Latin with Foster

Lesson 17: Verb Groups

Learning to recongnize the different groups of vebrs

There are 4 principal verb groups, and one must be able to distinguish them to form Times 1-3.
The verb groups are distingushed by vowel groups when looking at the second principal part of the verb (the infinitive) in your dictionary.

Verb Group	Ending
Group 1 - Verbs where the second principal part has a long "A" E.g. canto, cantAre - to sing; probo, probAre - to approve	_ Are
Group 2 - Verbs where the second principal part has a long "E" E.g. luceo, lucEre - to shine; gaudeo, gaudEre - to rejoice; maneo, manEre - to remain; moneo, monEre - to warn	_ Ere
Group 3- Verbs where the 2nd principal part has a short "e" (or short "i") E.g. dico, dicêre - to say; mitto, mittêre - to send; facio, facêre - to make / do; veho, vehêre - to carry	êre
Group 4 - Verbs where the 2nd principal part has a long "I" E.g. sentio, sentIre - to feel; audio, audIre - to hear	_ Ire

Now go on to Lesson 18

N.B.

Dictionaries can be different in how they mark these groups. A few just give a number, and not the second part of the verb, this number is the verb group.
Most dictionaries should mark the long vowel with a line above the vowel (this is called a macron), however sometimes there is no mark, so these are assumed long. (But some dictionaries could be reverse of this.)
Dictionaries normally mark a short vowel with a small v-shaped mark above the vowel. Note: the ones shown on this page here are upside-down (oops).
The most important thing to recall is that the 2nd Conjugation has long 'e' and the 3rd Conjugation has short 'e'.

See a list of Verbs you will be learning, sorted into these groups.

"It's the simplest thing in the world" - Fr. Foster

First Experience Latin - Fr. Reginald Foster

Answers to First Experience

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