Latin Verbs: Active Personal Verb-Endings

LatinPraxis Index

A Latin verb often has an ending that indicates something about its subject. The ending indicates which type of person goes with the verb as its subject, so it is called a personal ending.

Here the word person is a grammatical term indicating whether the subject is equivalent to I / we; you (singular) / you (plural); or he, she, it / they.

1. If the subject is the speaker or speakers, then the statement is made in the first person:

   I see, we speak

   The typical Latin active endings for the first person are -m or -ô for the singular and -mus for the plural.

   côgitô = I think
   côgitâbam = I used to think
   amô = I love
   amâveram = I had loved
     
   habêmus = We have
   amâmus = We love

2. If the subject is a person or persons spoken to, then the statement is made in the second person:

   you see, you (pl.) speak

   The typical Latin active endings for the second person are -s for the singular and -tis for the plural.

   côgitâs = you think
   amâs = you love
     
   habêtis = you (plural) have
   amâtis = you (plural) love

3. If the subject is someone else, a "third party," then the statement is made in the third person:

   he / she / it sees, they speak

   The typical Latin active endings for the third person are -t for the singular and -nt for the plural.

   côgitat = he / she / it thinks
   amat = he / she / it loves

   habent = they have
   amant = they love

Compare the passive personal endings.

Compare the regular active perfect endings.

But notice:

The subject can be merely embedded in the form of the verb (Côgitô = "I think.") or it can be expressed, that is, explicit, in a separate word in the sentence (Tempus fugit. = Time escapes.).

If the subject is explicit and the verb is in the third person, the pronoun is usually omitted and the expressed subject is used with the verb.

currunt = They are running. [Embedded subject]
puerî currunt = The children are running. [Explicit subject]

mê monet. = He / she / it is reminding me. [Embedded subject]
mê monet Julia. = Julia is reminding me. [Explicit subject]

In the two other persons, pronouns and the expressed subject are both used in the translation:

videô = I see.
senex videô = I, an old man, see. As an old man, I see.

timêtis = You (pl.) fear.
Rômânî timêtis. = You Romans fear.

This is a typical way of showing the active personal verb-endings in a table, with the first column containing the singular forms and the second one the plural ones. The rows designate the three different persons.

Go to the practice.

Latin Teaching Materials at Saint Louis University: © Claude Pavur 1997 - 2006.  This material is being made freely available for non-commercial educational use.