Latin Verbs Their Person and Number

Latin is an inflected language. This means that verbs are packed with information by virtue of their ending. Thus, the ending of the verb is crucial  because it tells you the: person (whos doing the action:  I, you, he, she, it, we, or they)number (how many are doing the action: singular or plural)tense and meaning (when the action happens and what the action is)mood  (whether this is about facts, commands, or uncertainty)voice  (whether the action is active or  passive) For example, look at the Latin verb  dare (to give). In English, the ending of the verb changes once: It acquires an  s  in he gives. In Latin, the ending of the verb dare changes every time the person, number, tense, mood and voice change.   Latin verbs are built from  a stem followed by a grammatical ending that contains information about the agent, specifically the person, number, tense, mood and voice.  A Latin verb can tell you, thanks to its ending,  who or what the subject is, without the intervention of a noun or pronoun. It can also tell you the time frame, interval or action performed. When you deconstruct a Latin verb and look at its component parts, you can learn a lot. Person and Number The Latin verb ending forms will tell you who is speaking. Latin counts three persons from the perspective of the speaker. These can be: I (first person); you (the second person singular); he, she, it (a third-person singular person removed from the conversation);  we (first person singular); all of you (second person plural); or  they (third person plural). Verb endings reflect the person and number so clearly  that  Latin drops the subject pronoun  because it seems repetitive and extraneous. For example, the conjugated verb form  damus (we give) tells us this is the first person plural, present tense, active voice, indicative mood  of the verb dare (to give). The table below is the complete conjugation of the verb  dare  (to give) in the present tense, active voice, indicative mood in singular and plural and all the persons. We take off the -are  infinitive ending, which leaves us with  d-. Then we apply the conjugated endings.  Note how the endings change with every person and number: Latin (dare) English (to give) do I give das you give dat he/she/it gives damus we give datis you give dant they give Pronoun Equivalents We list these as a comprehension aid. The Latin personal pronouns that are relevant here are not used in Latin verb conjugations because they are repetitive and unnecessary, since all the information the reader needs is in the verb ending. I: first-person singular  You: second-person singular  He, she or it: third-person singularWe: first-person plural  All of you: second-person pluralThey: third-person plural