| Verbs |
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The Perfect tense describes a finished action. Often the helper verb 'have' or 'has' must be used to translate the Perfect tense from Latin into English:
Exempli gratia - ambulavit = "she has walked" or "she walked" or "she did walk"
All three translations describe a perfected, and therefore finished, action. Contrast this with the Imperfect tense.
puella ad ludum ambulabat= "a girl was walking to school"
The Imperfect tells us a girl was in the process of walking to school. We don't know if she ever got there, or whether she is still walking. Suppose we add this detail:
"A girl was walking to school when a big dog tripped her."
We still don't know if she got to school or if she is still walking! We do know that a dog tripped her at some point during that walk and that he is not still tripping her. The event of the dog is a perfected, finished action within the overall process of her walking, so 'tripped' would be translated in the Perfect tense.
Sometimes it's hard to decide if an English verb should be translated into Latin as Perfect or Imperfect and vice versa. For example, 'I wished' describes something in the past. But a wish could be a single event -- a Perfect -- or it could be a continuous or repeated action, or a feeling or state of mind -- an Imperfect. Which tense do you think best describes the 'wishes' below?
I used to wish I would win the lottery.
Every year I wished for peace on earth.
I was wishing for a cool drink of lemonade.
I closed my eyes and wished that he would win.
As you read magazines or newspapers, look for examples of English verbs that could be translated into Latin as either Perfect or Imperfect.
The 3rd principal part of a verb is the 1st person singular Perfect form, and the Perfect stem comes from this part. Just delete the personal ending -i at the end to find the Perfect stem. Here are two examples:
| conjugation | principal parts | 3rd principal part | translation | Perfect stem |
| 1st | voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatus, call | vocavi | 'I have called' 'I called' 'I did call' |
vocav- |
| irregular | fero, ferre, tuli, latus, carry | tuli | 'I have carried' 'I carried' 'I did carry' |
tul- |
Note that the examples include a completely regular verb and a very irregular verb. The perfect tense is PERFECTLY regular regardless of how weird the principal parts or present tense of a verb might appear. The endings are the same for EVERY conjugation! (Incredible, you say? Finally, something in Latin without exceptions!) The personal endings are:
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | -i | -imus |
| 2nd | -isti | -istis |
| 3rd | -it | -erunt |
Examples:
| 3rd principal part | Perfect stem | 2nd person singular ending | new Perfect form | translation |
| vocavi | vocav- | -isti | vocavisti | you called you have called you did call |
| tuli | tul- | -isti | tulisti | you carried you have carried you did carry |
You can think of this process in two alternate ways:
| 1. | Take the 3rd principal part. | 1. | Take the 3rd principal part. If the subject of the verb is 'I' no change is needed. |
| 2. | Drop the final -i. | 2. | Change the final -i to the correct personal ending, IF the subject of the verb is not 'I'. |
| 3. | Add the personal ending. |
Whichever way you prefer to think of this process, the end result should not have a double i at the end of the stem and -- another very common error -- the 3rd person plural form should not end in -ierunt.
Practice by learning the principal parts of these verbs. Find the Perfect stem. Write out and translate the six Perfect tense forms for each:
| surgo, surgere, surrexi, surrectus, rise, get up
servo, servare, servavi, servatus, save, preserve facio, facere, feci, factus, do, make nolo, nolle, nolui, (no 4th part), be unwilling, not wish, refuse audio, audire, audivi, auditus, hear, listen moneo, monere, monui, monitus, warn, admonish |
| Copyright © 2008, KET |