28. VERB FORMS. 1. Personal endings. Verbs have terminations for each of the three persons, both singular and plural, active and passive. These terminations are fragments of old pronouns, whose signification is thus added to that of the verb-stem. a. The present and perfect indicative have lost the m, and end in the modified stem-vowels o and i. Except sum, I am, and inquam, I say. b. The second person of the perfect indicative has for the singular sti, and for the plural stis. The third person plural has an ending of verbal origin, ērunt. c. The Imperative has special terminations: ACTIVE. Sing. 2. [lost] Plur. 2. te, tote 3. nto PASSIVE. Sing. 2. re Plur. 2. mini 3. ntor 3. to NOTE. The Passive is a peculiar Latin middle (or reflexive) form, made by adding se to the forms of the active voice, with some abrasion of their endings (the original form of se, SVA, was not limited to the third person). Thus amor = amo-se, amaris = amasise, amatur = = amatise. The above view seems the most probable, in spite of some objections. The ending mini in the second person plural of the passive is a remnant of the participial form found in the Greek -μενος. All Latin words ending in t, except a few in ot, ut, with et, at, sat, are third persons of verbs; all in nt are third persons plural. In dumtaxat, however, licet, although, and the indefinite pronouns in -libet, the meanings of the verbs are disguised. 2. Changes of Stem. These terminations appear in all the tenses of the verb; but the Stem in many parts is variously modified to receive them, sometimes by changes in its form, and sometimes by additions at the end. a. The Present indicative and subjunctive, the Imperative, and sometimes the Future, add the personal endings directly to the present stem, with or without change of vowel: as, do, dās, dat (stem dă-); vŏcem (stem vŏcā-). b. The Perfect indicative also sometimes adds them directly; but to another form of the root called the perfect stem: as, dedi, dedisti, dedit. NOTE.. The i of the Perfect, which in early Latin is always long (ei, i, e) except before mus, is of doubtful origin. It is treated for convenience as part of the stem, as it is in dedi, steti, where it takes the place of the vowel a. In the suffixes vi (= fui) and si (= Skr. āsa), and in the perfects of consonant-roots, it seems to be, but probably is not, a mere connecting vowel. The s before ti and tis is also anomalous. Most scholars regard it as a remnant of es; but it may be, like the others, of pronominal origin. c. All other true verbal forms are compounded with a suffix originally a verb-which contains the personal endings: as, vocav-eram, vocav-ĕro, voca-bo. The first person of the Perfect, thus compounded, produces another form of perfect stem: as, vocă-vi. d. The Present Infinitive Active, Present Participle, and Gerundive, add nominal (noun or adjective) suffixes to the present stem: as, vocare, vocans (antis), vocandus. e. The Perfect infinitive adds an infinitive (esse) already formed to the perfect stem: as, vocavisse (=vocavi-esse). f. The Perfect and Future Participles and the Supine are formed upon what is called a supine stem, which adds t- either to the Present stem or to the Root: as, vocat-, tect- (root těg-). NOTE. Strictly, these have no common stem, but are formed with special suffixes (to-, turo-, tu-). As, however, the form to which they are added is the same for each, and as the suffixes all begin with t, it is convenient to give the name supine stem to the form in t. The participle in to- corresponds to the Greek verbal -ros; that in turo- is a development of the noun of agency ending in -tor (as victor, victurus); that in tu- is an abstract noun of the fourth declension (§ 12, 4, a). g. The Present Infinitive Passive is an anomalous form, made by adding -ri or i to the present stem: as, voco, vocări; tego, těgi. (When i is added, the final vowel of the stem disappears.) It was anciently followed by -ěr. h. The Future Infinitive Passive is supplied by the supine in tum with the infinitive passive of eo, to go, used impersonally: as, vocatum iri, to be about to be called. NOTE. The construction of this infinitive is different from the others, the form in tum being invariable, and the apparent subject accusative being really the object of the supine taken actively. Few verbs in fact have this form, for which fore ut with the subjunctive is often found. 3. Verb-Endings. The scheme of Verb-Endings, as they are formed by suffixes or personal endings, is as fol lows: NOTE. The origin and meaning of some of the above verb-endings may be given as follows. The suffix bam is an imperfect of BHU, which appears in fui, futurus, fio, the Greek púw, and English be;-rem (for sem) is an optative or subjunctive imperfect of Es, which appears in sum, eiul, am, &c.;-bo is a future, and vi a perfect, of BHU;-si is a perfect of Es, and is kindred with the aorist-ending oa, though not of the same formation;-erim is an optative form of Es corresponding to sim;-ero is the future of es (for es-io). 29. Esse AND ITS COMPOUnds. The verb esse, to be, is both irregular and defective, having no gerund or supine, and no participle but the future. NOTE. The present participle, which should be sens (compare Sanskrit sunt), appears in that form in ab-sens, præ-sens; and as ens (compare v) in pot-ens. The simple form ens is sometimes found in late or philosophical Latin as a participle or abstract noun, in the forms ens, Being; entia, things which are. |