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Romance verbs are the most inflected part of speech in the language family. In the transition from Latin to the Romance languages, verbs went through many phonological, syntactic, and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with more analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.
The following table presents a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb cantare "to sing" in Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin (reconstructed as Proto-Italo-Western Romance, with stress marked), and nine modern Romance languages. The conjugations below were given from their respective Wiktionary pages.
| Form | Classical Latin | Vulgar Latin | Major languages | Minor languages | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French (written) [a] | French (spoken) [a] | Romanian | Sardinian (Logudorese) | Sicilian | Catalan | Romansh (Grischun) | ||||||
| Infinitive | cantāre | *cantáre | cantar | cantar | cantare | chanter | /ʃɑ̃te/ | cânta | cantare | cantari | cantar | chantar | |||
| Present participle [b] | cantandus | *cantándu | cantando | cantando | cantando | chantant | /ʃɑ̃tɑ̃/ | cântând | – | cantannu | cantant | chantond | |||
| cantāns | *cantánte | cantante | cantante | cantante [c] | – | – | – | cantende | – | – | – | ||||
| Past participle | cantātum | *cantátu | cantado | cantado | cantato | chanté | /ʃɑ̃te/ | cântat | cantadu | cantatu | cantat | chantà | |||
| Indicative | Present | cantō cantās cantat cantāmus cantātis cantant | *cánto *cántas *cántat *cantámos *cantátes *cántant | canto cantas canta cantamos cantáis cantan | canto cantas canta cantamos cantais cantam | canto canti canta cantiamo cantate cantano | chante chantes chante chantons chantez chantent | /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃tɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃te/ /ʃɑ̃t/ | cânt cânți cântă cântăm cântați cântă | canto cantas cantat cantamus cantades cantant | cantu canti canta cantamu cantati càntanu | canto cantes canta cantem canteu canten | chant chantas chanta chantain chantais chantan | ||
| Imperfect | cantābam cantābās cantābat cantābāmus cantābātis cantābant | *cantába *cantábas *cantábat *cantábamos *cantábates *cantábant | cantaba cantabas cantaba cantábamos cantabais cantaban | cantava cantavas cantava cantávamos cantáveis cantavam | cantavo cantavi cantava cantavamo cantavate cantavano | chantais chantais chantait chantions chantiez chantaient | /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tje/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ | cântam cântai cânta cântam cântați cântau | cantaia cantaias cantaiat cantaiamus cantaiades cantaiant | cantavu cantavi cantava cantàvamu cantàvavu cantàvanu | cantava cantaves cantava cantàvem cantàveu cantaven | chantava chantavas chantava chantavan chantavas chantavan | |||
| Preterite | cantāvī cantāvistī cantāvit cantāvimus cantāvistis cantāvērunt | *cantái *cantásti *cantáut *cantámos *cantástes *cantáront | canté cantaste cantó cantamos cantasteis cantaron | cantei cantaste cantou cantámos cantastes cantaram | cantai cantasti cantò cantammo cantaste cantarono | chantai chantas chanta chantâmes chantâtes chantèrent [d] | /ʃɑ̃te/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃tam/ /ʃɑ̃tat/ /ʃɑ̃tɛʁ/ | cântai cântași cântă cântarăm cântarăți cântară | cantesi cantesti cantesit cantemus cantezis canteint | cantai cantasti cantau cantammu cantastivu cantàrunu | cantí cantares cantà cantàrem cantàreu cantaren | – | |||
| Pluperfect | cantāveram cantāveras cantāverat cantāverāmus cantāverātis cantāverant | *cantára *cantáras *cantárat *cantáramos *cantárates *cantárant | cantara cantaras cantara cantáramos cantarais cantaran [e] | cantara cantaras cantara cantáramos cantáreis cantaram [f] | – | – | – | – | – | cantirìa cantirissi cantirìa cantirìamu cantirìavu cantirìanu [g] | – | – | |||
| Future [h] | cantābō cantābis cantābit cantābimus cantābitis cantābunt | – | cantaré cantarás cantará cantaremos cantaréis cantarán | cantarei cantarás cantará cantaremos cantareis cantarão | canterò canterai canterà canteremo canterete canteranno | chanterai chanteras chantera chanterons chanterez chanteront | /ʃɑ̃tʁe/ /ʃɑ̃tʁa/ /ʃɑ̃tʁa/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tʁe/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/ | – | – | cantirò cantirai cantirà cantiremu cantireti cantirannu | cantaré cantaràs cantarà cantarem cantareu cantaran | – | |||
| Conditional (Future in the past) [h] | – | – | cantaría cantarías cantaría cantaríamos cantaríais cantarían | cantaria cantarias cantaria cantaríamos cantaríeis cantariam | canterei canteresti canterebbe canteremmo cantereste canterebbero | chanterais chanterais chanterait chanterions chanteriez chanteraient | /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃təʁjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃təʁje/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ | – | – | cantirìa cantirissi cantirìa cantirìamu cantirìavu cantirìanu | cantaria cantaries cantaria cantaríem cantaríeu cantarien | – | |||
| Future perfect | cantāverō cantāveris cantāverit cantāverimus cantāveritis cantāverint | *cantáre *cantáres *cantáret *cantáremos *cantáretes *cantárent | cantare cantares cantare cantáremos cantareis cantaren [i] [j] | cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantarem [i] | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Subjunctive | Present | cantem cantēs cantet cantēmus cantētis cantent | *cánte *cántes *cántet *cantémos *cantétes *cántent | cante cantes cante cantemos cantéis canten | cante cantes cante cantemos canteis cantem | canti canti canti cantiamo cantiate cantino | chante chantes chante chantions chantiez chantent | /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tje/ /ʃɑ̃t/ | cânt cânți cânte cântăm cântați cânte | cante cantes cantet cantemus cantedes cantent | cantu canti canta cantamu cantati càntanu | canti cantis canti cantem canteu cantin | chantia chantias chantia chantian chantias chantian | ||
| Perfect | cantāverim cantāveris cantāverit cantāverimus cantāveritis cantāverint | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Imperfect | cantārem cantārēs cantāret cantārēmus cantārētis cantārent | *cantáre *cantáres *cantáret *cantáremos *cantáretes *cantárent | – | cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantarem [k] | – | – | – | – | cantere canteres canteret canteremus canterezes canterent | – | – | – | |||
| Pluperfect [l] | cantāvissem cantāvissēs cantāvisset cantāvissēmus cantāvissētis cantāvissent | *cantásse *cantásses *cantásset *cantássemos *cantássetes *cantássent | cantase cantases cantase cantásemos cantaseis cantasen | cantasse cantasses cantasse cantássemos cantásseis cantassem | cantassi cantassi cantasse cantassimo cantaste cantassero | chantasse chantasses chantât chantassions chantassiez chantassent [j] | /ʃɑ̃tas/ /ʃɑ̃tas/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃tasjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tasje/ /ʃɑ̃tas/ | cântasem cântaseși cântase cântaserăm cântaserăți cântaseră | – | cantassi cantassi cantassi cantàssimu cantàssivu cantàssiru | cantés cantessis cantés cantéssim cantéssiu cantessin | chantass chantasses chantass chantassen chantasses chantassen [m] | |||
| Imperative [n] | cantā cantāte | *cánta *cantáte | canta cantad | canta cantai | canta cantate | chante chantez | /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃te/ | cântă cântați | canta cantade | canta cantati | canta canteu | chanta chantai | |||
Note that the Vulgar Latin reconstructions are believed to have regularized word stress within each tense (except the present and imperative). Word-final ⟨e⟩ probably converged on /ə/. Many verb forms have undergone elisions, like the indicative pluperfect cantāveram > *cantára and the subjunctive imperfect cantāvissem > *cantásse.
In this section, "Vulgar Latin" is actually reconstructed as reconstructed Proto-Italo-Western Romance, most notably the shift from Classical Latin -i- and -u- to -e- /e/ and -o- /o/, as opposed to inherited /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively. The developments include:
In the Proto-Romance grammatical tradition, the second and third conjugation are known as third conjugation, similarly to French.
Verbs in the first conjugation are in -āre (*-áre), later evolved to -are in Italian, -ar in most Romance languages and -er in French.
| Infinitive | *-áre | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-ánte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-ándu | ||||||
| Supine | *-átu | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o [a] | *-as [a] | *-at [a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant [a] |
| Imperfect | *-ába | *-ábas | *-ábat | *-ábamos | *-ábates | *-ábant | |
| Preterite | *-áui | *-áusti | *-áut | *-ámos | *-ástes | *-áront | |
| Pluperfect | *-ára | *-áras | *-árat | *-áramos | *-árates | *-árant | |
| Future perfect | *-áro | *-áres | *-áret | *-áremos | *-áretes | *-árent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-e [a] | *-es [a] | *-et [a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent [a] |
| Imperfect | *-áre | *-áres | *-áret | *-arémos | *-arétes | *-árent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ásse | *-ásses | *-ásset | *-assémos | *-assétes | *-ássent | |
| Imperative | *-a [a] | *-áte | |||||
Verbs in the second conjugation are in -ēre (*-ére), later evolved to -ere in Italian, -er in most Romance languages and -oir in French (no "regular" -oir verbs). Another infinitive -ere has merged into this paradigm.
| Infinitive | *-ére | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-énte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-éndu | ||||||
| Supine | *-etu [a] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-io [a] | *-es [a] | *-et [a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent [a] |
| Imperfect | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant | |
| Preterite | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-éront | |
| Pluperfect | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant | |
| Future perfect | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-ia [a] | *-ias [a] | *-iat [a] | *-iámos | *-iátes | *-iant [a] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-é [a] | *-éte | |||||
Verbs in the third conjugation are in -ere (*-ere, caused stress in previous syllable), later merged with -ere (*-ere, causes stress in antepenultimate syllable), but -re in French and Catalan. The suffix -re in French are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.
The -iō variant (*-io in Vulgar Latin) now defunct, later merged with the second conjugation; the paradigm now only exists in some descendants of the verb faciō.
| Infinitive | *-ere [a] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-énte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-éndu | ||||||
| Supine | *-etu [a] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o [a] | *-es [a] | *-et [a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ont [a] |
| Imperfect | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant | |
| Preterite | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant | |
| Future perfect | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-a [a] | *-as [a] | *-at [a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant [a] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-e [a] | *-éte | |||||
Verbs in the fourth conjugation are in -īre (*-íre), later evolved to -ire in Italian, and -ir in most Romance languages. This conjugation type are infixed with once-inchoative -īsc- → *-ísc- in some languages, but its placement varies.
| Infinitive | *-íre | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-iénte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-iéndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-íto | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-io [a] | *-is [a] | *-it [a] | *-ímos | *-ítes | *-iont [a] |
| Imperfect | *-iéba | *-iébas | *-iébat | *-iébamos | *-iébates | *-iébant | |
| Preterite | *-i | *-ísti | *-it | *-ímos | *-ístes | *-íront | |
| Pluperfect | *-íra | *-íras | *-írat | *-íramos | *-írates | *-írant | |
| Future perfect | *-íro | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-ia [a] | *-ias [a] | *-iat [a] | *-iamos | *-iates | *-iant [a] |
| Imperfect | *-íre | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ísse | *-ísses | *-ísset | *-íssemos | *-íssetes | *-íssent | |
| Imperative | *-i [a] | *-íte | |||||
In Italian, Catalan, and Romanian, the infix -isc-; -esc-, -eix- (Catalan), and -ăsc- (Romanian) is placed on once-stressed indicative and subjunctive present forms (the first-, second-, third-singular and third plural present tenses), and stressed imperatives. In French, the infix -iss- is placed on all indicative present forms, the indicative imperfect, the subjunctive present, and plural imperatives.
While there are few non-infixed -īre verbs (also known are pure -īre verbs), in French the infixed verbs are the only regular verbs, otherwise irregular.
While the nominal morphology in Romance languages is primarily agglutinative, the verbal morphology is fusional. The verbs are highly inflected for numbers (singular and plural), persons (first-, second-, and third-person), moods (indicative, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative), tenses (present, past, future), and aspects (imperfective and perfective).
Because of the complexities in Romance conjugation, certain languages have a separate article regarding these conjugations:
While there are 4 regular infinitives in Classical Latin, namely -āre, -ēre, -ere, and -īre, some of these infinitive were merged. In many Romance languages including Spanish and Portuguese, the main infinitives are -ar, -er, and -ir, with addition of -ôr (Portuguese only) which only exists in the verb pôr , traditionally considered as -er verbs. While in Italian, the infinitives are -are, -ere, -ire. The infinitives -er and -ere (Italian) resulted from the merge of Latin infinitives -ēre and -ere. In French, the infinitives are -er, -oir, -re, -ir, but verbs with -oir and -re are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.
Latin deponent verbs like sequor and nascor (infinitive sequī, nascī) changed to active counterparts *séquo and *násco (infinitive *séquere, *nascere), as in Portuguese seguir , Spanish seguir , and Italian seguire ; and Portuguese nascer , Spanish nacer , and French naître .
| Hard | Soft | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Back vowels | Front vowels | Back vowels | Front vowels |
| c- | quV- | z- | c- |
| g- | guV- | j- | g- |
In many Romance languages, verb stems ending in -c, -z shown above were regularly altered to preserve its pronunciation. However, it is not considered irregular.
While the passive voice became completely periphrastic in Romance, the active voice has been morphologically preserved to a greater or lesser extent. The tables below compare the conjugation of the Latin verbs sum and stō in the active voice with that of the Romance copulae, their descendants. For simplicity, only the first person singular is listed for finite forms. Note that certain forms in Romance languages come from the suppletive sources sedeo (to be seated) instead of sum, e.g. subjunctive present: sedea > sia, sea, seja... (medieval Galician-Portuguese, for instance, had double forms in the whole conjugation: sou/sejo, era/sia, fui/sevi, fora/severa, fosse/sevesse...)
| Form | Latin | Italian | French1 | Spanish | Portuguese | Logudorese | Catalan | Sicilian | Romansh | Romanian | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | Present | sum | stō | sono | sto | suis | – | soy | estoy | sou | estou | so | isto | sóc | estic | sugnu | staiu | sun | sunt | |
| Imperfect | eram | stābam | ero | stavo | – | étais | era | estaba | era | estava | essia | istaia | era | estava | era | stava | era | eram | ||
| Preterite | fuī | stetī | fui | stetti | fus | – | fui | estuve | fui | estive | essesi | istesi | fui | estiguí | fui | stesi | – | fui, fusei | ||
| Pluperfect | fueram | steteram | – | – | – | – | fuera | estuviera | fora | estivera | – | – | fóra | estigués | fora | – | – | – | ||
| Future2 | erō | stābō | sarò | starò | serai | – | seré | estaré | serei | estarei | – | – | seré | estaré | – | – | – | – | ||
| Subjunctive | Present | sim | stem | sia | stia | sois | – | sea | esté | seja | esteja | sia | iste | sigui, siga | estigui, estiga | – | – | saja | să fiu | |
| Perfect3 | fuerim | steterim | – | – | – | – | fuere | estuviere | for | estiver | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Imperfect | essem | starem | – | – | – | – | – | – | ser | estar | essere | istere | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Pluperfect | fuissem | stetissem | fossi | stessi | fusse | – | fuese | estuviese | fosse | estivesse | – | – | fos | estigués | fussi | stassi | fiss | fusesem | ||
| Infinitive | esse | stāre | essere | stare | être | – | ser | estar | ser | estar | essere | istare | ser, ésser | estar | siri | stari | esser | fire, a fi | ||
| Supine | – | statum | – | stato | – | été | sido | estado | sido | estado | essidu | istadu | estat, sigut, sét | estat | statu | statu | stà | fost | ||
| Gerund | – | standum | essendo | stando | – | étant | siendo | estando | sendo | estando | essende | istande | sent, essent | estant | sennu | stannu | essend, siond | fiind | ||
This is the Vulgar Latin conjugation of the verb *avére:
| Infinitive | *avére | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *avénte | ||||||
| Gerund | *avéndu | ||||||
| Supine | *áutu | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *áio | *áus | *áut | *avémos | *avétes | *áunt |
| Imperfect | *avéba | *avébas | *avébat | *avébamos | *avébates | *avébant | |
| Preterite | *áui | *avésti | *áut | *avémos | *avéstes | *áuront | |
| Pluperfect | *avéra | *avéras | *avérat | *avéramos | *avérates | *avérant | |
| Future | *averáio | *averáious | *averáiout | *averavémos | *averavétes | *averáunt | |
| Conditional | *averavéba | *averavéba | *averavébat | *averavébamos | *averavébates | *averavébant | |
| Future perfect | *avéro | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *áia | *áias | *áiat | *aiámos | *aiátes | *áiant |
| Imperfect | *avére | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent | |
| Pluperfect | *avésse | *avésses | *avésset | *avessémos | *avessétes | *avéssent | |
| Imperative | *áu | *avéte | |||||
Notice that these forms sometimes also have an inconsistent form, as the table above more resembling with that of French.
In spite of the remarkable continuity of form, several Latin tenses have changed meaning, especially subjunctives.
The Latin imperfect subjunctive underwent a change in syntactic status, becoming a personal infinitive in Portuguese and Galician. [1] An alternative hypothesis traces the personal infinitive back to the Latin infinitive, not to a conjugated verb form. [2]
In many cases, the empty cells in the tables above exist as distinct compound verbs in the modern languages. Thus, the main tense and mood distinctions in classical Latin are still made in most modern Romance languages, though some are now expressed through compound rather than simple verbs. Some examples, from Romanian:
New forms also developed, such as the conditional, which in most Romance languages started out as a periphrasis, but later became a simple tense. In Romanian, the conditional is still periphrastic: aș fi, ai fi, ar fi, am fi, ați fi, ar fi.