Latin/Pluperfect Tense Lesson 2

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New grammar
Last lesson covered pluperfect forms of typical verbs, which are formed by adding the endings “eram, eras, erat, eramus, eratis, erant” to the stem from the 3rd principal part. This time, we will work with deponent verbs, which have a passive form, but an active meaning. For these verbs, we will use the same
 * eram, erās, erat, erāmus, erātis, erant,

not as endings, but as helping verbs. They are the imperfect tense forms of the being verb “sum,” but in this case they are added to the 3rd principal part of the deponent verb (which looks a lot like the 4th principal part of a regular verb) as a separate word, to form the pluperfect tense. Just as with the perfect tense, the 3rd principal part of the deponent verb must agree in gender and number with the subject; therefore the endings can be –us/-a/-um//-i/-ae/-a, depending on whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or neuter; and singular or plural. Here are some examples:


 * typical verb: vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus;
 * vocāverat = he had called (3rd person s. (m.) pluperfect active indicative)


 * deponent verb: loquor, loquī, locūtus sum;
 * locūtus erat = he had spoken (3rd person s. (m.) pluperfect indicative of a deponent verb)

Some “defective” verbs are used only in the perfect tenses:
 * meminī = remember;
 * ōdī = hate.

We also know some that have a different sense in the perfect tenses than they have in the present:


 * cognōscō/nōscō = learn, find out, become acquainted with; but
 * cognōvī / nōvī = know (a person)).

For these verbs, the perfect tense is translated as the present, and the pluperfect is translated as the simple past.

Practice
Next lesson, we’ll finish the perfect tenses with a brief look at the future perfect. Thank you to all who follow this course here or on Memrise. If you have questions or comments, leave them on the discuss page and we will try to answer them. Valēte!