13 E-Verbs (Second Conjugation)
“Good. Now to verbs. When Terence was yelling at the actors before, saying things like docēbam, dēbētis, those were verbs – you could tell by the personal endings. Here are some more common verbs. Write them in your vocabulary like this for now, but leave a space big enough for two more words between the Latin and the English, so that we can fill it in later. The translation I’ve given you is the translation of the infinitive:”
dēbeō, deb-ēreto need (to do something); to owe
doceō, doc-ēreto teach
habeō, hab-ēreto have, to hold
iaceō, iac-ēreto lie “As in: to lie on the ground”
iubeō, iub-ēreto order
maneō, man-ēreto remain; to wait for
moveō, mov-ēreto move
timeō, tim-ēreto fear
valeō, val-ēreto be strong “You only need one Latin word
to translate the two English words ‘be strong’!”
videō, vid-ēreto see
“What do these ten verbs all have in common?” The first-person singular ends in ō.
“What else?
Actually, they all end in eō. “And what else?
The infinitive, for all of them, ends in ēre.
“That’s right. This family of verbs, which I call E-Verbs – also called the Second Conjugation – all have a 1st person singular present form with the ending eō, and an infinitive with the ending ēre. This makes them different from A-Verbs, which have a first-person singular that ends in ō, and an infinitive that ends in āre. Verbs cannot change from A-Verbs to E-verbs or back; they are stuck in the conjugations they belong to.”
“Now tē docēbō, I will teach you, the forms of E-verbs in all three tenses. The Stem is made from the infinitive without the ending ēre: dēb–, doc–, hab–, iac–, iub–, man–, mov–, tim–, val–, vid–.”
“Do you remember the A-Verb present tense endings?” I do, I said.
“Excellent. The Present Tense endings for E-Verbs are similar, but all have the letter ē. The e is short before ō, t, and nt:”
E-Verb Present Tense endings (A)
SingularPlural
-e-ō-ē-musdēbeōdēbēmus
-ē-s-ē-tisdēbēsdēbētis
-e-t-e-ntdēbetdēbent
I needwe need
you needyou all need
he she it needsthey need
We see when you move.Vidēmus cum movēs.
“TODAY’S RULE IS, MARK EVERY SUBJECT, OBJECT, OR PREDICATE AND THE PERSON, NUMBER, AND TENSE OF EACH VERB, THEN TRANSLATE, ADJUSTING FOR ENGLISH WORD ORDER.”
Sī docēmus, valētis. (1)
Ego, cum iubent, iaceō. (2)
You see and fear unless it moves. (3)
“The verbs dēbeō, doceō, and iubeō are like cōgitō and amō because they can govern an Infinitive.” Messenio needs to prepare them.Messeniō eōs parāre dēbet.
Terentius needs to teach us; he orders me to move. (4)
“Next, the Imperfect Tense endings. These are the same as the A-Verbs, except they have –ē– instead of –ā– between the stem and ending. The rest of the ending is the same:”
E-Verb Imperfect Tense endings (B)
SingularPlural
-ē-bam-ē-bāmushabēbamhabēbāmus
-ē-bās-ē-bātishabēbāshabēbātis
-ē-bat-ē-banthabēbathabēbant
I was havingwe were having you were havingyou all were having he she it was havingthey were having
They were moving, we were being strong.Movēbant, valēbāmus. Vidēbam cum iacēbās. (5)
Aliquid habēbātis cum is manēbat. (6)
You were strong, and you were teaching me to move. (7) “Be Careful: how do
you translate ‘to move’?” “The Future Tense endings of E-Verbs likewise have –ē–b– instead of –ā–b–:”
E-Verb Future Tense endings (C)
SingularPlural
-ē-bō-ē-bimusiubēbōiubēbimus
-ē-bis-ē-bitisiubēbisiubēbitis
-ē-bit-ē-buntiubēbitiubēbunt
I will orderwe will order
you will orderyou all will order he she it will orderthey will order
I will fear and they will order you to think. Timēbō et tē cōgitāre iubēbunt. Valēbimus sī ea nōs mūtāre iubēbit. (8)
Manēbis sī tē manēre iubēbō. (9)
Unless I will teach you to prepare, you will fear and not be strong. (10)
“So E-Verbs have the same endings as A-Verbs, except that the letter ē replaces the letter ā, and in the 1st person singular present, the ending is eō instead ō. Vidēsne, do you see? Answer me in Latin.”
Ego videō. Videō!