• Home
  • Language
    • Words >
      • Nouns >
        • Nominative and Vocative Case
        • Genitive Case
        • Accusative Case
        • Dative Case
        • Ablative Case
        • Irregular Nouns
      • Verbs >
        • Tenses >
          • Present Tense
          • Perfect Tense
          • Imperfect Tense
          • Pluperfect Tense
          • Future Tense
        • Infinitives
        • Active, Passive, and Deponent Verbs
        • Subjunctive Mood
        • Imperative Mood
        • "Be" and Other Irregular Verbs
      • Other Basic Word Types >
        • Adjectives >
          • 1st and 2nd Declension
          • 3rd Declension
        • Adverbs
        • Prepositions
    • Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences >
      • Indirect Discourse >
        • Indirect Commands
        • Indirect Statements
        • Indirect Questions
      • Relative Clauses
      • Purpose Clauses
      • Result Clauses
      • Conditional Sentences
    • Literature and Literary Devices >
      • Poetic Meter
  • History
    • Origins of Rome
    • Kingdom
    • Republic
    • Empire
    • Crisis and Fall
  • Culture
  • Latin Club
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Language
    • Words >
      • Nouns >
        • Nominative and Vocative Case
        • Genitive Case
        • Accusative Case
        • Dative Case
        • Ablative Case
        • Irregular Nouns
      • Verbs >
        • Tenses >
          • Present Tense
          • Perfect Tense
          • Imperfect Tense
          • Pluperfect Tense
          • Future Tense
        • Infinitives
        • Active, Passive, and Deponent Verbs
        • Subjunctive Mood
        • Imperative Mood
        • "Be" and Other Irregular Verbs
      • Other Basic Word Types >
        • Adjectives >
          • 1st and 2nd Declension
          • 3rd Declension
        • Adverbs
        • Prepositions
    • Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences >
      • Indirect Discourse >
        • Indirect Commands
        • Indirect Statements
        • Indirect Questions
      • Relative Clauses
      • Purpose Clauses
      • Result Clauses
      • Conditional Sentences
    • Literature and Literary Devices >
      • Poetic Meter
  • History
    • Origins of Rome
    • Kingdom
    • Republic
    • Empire
    • Crisis and Fall
  • Culture
  • Latin Club
  • Contact
AMCHS Latin

"Be" and other irregular verbs

There are a few verbs in Latin that do not follow the normal rules for verbs. They aren't part of any conjugation, they don't have normal-looking infinitives, and sometimes the different persons/tenses/voices of the verbs change in weird-looking ways. The biggest and most important example of an irregular verb is the verb "to be." Here are the principal parts of that verb:


sum, esse, fuī, futurus

Notice that the parts of this verb don't really look anything like each other, except a minor resemblance between "fui" and "futurus." Also, look at the second principal part, the infinitive. It doesn't have a normal infinitive ending, does it? Nothing about this is normal. You'll just have to live with that. Check out the present-tense versions of "be":

sum - I am   
es - you are   
est - he/she/it is   
sumus - we are   
estis - y'all are   
sunt - they are

It doesn't just follow the normal format of "take the present stem and stick the correct ending on the end," does it?  The beginning of the word changes; sometimes it's "su," sometimes "e," and sometimes "es," with no real pattern to it. This is something you'll just have to live with. Learn the forms of the verb "be," memorize them, put them on your iPod when you go to sleep, recite them to your dog, leave yourself voicemail messages with them on repeat, take them on a nice date and tell them you respect them... JUST KNOW THEM. Here they are, in all their glory:

INDICATIVE VERB "BE"

Picture

SUBJUNCTIVE VERB "BE"

Picture


OTHER IRREGULAR VERBS

There are other verbs that behave irregularly in Latin besides just "be." Only two of the following actually belong to a conjugation - "eō, īre, īī, ītum" which means "to go" belongs to the fourth conjugation, and "fīō, fierī, factus sum" belongs to the second conjugation. The rest don't have conjugations. All of them behave strangely and change their spelling in odd ways in certain grammatical situations. Here's a list of Latin's irregular verbs.

sum, esse, fuī                  to be
volō, velle, voluī             to wish, want
ferō, ferre, tulī, lātum    to bear
possum, posse, potuī    to be able
nōlō, nōlle, nōluī             to be unwilling
fīō, fierī, factus sum       to become, be made
eō, īre, īī, ītum                 to go
mālō, mālle, māluī         to prefer

ONE LAST THING:
There are some compound verbs that are basically the same thing as these, just with a prefix added on. For example, you know that "sum" is the irregular verb that means "I am," but when you add the prefix "ad" to it, it becomes "adsum," which just means "I am here/I am present." Conversely, "absum" means "I am not here/I am absent." There are a lot of different variations of prefixes, but if you recognize the root word beneath them, they're easy to remember and deal with.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.