121. The Moods. Verbs have inflection of mood to indicate the manner in which they express action. The moods of the Latin verb are the indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and infinitive.
a. A verb is in the
indicative mood when it makes a statement or
asks a question about something
assumed as a fact. All the verbs we
have used thus far are in
the present indicative.
122. The Persons. There are three persons, as in English. The first person is the person speaking (I sing); the second person the person spoken to (you sing); the third person the person spoken of (he sings). Instead of using personal pronouns for the different persons in the two numbers, singular and plural, the Latin verb uses the personal endings (cf. Sec. 22 a; 29). We have already learned that -t is the ending of the third person singular in the active voice and -nt of the third person plural. The complete list of personal endings of the active voice is as follows:
SINGULAR PLURAL 1st Pers. I -m or -o: we -mus 2d Pers. thou or you -s you -tis 3d Pers. he, she, it -t they -nt
123. Most verbs form their moods and tenses after a regular plan and are called regular verbs. Verbs that depart from this plan are called irregular. The verb to be is irregular in Latin as in English. The present, imperfect, and future tenses of the indicative are inflected as follows:
PRESENT INDICATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL 1st Pers. su-m, I am su-mus, we are 2d Pers. e-s, you[1] are es-tis, you[1] are 3d Pers. es-t, he, she, or it is su-nt, they are
IMPERFECT INDICATIVE
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st Pers. er-a-m, I was
er-a:’-mus, we were
2d Pers. er-a:-s, you were
er-a:’-tis, you were
3d Pers. er-a-t, he, she, or it
was er-a:-nt, they were
FUTURE INDICATIVE SINGULAR PLURAL 1st Pers. er-o:, I shall be er’-i-mus, we shall be 2d Pers. er-i-s, you will be er’-i-tis, you will be 3d Pers. er-i-t, he will be er-u-nt, they will be
a. Be careful about vowel
quantity and accent in these forms, and
consult Secs. 12.2; 14; 15.
[Footnote 1: Observe that
in English you are, you were, etc.
may
be either singular or plural. In Latin the
singular and plural forms
are never the same.]
124. DIALOGUE