[Home]Latin language/Conjugation

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Conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from one basic form. Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood, voice, or some other language-specific factor or factors. When a verb is used to function as the action done by a subject, the verb must be conjugated in most languages.

For example, here's a sample conjugation of the English verb to be and its Latin and French equivalents, esse and être.

to be / esse / être
Form / Person English Latin French
Infinitive to be esse être
1st singular I am sum je suis
2nd singular you are es tu es
3rd singular he, she, or it is est il/elle est
1st plural we are sumus nous sommes
2nd plural you are estis vous êtes
3rd plural they are sunt ils/elles sont

Note that the similarity between English is and Latin est is not a mere coincidence, but rather one of the consequences of them having a distant common ancestor (see Indo-European languages). French is a derivative of Latin, which explains the much greater similarity in the way their conjugate this verb.

See also /Declension

/Conjugation Talk


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Last edited December 7, 2001 4:46 am by Taw (diff)
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