Latin Reference

Latin Conjugations Chart

All 4 Latin conjugations with every tense ending. Present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, future perfect. Built for classical homeschool families using Henle Latin, Memoria Press First Form, or any classical Latin curriculum.

Principal Parts — your starting point

Every Latin verb has four principal parts. Memorizing them gives you every other form of the verb. Example: amo, amare, amavi, amatum.

1st: Present active indicative 1st person singular (“I love”) — shows the conjugation vowel pattern.
2nd: Present active infinitive (“to love”) — tells you which conjugation the verb belongs to.
3rd: Perfect active indicative 1st person singular (“I loved”) — gives you the perfect stem for all perfect-system forms.
4th: Perfect passive participle (“having been loved”) — gives you the supine stem for passive-system and participle forms.

First Conjugation — Infinitive -are

Principal parts: amo, amare, amavi, amatum (to love)

Present stem: am-

Key patterns

·By far the largest conjugation. Most Latin verbs are first conjugation.
·Characteristic vowel: long A. You'll see it in forms like amamus (we love) and amabamus (we were loving).
·Very regular — if you know the pattern for one first-conjugation verb, you know it for all of them.
·Common examples: amare (to love), laudare (to praise), portare (to carry), vocare (to call), stare (to stand).

Second Conjugation — Infinitive -ere (long e)

Principal parts: moneo, monere, monui, monitum (to warn)

Present stem: mon-

Key patterns

·Characteristic vowel: long E. The infinitive ends in -ere with a LONG e (distinguishing it from third conjugation's short e).
·Most second-conjugation verbs deal with states or ideas: monere (to warn), videre (to see), habere (to have), timere (to fear), manere (to remain).
·The present stem ends in -e which stays through most forms. You'll see it as monemus (we warn), not monaimus.
·Generally regular but perfect forms can vary (monui, vidi, habui).

Third Conjugation — Infinitive -ere (short e)

Principal parts: rego, regere, rexi, rectum (to rule)

Present stem: reg-

Key patterns

·Characteristic: the short stem vowel shifts between -e-, -i-, and -u- depending on the form.
·The infinitive looks like second conjugation but the short e is the tell — and the present 'I' form ends in -o not -eo.
·Third conjugation is where verbs get irregular. Perfect stems are often quite different from present stems.
·Examples: regere (to rule), ducere (to lead), mittere (to send), scribere (to write), dicere (to say).

Third Conjugation -io Verbs

Principal parts: capio, capere, cepi, captum (to take, seize)

Present stem: cap-

Key patterns

·A small hybrid group. They look like 3rd-conjugation verbs by the infinitive (-ere short e) but behave like 4th conjugation in some forms.
·First person singular present ends in -io (capio), and 3rd person plural present ends in -iunt (capiunt).
·Henle Latin and Memoria Press both treat this as a special case you memorize.
·Examples: capere (to take), facere (to make/do), fugere (to flee), iacere (to throw), rapere (to seize).

Fourth Conjugation — Infinitive -ire

Principal parts: audio, audire, audivi, auditum (to hear)

Present stem: aud-

Key patterns

·Characteristic vowel: long I. You'll see it everywhere — audimus (we hear), audiebamus (we were hearing).
·The first person singular present ends in -io (audio) because of the connecting i.
·Very regular once you understand the vowel pattern.
·Examples: audire (to hear), venire (to come), scire (to know), dormire (to sleep), sentire (to feel).

Present Tense Endings by Conjugation

The same 6 person-number slots across all 4 conjugations. Notice how 1st uses -a-, 2nd uses -e-, and 3rd/4th use mixed short vowels.

Person	1st	2nd	3rd	3rd -io	4th
1st sg (I)	-o	-eo	-o	-io	-io
2nd sg (you)	-as	-es	-is	-is	-is
3rd sg (he/she/it)	-at	-et	-it	-it	-it
1st pl (we)	-amus	-emus	-imus	-imus	-imus
2nd pl (you all)	-atis	-etis	-itis	-itis	-itis
3rd pl (they)	-ant	-ent	-unt	-iunt	-iunt

The 6 Indicative Tenses

Latin has 6 indicative tenses in the active voice. Each is formed by adding a set of endings to either the present stem or the perfect stem.

Present Active Indicative

Action happening now.

amo = I love, I am loving, I do love

Imperfect Active Indicative

Continuous or repeated action in the past.

amabam = I was loving, I used to love

Formation: Add -ba- then endings -m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt

Future Active Indicative

Action that will happen.

amabo = I will love

Formation: 1st/2nd use -b- (amabo, amabis); 3rd/4th use -a-/-e- (regam, reges)

Perfect Active Indicative

Completed past action.

amavi = I loved, I have loved, I did love

Formation: Uses the 3rd principal part (amavi). Endings: -i, -isti, -it, -imus, -istis, -erunt

Pluperfect Active Indicative

Had happened before another past action.

amaveram = I had loved

Formation: Perfect stem + -era-, -eras, -erat, -eramus, -eratis, -erant

Future Perfect Active Indicative

Will have happened before another future action.

amavero = I will have loved

Formation: Perfect stem + -ero, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint

Practice these conjugations

Memorizing conjugation patterns is faster with spaced repetition. Via Latina has interactive drills for every tense and conjugation, plus Conjugation Chant for musical memorization.

Try Free →Conjugation Chant Printable Cheat Sheet

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