Irregular Verbs

Table of contents

1. Irregular Verbs
2. eō, īre, īvī/iī, ītūrus - to go
3. ferō, ferre, tulī, latus - to bring, bear, carry
4. volō, nōlō, mālō

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Irregular Verbs

There are a number of irregular verbs in Latin, in the sense that their conjugation patterns often do not follow the normal rules or regular patterns that we’ve been learning for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd -iō, and 4th conjugation verbs. We’ve encountered two irregular verbs so far (sum and possum), which we’ve used in various circumstances like linking sentences and sentences that expect complementary infinitives. In this unit, we introduce 5 more irregular verbs.

• eō, īre, īvī/iī, ītūrus - to go
• ferō, ferre, tūlī, lātus - to bear, carry
• volō, velle, voluī, – - to want, wish
• nōlō, nolle, noluī, – - not to want
• mālō, malle, maluī, – - to prefer

As with sum and possum, the perfect system tenses of these verbs (perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect – more on the latter two in the next unit) are formed mostly regularly, with some exceptions:

• volō, nōlō, and mālō do not have 4th principal parts and thus do not have perfect passive forms.
• While eō does have a 4th principal part, it is not to be used to create perfect passive forms (after all, the verb “to go” is intransitive and does not exist in the passive voice; the sentence “he was goned” or “she has been went” doesn’t make sense). The form listed as the 4th principal part is the future active participle, with which we will not be dealing this semester.
• Forms of eō that begin with a double i followed by an s (for example, the perfect active infinitive iisse) can contract the double i into a single long i (e.g., īsse).

The tenses that are irregular belong mostly to the present system, namely the present, imperfect, and future tenses. While they exhibit some characteristic signs of these tenses that we will recognize (e.g., the imperfect of these verbs will have the -bā- sheep syllable), often the verb stems will be created irregularly (i.e., not formed from the 2nd principal part minus -re), and some verb forms will even involve multiple words. We’ll break down each verb below.

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eō, īre, īvī/iī, ītūrus - to go

This verb’s present system tenses use a stem that varies between e- and i-.

In the present tense, note how the endings are familiar (e.g., -t and -nt), but the stems do not follow regular patterns (it for 3rd person singular, “he goes”, but eunt for 3rd person plural, “they go”).

In the imperfect tense, the familiar endings of -bā- sheep syllable plus personal ending are present, but suffixed on a stem of i- (e.g., ībat for 3rd person singular, “she was going”, and ībant, “they were going”).

The future tense uses the same stem of i- and uses the future endings of the 1st and 2nd conjugations (e.g., ībit, “it will go”, and ībunt, “they will go”).

Be careful about how the forms are spelled, since often one letter will make the difference between tenses (e.g., ībit, “he will go”, but ībat, “he was going”).

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ferō, ferre, tulī, latus - to bring, bear, carry

This verb’s present system generally follows 3rd conjugation patterns, with some omissions of stem vowels in the present tense and a stem of fer- in the imperfect and future. Unlike īre, “to go”, ferre, “to bring, bear, carry”, is a transitive verb and has both active and passive forms.

(Scroll right within the table for all columns.)

In the present tense, note that the stem vowel is omitted in the 2nd sg., 3rd sg. (fert, “she brings”; fertur, “it is carried”), and 2nd pl., but it has a -u- as in the 3rd conjugation in the 3rd pl. (ferunt, “they bear”; feruntur, “they are carried”).

The imperfect tense is formed on the stem fer- with the -ē- of the 3rd conjugation coming before the sheep syllable and personal ending (e.g., ferēbat, “he was bringing”; ferēbātur, “he was being carried”; ferēbant, “they were carrying”; ferēbantur, “they were being brought”).

The future tense uses the future endings of the 3rd, 3rd -iō, and 4th conjugations on the stem of fer- (feret, “she will bring”; ferētur, “he will be brought”; ferent, “they will bring”; ferentur, “they will be brought”).

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volō, nōlō, mālō

These three verbs are often explained together given their relationships in meaning and in conjugation (with the forms of nōlō and mālō generally patterned after those of volō).

• volō, velle, voluī, – - to want, to be willing (+ complementary infinitive)
• nōlō, nolle, noluī, – - not to want, not to be willing (+ complementary infinitive)
• mālō, malle, maluī, – - to prefer (+ complementary infinitive)

In the present tense, the stems of each of the verbs are truly irregular and sometimes involve multiple words; note, for example, how the 3rd sg. of nōlō, nōn vult, “she does not want”, is literally a negation (nōn, “not”) of the 3rd sg. of volō (vult, “you want”).

The imperfect and future tenses of all three verbs are formed along 3rd conjugation patterns, on stems specific to each verb (volō -> vol-; nōlō -> nōl-; mālō -> māl-).

All three verbs generally expect a complementary infinitive to fill out their meanings. For example:

• puer vidēre sorōrēs vult.
  • The boy wants to see his sisters.
• dux mīlitēs in urbem mittere nōlet.
  • The leader will not be willing to send the soldiers into the city.
• esse quam videri bonus mālēbat. (Sallust Catiline 54.5).
  • He was preferring to be (good) (rather) than to seem good.

In the last example, note that the conjunction quam is used with the verb mālō to compare two actions, one of which is preferable to the other. When used with a form of mālō, it means “(rather) than”; in other contexts, however, it can be the feminine accusative singular of the relative pronoun. The presence or absence of a clear antecedent (i.e., a feminine singular noun in the main clause) will be another way to tell the difference between the conjunction quam meaning “than” and the relative pronoun quam meaning “whom”, “which”, or “that”:

• arbor quam puer vīdit magna est.
  • The tree which the boy saw is big.

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