat, -eramus, -eratis, -erant.

Future Perfect Tense

• The future perfect tense describes actions that will have been completed before another future action.
• The Latin for ‘I will have loved’ is amavero. Other examples include cepero (I will have taken), rexero (I will have ruled).
• The endings for the future perfect tense are: -ero, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint.