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For active verbs, A 'perfect infinitive' verb represents an event that is past at the time of stating, perceiving or knowing. Alternatively, the 'present infinitive' paradigms of the "habeō" perfect periphrasis can also represent a past event at the time of stating, stressing that the result is present at that time.
sī pāce ūtī velint, inīquum esse dē stīpendiō recūsāre (Caesar) [157] '(he said that) if they wished for peace, it was unfair to refuse to pay tribute' The verbs in the above sentences are present subjunctive, despite the historic context, by a process called repraesentātiō, which makes the situation more vivid. [158]
The gerundive of the verb (an adjectival form ending in -ndus) can be combined with the verb sum 'I am' to make a passive periphrastic tense. This usually expresses what is needing to be done: ego nec rogandus sum nec hortandus (Pliny) [1] 'I don't need to be asked or encouraged' (i.e. I will do it willingly)
Most Latin verbs are regular and follow one of the five patterns below. [45] These are referred to as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugation, according to whether the infinitive ends in -āre, -ēre, -ere or -īre. [46] (Verbs like capiō are regarded as variations of the 3rd conjugation, with some forms like those of the 4th conjugation.)
Latin word order is relatively free. The verb may be found at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence; an adjective may precede or follow its noun (vir bonus or bonus vir both mean 'a good man'); [5] and a genitive may precede or follow its noun ('the enemies' camp' can be both hostium castra and castra hostium; the latter is more common). [6]
The perfect indicative active tense is the third principal part given in Latin dictionaries. In most verbs it uses a different stem from the present tense; for example, the perfect tense of dūcō 'I lead' is dūxī 'I led'. 1st conjugation: amāvī (-ī, -istī, -it, -imus, -istis, -ērunt/-ēre) 2nd conjugation: vīdī; 3rd conjugation (-ō ...
The ancient Romans themselves, beginning with Varro (1st century BC), originally divided their verbs into three conjugations (coniugationes verbis accidunt tres: prima, secunda, tertia "there are three different conjugations for verbs: the first, second, and third" (), 4th century AD), according to whether the ending of the 2nd person singular had an a, an e or an i in it. [2]
The "e" of "est" elides in the second line, rather than the "a" of "poena." This is very common in Latin with forms of the verb "esse." This type of elision is also common in Hindustani. In poetry, it can allow for the use of words in a metric form that would otherwise make their use impossible. [1]