Present Tense
Table of contents
Conceptual Overview
The present tense indicates that the action of a verb is happening at the same time as the speaker’s utterance. For example, in the sentence “I write about the present tense”, the verb “write” indicates that the process of writing is currently happening. The present tense can also show an action in progress through the use of a form of the verb “to be” and the addition of -ing to the verb; for example, “we are learning about Latin.” The verb “are learning” indicates that learning is in the process of happening! A third possibility is using the helping verb “does/do” with the verb to make it emphatic: “We do understand the concept.” This is also the formulation we would use, with slightly altered word order, to express a question with a present tense verb: “Do you understand the concept?”
Here are some more English examples of the present tense, with the Latin equivalent of the verb in parentheses:
- She is coming (venit) from the market.
- An exam is being given (datur) by the teacher.
- He writes (scrībit) a letter.
- We are looking for (petimus) our friends.
So, the present can be translated in various ways: in the third person singular active voice, as a simple present like “he gives”, a present progressive like “he is giving”, or an emphatic present like “he does give”; in the third person singular passive voice, “he is (being) given.”
All Conjugations
This is a broad overview of the formation of the present tense across all conjugations. If you prefer a more structured and compartmentalized approach to the differences between the conjugations, see the sections below on the 1st and 2nd conjugations and 3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō conjugations.
This chart overviews the present tense in the active and passive voice across all conjugations. Note the patterns, both within individual conjugations and across conjugations: for example, what vowels precede the personal endings of -ō, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt or -r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur in a given conjugation? Focus for now, though, on the bolded 3rd person forms.
Active
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd -iō | 4th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | amō | moneō | regō | cupiō | audiō |
| 2nd sg. | amās | monēs | regis | cupis | audīs |
| 3rd sg. | amat | monet | regit | cupit | audit |
| 1st pl. | amāmus | monēmus | regimus | cupimus | audīmus |
| 2nd pl. | amātis | monētis | regitis | cupitis | audītis |
| 3rd pl. | amant | monent | regunt | cupiunt | audiunt |
Passive
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd -iō | 4th | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | amor | moneor | regor | cupior | audior |
| 2nd sg. | amāris | monēris | regiris | cuperis | audīris |
| 3rd sg. | amātur | monētur | regitur | cupitur | audītur |
| 1st pl. | amāmur | monēmur | regimur | cupimur | audīmur |
| 2nd pl. | amāminī | monēminī | regiminī | cupiminī | audīminī |
| 3rd pl. | amantur | monentur | reguntur | cupiuntur | audiuntur |
1st and 2nd Conjugations
This is a specific discussion of the formation of the present tense in the 1st and 2nd conjugations. For a broader overview of the present tense across all conjugations, see the section above on the present tense across all conjugations.
If you need the first person singular present active indicative form of the verb, you automatically have it from the first principal part of the dictionary entry. For example, with the verb amō, amāre, amāvī, amātus, “to love”, the first principal part, amō, is your first person present active indicative form, which means “I love.”
To form the present indicative in the other persons and numbers in the 1st and 2nd conjugation, we begin by finding the verb’s present stem, through the same process that we used to get the stem for verbs in the imperfect tense: to find it, you go to the second principal part of the verb’s dictionary entry and then chop off the final -re. For example, with the same example verb, we would go to the second principal part, amāre, and chop off the final -re, which leaves us with the present stem: amā-. The second conjugation works the same way: for example, with the verb moneō, monēre, monuī, monitus, “to warn, advise”, the present stem would be monē-.
From there, you add the appropriate personal ending, familiar from the discussion of the imperfet tense and reproduced below, for the person, number, and voice of the verb that you want. Focus on the bolded third person forms for this semester:
Active
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | (-ō) | -mus |
| 2nd | -s | -tis |
| 3rd | -t | -nt |
So, for example, the 3rd person plural present active indicative form of amō is amant, “they love.” The 2nd person singular present active indicative form of moneō is monēs, “you warn.”
For the passive forms, you would tack on the passive personal endings onto your present stem (for the 1st person singular, you would tack the ending directly onto the active form):
Passive
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -r | -mur |
| 2nd | -ris | -minī |
| 3rd | -tur | -ntur |
So, for example, the 1st person singular present passive indicative of amō is amor, “I am (being) loved.” The third person singular present passive indicative of moneō is monētur, “he/she/it is (being) warned.”
3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō Conjugations
This is a specific discussion of the formation of the present tense in the 3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō conjugations. For a broader overview of the present tense across all conjugations, see the section above on the present tense across all conjugations.
In the 3rd, 4th, and 3rd -iō conjugations in the present indicative, there are a number of vowel changes at the end of the present stem from person to person and number to number before we apply the active and passive endings listed in the charts above. You must be aware of these vowel shifts to conjugate a verb correctly.
3rd Conjugation
Let’s conjugate the third conjugation verb regō, regere, rēxī, rectus, “to rule”, in the present active indicative as an example. As above, we can get the 1st person singular form from the first principal part of the verb: regō, “I rule.” For the remaining forms, if we follow the procedure from above, we go to regere and chop off the -re, and then we have the present stem rege-. However, we introduce an extra step here that we didn’t need to follow with 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs: the -e at the end of the present stem may need to change based on the letter that begins the personal ending that will follow it:
- if the personal ending begins with r, then the -e- remains.
- if the personal ending begins with n, then the -e- becomes -u-.
- before a personal ending starting with any other letter, the -e- becomes -i-.
So, the present active indicative of regō looks like this (focus on the bolded 3rd person forms):
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | regō | regimus |
| 2nd | regis | regitis |
| 3rd | regit | regunt |
The present passive indicative works similarly, using passive endings rather than active ones. Take a look at this chart (and again, focus on the bolded forms):
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | regor | regimur |
| 2nd | regeris | regiminī |
| 3rd | regitur | reguntur |
4th Conjugation
The 4th conjugation generally follows the pattern of 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs (go to the infinitive, chop off the -re, add your endings) with one crucial exception: the 3rd pl. form in both the active and the passive shifts the vowel at the end of the stem from -i- to -iu-. So, let’s take the sample verb audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus, “to hear.” The present stem is audī-.
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Sg. | audiō | audior |
| 2nd Sg. | audīs | audīris |
| 3rd Sg. | audit | audītur |
| 1st Pl. | audīmus | audīmur |
| 2nd Pl. | audītis | audīminī |
| 3rd Pl. | audiunt | audiuntur |
3rd -iō Conjugation
The third -iō conjugation is a mixture of 3rd and 4th conjugation forms; such verbs as capiō, capere, cēpī, captus, “to seize, capture”, follow 3rd conjugation patterns in most forms but 4th conjugation patterns in the 3rd pl. (i.e., change the stem vowel to -iu- in the 3rd pl., both active and passive).
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Sg. | capiō | capior |
| 2nd Sg. | capis | caperis |
| 3rd Sg. | capit | capitur |
| 1st Pl. | capimus | capimur |
| 2nd Pl. | capitis | capiminī |
| 3rd Pl. | capiunt | capiuntur |
Note that often, one letter can make the difference between verb tenses, so it is imperative that you recognize what conjugation a verb belongs to and how the verb’s conjugation may affect its stem vowel in order to conjugate it correctly! For example, in the next unit, we will learn about the future tense, which can look very similar to present tense forms in conjugations like the 3rd conjugation:
- regit - She rules. (present tense)
- reget - She will rule. (future tense)
The only difference in these forms is the i in the present tense form versus the e in the future tense form. Pay close attention to the specific spellings of your verb forms!