 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2012) |
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 tables present a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb amare "to love" 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.
Because the verb "to love" in Romanian is iubi , of which goes back to Proto-Slavic origin and it is in 4th conjugation; while in Romansh is avair gugent which composed from the irregular verb avair , the conjugations in Romanian and Romansh only give the endings.
| Form | Classical Latin | Vulgar Latin | Major languages | Minor languages | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French (written) | French (spoken) | Romanian | Sardinian (Logudorese) | Sicilian | Catalan | Romansh | ||||||
| Infinitive | amāre | *amáre | amar | amar | amare | aimer | /ɛme/ | (-a) | amare | amari | amar | (-ar) | |||
| Present participle [lower-alpha 1] | amandus | *amándo | amando | amando | amando | aimant | /ɛmɑ̃/ | (-ând) | – | amannu | amant | (-ond) | |||
| amāns | *amánte | amante | amante | amante [lower-alpha 2] | – | – | – | amende | – | – | – | ||||
| Past participle | amātum | *amáto | amado | amado | amato | aimé | /ɛme/ | (-at) | amadu | amatu | amat | (-à) | |||
| Indicative | Present | amō amās amat amāmus amātis amant | *ámo *ámas *ámat *amámos *amátes *ámant | amo amas ama amamos amáis aman | amo amas ama amamos amais amam | amo ami ama amiamo amate amano | aime aimes aime aimons aimez aiment | /ɛm/ /ɛm/ /ɛm/ /ɛmɔ̃/ /ɛme/ /ɛm/ | (-∅) (-i) (-ă) (-ăm) (-ați) (-ă) | amo amas amat amamus amades amant | amu ami ama amamu amati àmanu, àmunu | amo ames ama amem ameu amen | (-∅) (-as) (-a) (-ain) (-ais) (-an) | ||
| Imperfect | amābam amābās amābat amābāmus amābātis amābant | *amába *amábas *amábat *amábamos *amábates *amábant | amaba amabas amaba amábamos amabais amaban | amava amavas amava amávamos amáveis amavam | amavo amavi amava amavamo amavate amavano | aimais aimais aimait aimions aimiez aimaient | /ɛmɛ/ /ɛmɛ/ /ɛmɛ/ /ɛmjɔ̃/ /ɛmje/ /ɛmɛ/ | (-am) (-ai) (-a) (-am) (-ați) (-au) | amaia amaias amaiat amaiamus amaiades amaiant | amava, amavu amavi amava amàvamu amàvavu amàvanu, amàvunu | amava amaves amava amàvem amàveu amaven | (-ava) (-avas) (-ava) (-avan) (-avas) (-avan) | |||
| Preterite | amāvī amāvistī amāvit amāvimus amāvistis amāvērunt | *amái *amásti *amáut *amámos *amástes *amáront | amé amaste amó amamos amasteis amaron | amei amaste amou amámos amastes amaram | amai amasti amò amammo amaste amarono | aimai aimas aima aimâmes aimâtes aimèrent [lower-alpha 3] | /ɛme/ /ɛma/ /ɛma/ /ɛmam/ /ɛmat/ /ɛmɛʁ/ | (-ai) (-ași) (-ă) (-arăm) (-arăți) (-ară) | amesi amesti amesit amemus amezis ameint | amai amasti amau, amò amammu, amamu amastivu amàrunu, amaru | amí amares amà amàrem amàreu amaren | – | |||
| Pluperfect | amāveram amāveras amāverat amāverāmus amāverātis amāverant | *amára *amáras *amárat *amáramos *amárates *amárant | amara amaras amara amáramos amarais amaran [lower-alpha 4] | amara amaras amara amáramos amáreis amaram [lower-alpha 5] | – | – | – | – | – | amirìa amirissi amirìa amirìamu amirìavu amirìanu [lower-alpha 6] | – | – | |||
| Future [lower-alpha 7] | amābō amābis amābit amābimus amābitis amābunt | – | amaré amarás amará amaremos amaréis amarán | amarei amarás amará amaremos amareis amarão | amerò amerai amerà ameremo amerete ameranno | aimerai aimeras aimera aimerons aimerez aimeront | /ɛmʁe/ /ɛmʁa/ /ɛmʁa/ /ɛmʁɔ̃/ /ɛmʁe/ /ɛmʁɔ̃/ | – | – | amirò, amirogghiu amirai amirà amiremu amireti, amiriti amirannu | amaré amaràs amarà amarem amareu amaran | – | |||
| Future perfect | amāverō amāveris amāverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint | *amáre *amáres *amáret *amáremos *amáretes *amárent | amare amares amare amáremos amareis amaren [lower-alpha 8] [lower-alpha 9] | amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem [lower-alpha 8] | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Subjunctive | Present | amem amēs amet amēmus amētis ament | *áme *ámes *ámet *amémos *amétes *áment | ame ames ame amemos améis amen | ame ames ame amemos ameis amem | ami ami ami amiamo amiate amino | aime aimes aime aimions aimiez aiment | /ɛm/ /ɛm/ /ɛm/ /ɛmjɔ̃/ /ɛmje/ /ɛm/ | (-∅) (-i) (-e) (-ăm) (-ați) (-e) | ame ames amet amemus amedes ament | amu ami ama amamu amati àmanu, àmunu | ami ami ama amem ameu amin | (-ia) (-ias) (-ia) (-ian) (-ias) (-ian) | ||
| Perfect | amāverim amāveris amāverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Imperfect | amārem amārēs amāret amārēmus amārētis amārent | *amáre *amáres *amáret *amáremos *amáretes *amárent | – | amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem [lower-alpha 10] | – | – | – | – | amere ameres ameret ameremus amerezes amerent | – | – | – | |||
| Pluperfect [lower-alpha 11] | amāvissem amāvissēs amāvisset amāvissēmus amāvissētis amāvissent | *amásse *amásses *amásset *amássemos *amássetes *amássent | amase amases amase amásemos amáseis amasen | amasse amasses amasse amássemos amásseis amassem | amassi amassi amasse amassimo amaste amassero | aimasse aimasses aimât aimassions aimassiez aimassent [lower-alpha 9] | /ɛmas/ /ɛmas/ /ɛma/ /ɛmasjɔ̃/ /ɛmasje/ /ɛmas/ | (-asem) (-aseși) (-ase) (-aserăm) (-aserăți) (-aseră) | – | amassi amassi amassi amàssimu amàssivu amàssiru | amés amessis amés améssim améssiu amessin | (-ass) (-asses) (-ass) (-assen) (-asses) (-assen) | |||
| Imperative [lower-alpha 12] | amā amāte | *áma *amáte | ama amad | ama amai | ama amate | aime aimez | /ɛm/ /ɛme/ | (-ă) (-ați) | ama amade | ama amati | ama ameu | (-a) (-ai) | |||
Note that the Vulgar Latin reconstructions are believed to have regularized word stress within each tense (except the present and imperative tenses). Word-final ⟨e⟩ probably converged on /ə/. Many verb forms undergoes elisions, like the indicative pluperfect amāveram > *amára and the subjunctive imperfect amāvissem > *amásse.
The verb "to love" in Old French amer , the early form of modern French is rather irregular but still follows its regular sound changes, with having aim- in stressed forms (namely the singular and third person plural of indicative and subjunctive present tenses, and the second person singular imperative), and the stem changes again to ain- before -s and -t in subjunctive present. In Catalan, the verb amar has replaced by synonymous estimar , the former usually used only in poetic contexts.
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 | *-ándo | ||||||
| Supine | *-áto | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o [lower-alpha 1] | *-as [lower-alpha 1] | *-at [lower-alpha 1] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant [lower-alpha 1] |
| 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 [lower-alpha 1] | *-es [lower-alpha 1] | *-et [lower-alpha 1] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent [lower-alpha 1] |
| Imperfect | *-áre | *-áres | *-áret | *-arémos | *-arétes | *-árent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ásse | *-ásses | *-ásset | *-assémos | *-assétes | *-ássent | |
| Imperative | *-a [lower-alpha 1] | *-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 | *-éndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-eto [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-io [lower-alpha 1] | *-es [lower-alpha 1] | *-et [lower-alpha 1] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent [lower-alpha 1] |
| 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 [lower-alpha 1] | *-ias [lower-alpha 1] | *-iat [lower-alpha 1] | *-iámos | *-iátes | *-iant [lower-alpha 1] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-é [lower-alpha 1] | *-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 [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-énte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-éndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-eto [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o [lower-alpha 1] | *-es [lower-alpha 1] | *-et [lower-alpha 1] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ont [lower-alpha 1] |
| 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 [lower-alpha 1] | *-as [lower-alpha 1] | *-at [lower-alpha 1] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant [lower-alpha 1] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-e [lower-alpha 1] | *-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 [lower-alpha 1] | *-is [lower-alpha 1] | *-it [lower-alpha 1] | *-ímos | *-ítes | *-iont [lower-alpha 1] |
| 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 [lower-alpha 1] | *-ias [lower-alpha 1] | *-iat [lower-alpha 1] | *-iamos | *-iates | *-iant [lower-alpha 1] |
| Imperfect | *-íre | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ísse | *-ísses | *-ísset | *-íssemos | *-íssetes | *-íssent | |
| Imperative | *-i [lower-alpha 1] | *-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 | *avéndo | ||||||
| Supine | *áuto | ||||||
| 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 | *avére áio | *avére áus | *avére áut | *avére avémos | *avére avétes | *avére áunt | |
| Conditional | *avére avéba | *avére avéba | *avére avébat | *avére avébamos | *avére avébates | *avére avébant | |
| 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.
In linguistics and grammar, conjugation has two basic meanings. One meaning is the creation of derived forms of a verb from basic forms, or principal parts.
The preterite or preterit is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple past tense. In general, it combines the perfective aspect with the past tense and may thus also be termed the perfective past. In grammars of particular languages the preterite is sometimes called the past historic, or the aorist. When the term "preterite" is used in relation to specific languages, it may not correspond precisely to this definition. In English it can be used to refer to the simple past verb form, which sometimes expresses perfective aspect. The case of German is similar: the Präteritum is the simple (non-compound) past tense, which does not always imply perfective aspect, and is anyway often replaced by the Perfekt even in perfective past meanings.
The subjunctive is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is one of the irrealis moods, which refer to what is not necessarily real. It is often contrasted with the indicative, a realis mood which principally indicates that something is a statement of fact.
The present tense is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present tense, it is useful to imagine time as a line on which the past tense, the present and the future tense are positioned. The term present tense is usually used in descriptions of specific languages to refer to a particular grammatical form or set of forms; these may have a variety of uses, not all of which will necessarily refer to present time. For example, in the English sentence "My train leaves tomorrow morning", the verb form leaves is said to be in the present tense, even though in this particular context it refers to an event in future time. Similarly, in the historical present, the present tense is used to narrate events that occurred in the past.
In Portuguese grammar, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are moderately inflected: there are two genders and two numbers. The case system of the ancestor language, Latin, has been lost, but personal pronouns are still declined with three main types of forms: subject, object of verb, and object of preposition. Most nouns and many adjectives can take diminutive or augmentative derivational suffixes, and most adjectives can take a so-called "superlative" derivational suffix. Adjectives usually follow their respective nouns.
The imperfect is a verb form that combines past tense and imperfective aspect. It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to walk". It contrasts with preterite forms, which refer to a single completed event in the past.
Italian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Italian language. Italian words can be divided into the following lexical categories: articles, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
In language learning, the principal parts of a verb are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate the verb through all its forms. The concept originates in the humanist Latin schools, where students learned verbs by chanting them in the four key forms from which all other forms can be deduced, for example:
In French grammar, verbs are a part of speech. Each verb lexeme has a collection of finite and non-finite forms in its conjugation scheme.
French conjugation refers to the variation in the endings of French verbs (inflections) depending on the person, tense and mood. Most verbs are regular and can be entirely determined by their infinitive form however irregular verbs require the knowledge of more than just the infinitive form known as the principal parts of which there are seven in French. With the knowledge of these seven principal parts of a verb one can conjugate almost all French verbs. However, a handful of verbs, including être, are highly irregular and the seven principal parts are not sufficient to conjugate the verb fully.
The sequence of tenses is a set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences.
Romanian verbs are highly inflected in comparison to English, but markedly simple in comparison to Latin, from which Romanian has inherited its verbal conjugation system. Unlike its nouns, Romanian verbs behave in a similar way to those of other Romance languages such as French, Spanish, and Italian. They conjugate according to mood, tense, voice, person and number. Aspect is not an independent feature in Romanian verbs, although it does manifest itself clearly in the contrast between the imperfect and the compound perfect tenses as well as within the presumptive mood. Also, gender is not distinct except in the past participle tense, in which the verb behaves like an adjective.
The conditional mood is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual.
In linguistics, speech or indirect discourse is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence Jill said she was coming is indirect discourse while Jill said "I'm coming" would be direct discourse. In fiction, the "utterance" might amount to an unvoiced thought that passes through a stream of consciousness, as reported by an omniscient narrator.
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying. The term is also used more broadly to describe the syntactic expression of modality – that is, the use of verb phrases that do not involve inflection of the verb itself.
Tense–aspect–mood or tense–modality–aspect is a group of grammatical categories that are important to understanding spoken or written content, and which are marked in different ways by different languages.
This article discusses the conjugation of verbs in a number of varieties of Catalan, including Old Catalan. Each verbal form is accompanied by its phonetic transcription. Widely used dialectal forms are included, even if they are not considered standard in either of the written norms: those of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans and the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. Other dialectal forms exist, including those characteristic of minor dialects such as Ribagorçan and Algherese and transitional forms of major dialects.
Portuguese verbs display a high degree of inflection. A typical regular verb has over fifty different forms, expressing up to six different grammatical tenses and three moods. Two forms are peculiar to Portuguese within the Romance languages:
The main Latin tenses can be divided into two groups: the present system, consisting of the present, future, and imperfect; and the perfect system, consisting of the perfect, future perfect, and pluperfect.
The conjugation of Sardinian verbs are mainly divided according to infinitives into -are, -ere, and -ire verbs in north-central dialects for regular verbs, similar to the tripartite systems of Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. In southern dialects, these infinitives above change to -ai, -i, and -iri, respectively. Irregular verbs also exist as well. Many Sardinian conjugated forms were similar and conservative phonologically to Classical Latin, although the number of tenses were greatly reduced and the remaining tenses rely on periphrasis.