Present Tense Verbs
Like nouns, Latin verbs sort into families called conjugations, identified by the vowel before the infinitive ending -re.
The four conjugations, present tense
| Person | 1st: amāre (love) | 2nd: vidēre (see) | 3rd: ducere (lead) | 4th: audīre (hear) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ego (I) | amō | videō | dūcō | audiō |
| tū (you) | amās | vidēs | dūcis | audīs |
| is/ea (he/she) | amat | videt | dūcit | audit |
| nōs (we) | amāmus | vidēmus | dūcimus | audīmus |
| vōs (you all) | amātis | vidētis | dūcitis | audītis |
| eī/eae (they) | amant | vident | dūcunt | audiunt |
The pattern underneath
Every conjugation shares the same personal endings: -ō, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt. What changes is the vowel that sits between the verb stem and that ending — this is why a verb’s conjugation matters more for spelling than for meaning.
Why Latin can drop pronouns
Because each ending already encodes the subject (“I,” “you,” “we,” etc.), Latin sentences routinely omit the pronoun entirely: amat on its own means “he/she loves,” with no separate word needed for “he” or “she.” Pronouns appear mainly for emphasis or contrast.