Mastering Singular Verbs in Latin
Easy Latin: Part 3
salve!
Welcome back to Easy Latin. Today we're going to look at changing verbs to make our sentences more interesting.
Recap
In my previous post, we learned about converting third-person verbs, where "he/she/it" performs an action, into first-person verbs, where "I" am the one acting. For instance:
laborat (he works) becomes laboro (I work)
numerat (he counts) changes to numero (I count)
ambulat (he walks) is now ambulo (I walk)
Second-Person Singular Verbs
Today, we are filling in the final gap for singular verbs.
Consider the sentence: ego in foro laboro. This translates to “I work in the forum.”
Another way to express this is: in foro laboro. This sentence is exactly the same as above. The meaning remains the same with or without the word ego. The inclusion of ego simply adds emphasis, but its omission doesn't change the sentence's meaning.
Using tu for second-person
Something else is. You work in the forum, you work in the forum. That's all the tu does. So I had laborat, he works. Laboro, I work. Now I've got laboras. This means you work.
Now, guess what the following sentence means: tu in foro laboras.
… [guessing space] …
It translates to “You work in the forum.”
Similar to ego, we can remove tu and still convey the same meaning: in foro laboras. Here, tu essentially highlights the subject performing the action, just like ego above.
Different Verbs
Let's break this down with more examples. If we previously had "he works" as laborat and "I work" as laboro, now we have introduced: laboras meaning "you work."
If you wanted to say "you count in the forum," you would adapt the verb numero (I count) to: in foro numeras.
Here’s a new verb we learned last time.
"I greet" is saluto
“You greet” is salutas.
“He/she greets” is salutat.
Recognising Verb Endings
In the bullet points above, notice the different endings that indicate who is performing the verb:
-o signifies "I"
-s signifies "you"
-t signifies "he/she"
These verb endings are essential to grasp as they will significantly aid you in mastering Latin, so spend some time becoming familiar with them before you move on to Easy Latin 4 which will be next week’s post!
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vale!