Ecce Romani Chapter 13 - Notes

Latin I

A. Present Tense Verb: refers to action taking place in the present.

There are three ways to translate the present tense:

ex. portat he carries

he is carrying

he does carry

B. Imperfect Tense Verb: refers to a continuous action in the past, or to an action that

happened over and over again.

The imperfect tense in Latin is formed as follows:

verb stem + ba + personal ending

Conjugation	Connector	HE	THEY
1st	-a-	portabat	portabant
2nd	-e-	monebat	monebant
3rd	-e-	mittebat	mittebant
3rd io	-ie-	iaciebat	iaciebant
4th	-ie-	audiebat	audiebant

(This chapter uses only "he" and "they" forms.

There are five ways to translate the imperfect tense:

ex. portabat he was carrying

he kept (on) carrying

he used to carry

he began to carry

he carried

(Remember the imperfect tense refers to a past action that was continued or repeated.)

ex. a. portabant 1. ___________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________

5. ___________________________________________

b. conspiciebat _____________________________________________

c. iubebant _____________________________________________

d. scribebant _____________________________________________

(over)

Chapter 13 (continued)

Exceptions: There are two verbs (so far) that do not follow the formation rules for the imperfect tense.

Present Tense Imperfect Tense

sum est - he is erat - he was

sunt - they are erant - they were

possum potest - he is able poterat - he was able

possunt - they are able poterant - they were able