Latin/Verbs Present Tense Lesson 4

Salvēte omnēs!

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New grammar: fourth conjugation verbs
This week we’ll continue with our study of present tense verbs. Verbs of the 4th conjugation are marked by a 2nd principal part, the infinitive, which ends in –īre. Like the 3rd conjugation, they follow the “IOU rule” in forming the present tense. But all verbs in this conjugation retain the I-stem, which shows up in the present tense in the 1st person singular and 3rd person plural. This may make it difficult to distinguish 3rd conjugation I-stems from 4th conjugation verbs; the difference is in the infinitive. 4th conjugation verbs usually follow a regular pattern for their 4 principal parts: -iō, īre, īvī, itus. Where this is not the case, the principal parts will be written out. Here’s how you conjugate a 4th conjugation verb in the present tense:

We introduced 2 verbs of this type already, in the food lesson:

Practice
We hope you have enjoyed this set of lessons on verbs. In the next lessons, here are the concepts we’ll need to explore: personal pronouns, prepositions, colors (which are really just more adjectives), 4th declension nouns, 5th declension nouns, questions, clothing, numbers, time and dates. It’s quite a respectable beginning.

Valēte et habēte bonam fortūnam!