Romance verbs

Verbs in the Romance family of languages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Romance verbs" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Romance verbs are the most inflected part of speech in the language family. In the transition from Latin to the Romance languages, verbs went through many phonological, syntactic, and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with more analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.

## Overview

[edit]

The following table presents a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb cantare "to sing" in Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin (reconstructed as Proto-Italo-Western Romance, with stress marked), and nine modern Romance languages. The conjugations below were given from their respective Wiktionary pages.

The comparison of Romance conjugations of the verb "to sing"  Form  | Classical Latin  | Vulgar Latin  |  | Major languages  |  | Minor languages

|
|
|
|
|
|

Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French
(written)[a] | French
(spoken)[a] | Romanian | Sardinian
(Logudorese)  | Sicilian | Catalan | Romansh
(Grischun)
Infinitive | cantāre  | *cantáre  | cantar | cantar | cantare | chanter | /ʃɑ̃te/ | cânta | cantare | cantari | cantar | chantar
Present participle[b] | cantandus  | *cantándu  | cantando  | cantando  | cantando  | chantant  | /ʃɑ̃tɑ̃/ | cântând  | –  | cantannu  | cantant  | chantond
cantāns  | *cantánte  | cantante  | cantante  | cantante[c] | –  | –  | –  | cantende  | –  | –  | –
Past participle | cantātum  | *cantátu  | cantado  | cantado  | cantato  | chanté  | /ʃɑ̃te/ | cântat  | cantadu  | cantatu  | cantat  | chantà
Indicative | Present | cantō
cantās
cantat
cantāmus
cantātis
cantant  | *cánto
*cántas
*cántat
*cantámos
*cantátes
*cántant  | canto
cantas
canta
cantamos
cantáis
cantan  | canto
cantas
canta
cantamos
cantais
cantam  | canto
canti
canta
cantiamo
cantate
cantano  | chante
chantes
chante
chantons
chantez
chantent  | /ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃tɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃te/
/ʃɑ̃t/ | cânt
cânți
cântă
cântăm
cântați
cântă  | canto
cantas
cantat
cantamus
cantades
cantant  | cantu
canti
canta
cantamu
cantati
càntanu  | canto
cantes
canta
cantem
canteu
canten  | chant
chantas
chanta
chantain
chantais
chantan
Imperfect | cantābam
cantābās
cantābat
cantābāmus
cantābātis
cantābant  | *cantába
*cantábas
*cantábat
*cantábamos
*cantábates
*cantábant  | cantaba
cantabas
cantaba
cantábamos
cantabais
cantaban  | cantava
cantavas
cantava
cantávamos
cantáveis
cantavam  | cantavo
cantavi
cantava
cantavamo
cantavate
cantavano  | chantais
chantais
chantait
chantions
chantiez
chantaient  | /ʃɑ̃tɛ/
/ʃɑ̃tɛ/
/ʃɑ̃tɛ/
/ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃tje/
/ʃɑ̃tɛ/ | cântam
cântai
cânta
cântam
cântați
cântau  | cantaia
cantaias
cantaiat
cantaiamus
cantaiades
cantaiant  | cantavu
cantavi
cantava
cantàvamu
cantàvavu
cantàvanu  | cantava
cantaves
cantava
cantàvem
cantàveu
cantaven  | chantava
chantavas
chantava
chantavan
chantavas
chantavan
Preterite | cantāvī
cantāvistī
cantāvit
cantāvimus
cantāvistis
cantāvērunt  | *cantái
*cantásti
*cantáut
*cantámos
*cantástes
*cantáront  | canté
cantaste
cantó
cantamos
cantasteis
cantaron  | cantei
cantaste
cantou
cantámos
cantastes
cantaram  | cantai
cantasti
cantò
cantammo
cantaste
cantarono  | chantai
chantas
chanta
chantâmes
chantâtes
chantèrent[d] | /ʃɑ̃te/
/ʃɑ̃ta/
/ʃɑ̃ta/
/ʃɑ̃tam/
/ʃɑ̃tat/
/ʃɑ̃tɛʁ/ | cântai
cântași
cântă
cântarăm
cântarăți
cântară  | cantesi
cantesti
cantesit
cantemus
cantezis
canteint  | cantai
cantasti
cantau
cantammu
cantastivu
cantàrunu  | cantí
cantares
cantà
cantàrem
cantàreu
cantaren  | –
Pluperfect | cantāveram
cantāveras
cantāverat
cantāverāmus
cantāverātis
cantāverant  | *cantára
*cantáras
*cantárat
*cantáramos
*cantárates
*cantárant  | cantara
cantaras
cantara
cantáramos
cantarais
cantaran[e] | cantara
cantaras
cantara
cantáramos
cantáreis
cantaram[f] | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | cantirìa
cantirissi
cantirìa
cantirìamu
cantirìavu
cantirìanu[g] | –  | –
Future[h] | cantābō
cantābis
cantābit
cantābimus
cantābitis
cantābunt  | –  | cantaré
cantarás
cantará
cantaremos
cantaréis
cantarán  | cantarei
cantarás
cantará
cantaremos
cantareis
cantarão  | canterò
canterai
canterà
canteremo
canterete
canteranno  | chanterai
chanteras
chantera
chanterons
chanterez
chanteront  | /ʃɑ̃tʁe/
/ʃɑ̃tʁa/
/ʃɑ̃tʁa/
/ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃tʁe/
/ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/ | –  | –  | cantirò
cantirai
cantirà
cantiremu
cantireti
cantirannu  | cantaré
cantaràs
cantarà
cantarem
cantareu
cantaran  | –
Conditional
(Future in the past)[h] | –  | –  | cantaría
cantarías
cantaría
cantaríamos
cantaríais
cantarían  | cantaria
cantarias
cantaria
cantaríamos
cantaríeis
cantariam  | canterei
canteresti
canterebbe
canteremmo
cantereste
canterebbero  | chanterais
chanterais
chanterait
chanterions
chanteriez
chanteraient  | /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/
/ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/
/ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/
/ʃɑ̃təʁjɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃təʁje/
/ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ | –  | –  | cantirìa
cantirissi
cantirìa
cantirìamu
cantirìavu
cantirìanu  | cantaria
cantaries
cantaria
cantaríem
cantaríeu
cantarien  | –
Future perfect | cantāverō
cantāveris
cantāverit
cantāverimus
cantāveritis
cantāverint  | *cantáre
*cantáres
*cantáret
*cantáremos
*cantáretes
*cantárent  | cantare
cantares
cantare
cantáremos
cantareis
cantaren[i][j] | cantar
cantares
cantar
cantarmos
cantardes
cantarem[i] | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –
Subjunctive | Present  | cantem
cantēs
cantet
cantēmus
cantētis
cantent  | *cánte
*cántes
*cántet
*cantémos
*cantétes
*cántent  | cante
cantes
cante
cantemos
cantéis
canten  | cante
cantes
cante
cantemos
canteis
cantem  | canti
canti
canti
cantiamo
cantiate
cantino  | chante
chantes
chante
chantions
chantiez
chantent  | /ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃tje/
/ʃɑ̃t/ | cânt
cânți
cânte
cântăm
cântați
cânte  | cante
cantes
cantet
cantemus
cantedes
cantent  | cantu
canti
canta
cantamu
cantati
càntanu  | canti
cantis
canti
cantem
canteu
cantin  | chantia
chantias
chantia
chantian
chantias
chantian
Perfect  | cantāverim
cantāveris
cantāverit
cantāverimus
cantāveritis
cantāverint  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –
Imperfect  | cantārem
cantārēs
cantāret
cantārēmus
cantārētis
cantārent  | *cantáre
*cantáres
*cantáret
*cantáremos
*cantáretes
*cantárent  | –  | cantar
cantares
cantar
cantarmos
cantardes
cantarem[k] | –  | –  | –  | –  | cantere
canteres
canteret
canteremus
canterezes
canterent  | –  | –  | –
Pluperfect[l] | cantāvissem
cantāvissēs
cantāvisset
cantāvissēmus
cantāvissētis
cantāvissent  | *cantásse
*cantásses
*cantásset
*cantássemos
*cantássetes
*cantássent  | cantase
cantases
cantase
cantásemos
cantaseis
cantasen  | cantasse
cantasses
cantasse
cantássemos
cantásseis
cantassem  | cantassi
cantassi
cantasse
cantassimo
cantaste
cantassero  | chantasse
chantasses
chantât
chantassions
chantassiez
chantassent[j] | /ʃɑ̃tas/
/ʃɑ̃tas/
/ʃɑ̃ta/
/ʃɑ̃tasjɔ̃/
/ʃɑ̃tasje/
/ʃɑ̃tas/ | cântasem
cântaseși
cântase
cântaserăm
cântaserăți
cântaseră  | –  | cantassi
cantassi
cantassi
cantàssimu
cantàssivu
cantàssiru  | cantés
cantessis
cantés
cantéssim
cantéssiu
cantessin  | chantass
chantasses
chantass
chantassen
chantasses
chantassen[m]
Imperative[n] | cantā
cantāte  | *cánta
*cantáte  | canta
cantad  | canta
cantai  | canta
cantate  | chante
chantez  | /ʃɑ̃t/
/ʃɑ̃te/ | cântă
cântați  | canta
cantade  | canta
cantati  | canta
canteu  | chanta
chantai

1. ^ a b Because of the phonetic erosion of verb endings, French has become a non-pro-drop language: each sentence always contains an explicit subject. The subjunctive is also always accompanied with the particle que.
2. ^ Both cantandus and cantāns change to their accusative forms cantandum and cantmāntem.
3. ^ Functions as gerund in Italian.
4. ^ Literary.
5. ^ Its meaning has mostly shifted to that of an imperfect subjunctive in modern Spanish. It is now usually interchangeable with cantase, cantases, cantase, etc. Nevertheless, a few rare uses as a pluperfect subsist.
6. ^ Fell into disuse in modern Portuguese, now found only in literary texts. Nowadays largely replaced by the compound forms tinha cantado or havia cantado (had sung).
7. ^ Its meaning has shifted to that of a conditional in Sicilian.
8. ^ a b The future indicative tense of the modern languages does not derive from the Latin form (which tended to be confounded with the imperfect due to sound changes in Vulgar Latin), but rather from an infinitive + habeō periphrasis (*cantāre habeō > *cantaráio > Sp. cantaré), later reanalysed as a simple tense. By analogy a conditional or future-in-the-past tense was formed from the imperfect or preterite of habeō (*cantāre habēbam > *cantaraía > Sp. cantaría).
9. ^ a b Its meaning has shifted to that of a future subjunctive in Spanish and Portuguese.
10. ^ a b Disused.
11. ^ Reanalysed as a personal infinitive. See below.
12. ^ Its meaning has shifted to that of an imperfect subjunctive in most Romance languages, but as a pluperfect in Romanian and as a conditional in Romansh. But note the normal use, in modern south-eastern Umbrian of cantassimo instead of standard Italian cantammo to express an indicative past perfect.
13. ^ Its meaning has shifted to that of a conditional in Romansch.
14. ^ Only the second person singular and plural given on these examples. Other forms, the first person plural and third persons are usually supplied by the subjunctive present tense, but indicative present tense and only supplies the first plural in French.

Note that the Vulgar Latin reconstructions are believed to have regularized word stress within each tense (except the present and imperative). Word-final ⟨e⟩ probably converged on /ə/. Many verb forms have undergone elisions, like the indicative pluperfect cantāveram > *cantára and the subjunctive imperfect cantāvissem > *cantásse.

## Vulgar Latin

[edit]

In this section, "Vulgar Latin" is actually reconstructed as reconstructed Proto-Italo-Western Romance, most notably the shift from Classical Latin -i- and -u- to -e- /e/ and -o- /o/, as opposed to inherited /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively. The developments include:

* The -v- of the perfect tenses were dropped or elided, but sometimes become /u/ after vowels.
* The past participle were sometimes sporadically rounded to *-ū-, this situation is preserved in French.
* The "unstressed" indicative imperfect is very likely from shortened *-bămus, *-bătis, yielding to the stress on the third-from-last syllable (cantā́bămus), as opposed to Classical Latin stress on the second-from-last syllable (cantābā́mus). Languages which retain this irregular stress were the languages of Iberia, Sicilian, and French.
* Romance metaphony. In forms containing -ī next to mid-open vowels, especially in preterite forms were heightened.

In the Proto-Romance grammatical tradition, the second and third conjugation are known as third conjugation, similarly to French.

### First conjugation

[edit]

Verbs in the first conjugation are in -āre (*-áre), later evolved to -are in Italian, -ar in most Romance languages and -er in French.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-áre Infinitive  | *-áre

|

Present participle  | *-ánte
Gerund  | *-ándu
Supine  | *-átu
| 1st singular  | 2nd singular  | 3rd singular  | 1st plural  | 2nd plural  | 3rd plural
Indicative  | Present  | *-o[a] | *-as[a] | *-at[a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant[a]
Imperfect  | *-ába | *-ábas | *-ábat | *-ábamos | *-ábates | *-ábant
Preterite  | *-áui | *-áusti | *-áut | *-ámos | *-ástes | *-áront
Pluperfect  | *-ára | *-áras | *-árat | *-áramos | *-árates | *-árant
Future perfect  | *-áro | *-áres | *-áret | *-áremos | *-áretes | *-árent
Subjunctive  | Present  | *-e[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent[a]
Imperfect  | *-áre | *-áres | *-áret | *-arémos | *-arétes | *-árent
Pluperfect  | *-ásse | *-ásses | *-ásset | *-assémos | *-assétes | *-ássent
Imperative  |  | *-a[a] |  |  | *-áte |

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

### Second conjugation

[edit]

Verbs in the second conjugation are in -ēre (*-ére), later evolved to -ere in Italian, -er in most Romance languages and -oir in French (no "regular" -oir verbs). Another infinitive -ere has merged into this paradigm.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-ére Infinitive  | *-ére

|

Present participle  | *-énte
Gerund  | *-éndu
Supine  | *-etu[a]
| 1st singular  | 2nd singular  | 3rd singular  | 1st plural  | 2nd plural  | 3rd plural
Indicative  | Present  | *-io[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent[a]
Imperfect  | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant
Preterite  | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-éront
Pluperfect  | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant
Future perfect  | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent
Subjunctive  | Present  | *-ia[a] | *-ias[a] | *-iat[a] | *-iámos | *-iátes | *-iant[a]
Imperfect  | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent
Pluperfect  | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent
Imperative  |  | *-é[a] |  |  | *-éte |

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

### Third conjugation

[edit]

Verbs in the third conjugation are in -ere (*-ere, caused stress in previous syllable), later merged with -ere (*-ere, causes stress in antepenultimate syllable), but -re in French and Catalan. The suffix -re in French are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.

The -iō variant (*-io in Vulgar Latin) now defunct, later merged with the second conjugation; the paradigm now only exists in some descendants of the verb faciō.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-ere Infinitive  | *-ere[a]

|

Present participle  | *-énte
Gerund  | *-éndu
Supine  | *-etu[a]
| 1st singular  | 2nd singular  | 3rd singular  | 1st plural  | 2nd plural  | 3rd plural
Indicative  | Present  | *-o[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ont[a]
Imperfect  | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant
Preterite  | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-éront
Pluperfect  | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant
Future perfect  | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent
Subjunctive  | Present  | *-a[a] | *-as[a] | *-at[a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant[a]
Imperfect  | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent
Pluperfect  | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent
Imperative  |  | *-e[a] |  |  | *-éte |

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

### Fourth conjugation

[edit]

Verbs in the fourth conjugation are in -īre (*-íre), later evolved to -ire in Italian, and -ir in most Romance languages. This conjugation type are infixed with once-inchoative -īsc- → *-ísc- in some languages, but its placement varies.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-íre Infinitive  | *-íre

|

Present participle  | *-iénte
Gerund  | *-iéndo
Supine  | *-íto
| 1st singular  | 2nd singular  | 3rd singular  | 1st plural  | 2nd plural  | 3rd plural
Indicative  | Present  | *-io[a] | *-is[a] | *-it[a] | *-ímos | *-ítes | *-iont[a]
Imperfect  | *-iéba | *-iébas | *-iébat | *-iébamos | *-iébates | *-iébant
Preterite  | *-i | *-ísti | *-it | *-ímos | *-ístes | *-íront
Pluperfect  | *-íra | *-íras | *-írat | *-íramos | *-írates | *-írant
Future perfect  | *-íro | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent
Subjunctive  | Present  | *-ia[a] | *-ias[a] | *-iat[a] | *-iamos | *-iates | *-iant[a]
Imperfect  | *-íre | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent
Pluperfect  | *-ísse | *-ísses | *-ísset | *-íssemos | *-íssetes | *-íssent
Imperative  |  | *-i[a] |  |  | *-íte |

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

In Italian, Catalan, and Romanian, the infix -isc-; -esc-, -eix- (Catalan), and -ăsc- (Romanian) is placed on once-stressed indicative and subjunctive present forms (the first-, second-, third-singular and third plural present tenses), and stressed imperatives. In French, the infix -iss- is placed on all indicative present forms, the indicative imperfect, the subjunctive present, and plural imperatives.

While there are few non-infixed -īre verbs (also known are pure -īre verbs), in French the infixed verbs are the only regular verbs, otherwise irregular.

## Modern languages

[edit]

While the nominal morphology in Romance languages is primarily agglutinative, the verbal morphology is fusional. The verbs are highly inflected for numbers (singular and plural), persons (first-, second-, and third-person), moods (indicative, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative), tenses (present, past, future), and aspects (imperfective and perfective).

Because of the complexities in Romance conjugation, certain languages have a separate article regarding these conjugations:

* Italian conjugation
* Spanish verbs
* Portuguese verb conjugation
* Romanian verbs
* French conjugation
* Catalan verbs
* Occitan conjugation
* Sardinian conjugation

While there are 4 regular infinitives in Classical Latin, namely -āre, -ēre, -ere, and -īre, some of these infinitive were merged. In many Romance languages including Spanish and Portuguese, the main infinitives are -ar, -er, and -ir, with addition of -ôr (Portuguese only) which only exists in the verb pôr, traditionally considered as -er verbs. While in Italian, the infinitives are -are, -ere, -ire. The infinitives -er and -ere (Italian) resulted from the merge of Latin infinitives -ēre and -ere. In French, the infinitives are -er, -oir, -re, -ir, but verbs with -oir and -re are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.

Latin deponent verbs like sequor and nascor (infinitive sequī, nascī) changed to active counterparts *séquo and *násco (infinitive *séquere, *nascere), as in Portuguese seguir, Spanish seguir, and Italian seguire; and Portuguese nascer, Spanish nacer, and French naître.

## Irregularities

[edit]

### Orthographic variation

[edit]

Spanish  Hard  | Soft

|

Back vowels  | Front vowels  | Back vowels  | Front vowels
c- | quV- | z- | c-
g- | guV- | j- | g-
gu- | güV- |  |

In many Romance languages, verb stems ending in "soft" (i.e. historically palatalised) c and g have purely orthographic variation to indicate that the soft pronunciation is intended before back vowels. Thus in Spanish lanz-ar /lanˈθaɾ/ "to throw" has a first person singular indicative form lanc-e /ˈlanθe/ "that I throw" where both c and z represent the phoneme /θ/ (/s/ in most American varieties) in different situations. Likewise there is French mang-er /mɑ̃ˈʒe/ "to eat", commenc-er /kɔmɑ̃ˈse/ "to begin", first person plural present indicative nous mange-ons /nu mɑ̃ˈʒɔ̃/ and nous commenç-ons /nu kɔmɑ̃ˈsɔ̃/.

Conversely, there may be forms with a "hard" (historically un-palatalised) c and g throughout, as with toc-ar /toˈkaɾ/ "to touch", toqu-é /toˈke/ "I touched". A third type in Spanish is the small group of verbs with stems ending in /gw/, as averigu-ar /abeɾiˈgwaɾ/ "to find out", averigü-é "I found out". Such alternations are purely orthographic quirks, not true irregularities.

### True irregular verbs

[edit]

#### Copula

[edit]

Main article: Romance copula

While the passive voice became completely periphrastic in Romance, the active voice has been morphologically preserved to a greater or lesser extent. The tables below compare the conjugation of the Latin verbs sum and stō in the active voice with that of the Romance copulae, their descendants. For simplicity, only the first person singular is listed for finite forms. Note that certain forms in Romance languages come from the suppletive sources sedeo (to be seated) instead of sum, e.g. subjunctive present: sedea > sia, sea, seja... (medieval Galician-Portuguese, for instance, had double forms in the whole conjugation: sou/sejo, era/sia, fui/sevi, fora/severa, fosse/sevesse...)

Form  | Latin  |  | Italian  | French1 | Spanish  | Portuguese  | Logudorese  | Catalan  | Sicilian  | Romansh  | Romanian

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Indicative  | Present | sum  | stō  | sono  | sto  | suis  | –  | soy  | estoy  | sou  | estou  | so  | isto  | sóc  | estic  | sugnu  | staiu  | sun  | sunt
Imperfect | eram  | stābam  | ero  | stavo  | –  | étais  | era  | estaba  | era  | estava  | essia  | istaia  | era  | estava  | era  | stava  | era  | eram
Preterite | fuī  | stetī  | fui  | stetti  | fus  | –  | fui  | estuve  | fui  | estive  | essesi  | istesi  | fui  | estiguí  | fui  | stesi  | –  | fui, fusei
Pluperfect | fueram  | steteram  | –  | –  | –  | –  | fuera  | estuviera  | fora  | estivera  | –  | –  | fóra  | estigués  | fora  | –  | –  | –
Future2 | erō  | stābō  | sarò  | starò  | serai  | –  | seré  | estaré  | serei  | estarei  | –  | –  | seré  | estaré  | –  | –  | –  | –
Subjunctive  | Present | sim  | stem  | sia  | stia  | sois  | –  | sea  | esté  | seja  | esteja  | sia  | iste  | sigui, siga  | estigui, estiga  | –  | –  | saja  | să fiu
Perfect3 | fuerim  | steterim  | –  | –  | –  | –  | fuere  | estuviere  | for  | estiver  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –
Imperfect | essem  | stārem  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | ser  | estar  | essere  | istere  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –  | –
Pluperfect | fuissem  | stetissem  | fossi  | stessi  | fusse  | –  | fuese  | estuviese  | fosse  | estivesse  | –  | –  | fos  | estigués  | fussi  | stassi  | fiss  | fusesem
Infinitive | esse  | stāre  | essere  | stare  | être  | –  | ser  | estar  | ser  | estar  | essere  | istare  | ser, ésser  | estar  | siri  | stari  | esser  | fire, a fi
Supine | –  | stātum  | –  | stato  | –  | été  | sido  | estado  | sido  | estado  | essidu  | istadu  | estat, sigut, sét  | estat  | statu  | statu  | stà  | fost
Gerund | –  | standum  | essendo  | stando  | –  | étant  | siendo  | estando  | sendo  | estando  | essende  | istande  | sent, essent  | estant  | sennu  | stannu  | essend, siond  | fiind

1. In French the outcomes of sum and stō merged into a single verb paradigm; here the various forms are separated according to which root they descend from.
2. The future indicative tense does not derive from the Latin form (which tended to be confounded with the preterite due to sound changes in Vulgar Latin), but rather from an infinitive + habeō periphrasis, later reanalysed as a simple tense.
3. Formally identical to the future perfect indicative, the two paradigms merged in Vulgar Latin.

#### Other irregular verbs

[edit]

* "To have": The verb habeō was regularly conjugated in Classical Latin, but later tends to be highly irregular in the Romance languages. The verb later transformed to *haveō in many Romance languages (but etymologically Spanish haber), resulting in irregular indicative present forms *ai, *as, and *at (all first-, second- and third-person singular), but ho, hai, ha in Italian and -pp- (appo) in Logudorese Sardinian in present tenses.

In Logudorese Sardinian, two -b-es lost in imperfect tenses.
In French, the past participle eu including the perfect stems (past historic and subjunctive imperfect stems) eu-/eû- rather evolved from earlier *habū-.

This is the Vulgar Latin conjugation of the verb *avére:

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *avére Infinitive  | *avére

|

Present participle  | *avénte
Gerund  | *avéndu
Supine  | *áutu
| 1st singular  | 2nd singular  | 3rd singular  | 1st plural  | 2nd plural  | 3rd plural
Indicative  | Present  | *áio | *áus | *áut | *avémos | *avétes | *áunt
Imperfect  | *avéba | *avébas | *avébat | *avébamos | *avébates | *avébant
Preterite  | *áui | *avésti | *áut | *avémos | *avéstes | *áuront
Pluperfect  | *avéra | *avéras | *avérat | *avéramos | *avérates | *avérant
Future  | *averáio | *averáious | *averáiout | *averavémos | *averavétes | *averáunt
Conditional  | *averavéba | *averavéba | *averavébat | *averavébamos | *averavébates | *averavébant
Future perfect  | *avéro | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent
Subjunctive  | Present  | *áia | *áias | *áiat | *aiámos | *aiátes | *áiant
Imperfect  | *avére | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent
Pluperfect  | *avésse | *avésses | *avésset | *avessémos | *avessétes | *avéssent
Imperative  |  | *áu |  |  | *avéte |

Notice that these forms sometimes also have an inconsistent form, as the table above more resembling with that of French.

* "To do": The verb faciō is also irregular in Classical Latin, with fēc- before perfect tenses (although the passive form of the verb was supplied by fīō, this suppletion is not included as the passive voice became periphrastic). This verb is one of the few verbs that retains perfect ablaut in Romance languages, with some changing the perfect stem to fi- due to metaphony rules.

## Semantic changes

[edit]

In spite of the remarkable continuity of form, several Latin tenses have changed meaning, especially subjunctives.

* The gerund in Sardinian changed the final -o in -e (like the Proto-Romance present participle accusative form, estinguished, in Sardinian). However, the French and Catalan suffixes -ant conflate with the accusative of present active participle suffix -āntem, and so the gerund sounds like the present participle, but ever present with "en".
* The supine disappeared, and remains just the past participle, with its stem, in all Romance languages.
* The pluperfect indicative became a conditional in Sicilian, and an imperfect subjunctive in Spanish.
* The pluperfect subjunctive developed into an imperfect subjunctive in all languages except Romansh, where it became a conditional, and Romanian, where it became a pluperfect indicative.
* The future perfect indicative became a future subjunctive in Old Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician.

The Latin imperfect subjunctive underwent a change in syntactic status, becoming a personal infinitive in Portuguese and Galician.[1] An alternative hypothesis traces the personal infinitive back to the Latin infinitive, not to a conjugated verb form.[2]

## Periphrases

[edit]

In many cases, the empty cells in the tables above exist as distinct compound verbs in the modern languages. Thus, the main tense and mood distinctions in classical Latin are still made in most modern Romance languages, though some are now expressed through compound rather than simple verbs. Some examples, from Romanian:

* Perfect indicative: am fost, ai fost, a fost, am fost, ați fost, au fost;
* Future indicative: voi fi, vei fi, va fi, vom fi, veți fi, vor fi;
* Future perfect indicative: voi fi fost, vei fi fost, va fi fost, vom fi fost, veți fi fost, vor fi fost.

New forms also developed, such as the conditional, which in most Romance languages started out as a periphrasis, but later became a simple tense. In Romanian, the conditional is still periphrastic: aș fi, ai fi, ar fi, am fi, ați fi, ar fi.

## See also

[edit]

* Romance languages
* Vulgar Latin

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Williams (1962); Wireback (1994)
2. ^ Maurer (1968); Osborne (1982)

## References

[edit]

* Maurer, Theodoro H. (1968). O infinitivo flexionado português: estudo histórico-descritivo (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional.
* Paola Monachesi, The Verbal Complex in Romance: A Case Study in Grammatical Interfaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
* Osborne, Bruce (1982). "On the origin of the Portuguese inflected infinitive". In Anders Ahlqvist (ed.). Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Galway, April 6–10, 1981. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 243–48\. ISBN 978-90-272-3514-5.
* Williams, Edwin Bucher (1962). From Latin to Portuguese: Historical phonology and morphology of the Portuguese language (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
* Wireback, Kenneth J. (1994). "The Origin of the Portuguese Inflected Infinitive". Hispania. 77 (3): 544–554\. doi:10.2307/344992. JSTOR 344992.

* v
* t
* e

Romance languages (classification)

Major branches|

* Eastern
* Italo-Western
* Italo-Dalmatian
* Western
* Southern

Eastern|

* Aromanian
* Istro-Romanian
* Megleno-Romanian
* Daco-Romanian
* dialects
* Banat
* Bukovinian
* Crișana
* Maramureș
* Moldavian
* Oltenian
* Transylvanian
* Wallachian

Italo-
Dalmatian|

| Central|

* Central Italian
* Central Marchigiano
* Ancona
* Fabriano
* Macerata
* Central−Northern Latian
* Romanesco
* Sabino
* Corsican
* Gallurese
* Italian
* Italo-Australian
* Maltese Italian
* Regional Italian
* Swiss Italian
* Sassarese
* Tuscan
* Florentine

|

Southern|

* Extreme Southern Italian
* Central−Southern Calabrian
* Salentino
* Manduriano
* Sicilian
* Pantesco
* Neapolitan–Calabrese
* Neapolitan
* Barese
* Benevento
* Castelmezzano
* Cilentan
* Irpinian
* Arianese
* Molisan
* Southern Latian
* Tarantino
* Vastese
* Northern Calabrian

Others|

* Dalmatian Romance
* Dalmatian
* Istriot
* Judeo-Italian

Western|

| Gallo-Italic|

* Emilian–Romagnol
* Emilian
* Bolognese
* Judeo-Mantuan
* Parmigiano
* Romagnol
* Forlivese
* Old Romagnol
* Sammarinese
* Ferrarese
* Gallo-Italic of Basilicata
* Gallo-Italic of Sicily
* Gallo-Picene
* Ligurian
* Brigasc
* Genoese
* Intemelio
* Monégasque
* Royasc
* Tabarchino
* Judeo-Italian
* Lombard
* Eastern
* Bergamasque
* Cremish
* Old Lombard
* Western
* Brianzöö
* Canzés
* Bustocco–Legnanese
* Legnanese
* Comasco–Lecchese
* Comasco
* Laghée
* Lecchese
* Vallassinese
* Milanese
* Ossolano
* Southwestern
* Cremunés
* Novarese
* Pavese
* Ticinese
* Varesino
* Piedmontese
* Judeo-Piedmontese

|

Gallo-
Romance|

| Langues
d'oïl|

* Angevin
* Berrichon
* Bourbonnais
* Burgundian
* Champenois
* Ardennais
* Rémois
* Frainc-Comtou
* Gallo
* French
* Jersey Legal
* Meridional
* North American dialects
* Canadian
* Acadian
* Chiac
* St. Marys Bay French
* Brayon
* Newfoundland
* Quebec
* Joual
* Magoua
* Franco-Ontarian
* Métis
* Muskrat
* New England
* Frenchville
* Louisiana
* Missouri
* Creoles
* Lorrain
* Gaumais
* Vosgien
* Welche
* Mayennais
* Moselle Romance
* Norman
* Anglo-Norman
* Auregnais
* Guernésiais
* Jèrriais
* Sercquiais
* Law French
* Augeron
* Cauchois
* Cotentinais
* Orléanais
* Paydret
* Picard
* Poitevin–Saintongeais
* Poitevin
* Saintongeais
* Walloon
* West Walloon
* Wisconsin Walloon

|

* Franco-Provençal/Arpitan
* Faetar
* Savoyard
* Valdôtain
* Old Gallo-Romance

Ibero-
Romance
(West
Iberian)|

| Asturleonese|

* Asturian
* Eastern
* Western
* Cantabrian
* Leonese
* Bercian
* Paḷḷuezu
* Palra
* Riberan
* Riunorese
* Mirandese
* Old Leonese

|

Galician–Portuguese|

* Fala
* Galician
* Galician–Asturian/Eonavian
* Portuguese
* dialects
* African
* Asian
* Brazilian
* Mineiro
* European
* Alentejan
* Oliventine
* Estremenho
* Minderico
* Northern
* Uruguayan
* Creoles
* Portugis
* Judeo-Portuguese

Castilian|

* Extremaduran
* Judeo-Spanish
* Haketia
* Tetuani
* Spanish
* dialects
* Equatoguinean
* Latin American
* Chilean
* Chilote
* Peruvian
* Peruvian Ribereño
* Rioplatense
* Peninsular
* Andalusian
* Llanito
* Castilian
* Castrapo
* Castúo
* Murcian
* Philippine
* Saharan
* Creoles
* Old Spanish

Pyrenean–Mozarabic|

* Andalusi Romance
* Navarro-Aragonese
* Aragonese
* Central
* Eastern
* Ribagorçan
* Benasquese
* Judeo-Aragonese
* Southern
* Somontanés
* Navalese
* Western
* Aisinian
* Ansó
* Aragüés
* Hecho
* Community of Villages Aragonese
* Ebro Valley Aragonese
* Navarrese
* Old Riojan
* Valencian Aragonese

Others|

* Barranquenho (mixed Portuguese–Spanish)
* Caló (mixed Romani–Ibero- and Occitano-Romance)

Occitano-
Romance|

* Catalan
* dialects
* Eastern
* Algherese
* Balearic
* Mallorcan
* Menorcan
* Central
* Northern
* Judeo-Catalan
* Patuet
* Western
* Ribagorçan
* Valencian
* Gardiol
* Occitan
* Auvergnat
* Gascon
* Aranese
* Béarnese
* Aas whistled
* Landese
* Judeo-Gascon
* Judeo-Provençal
* Languedocien
* Limousin
* Provençal
* Niçard
* Vivaro-Alpine
* Gardiol
* Mentonasc
* Old Occitan
* Old Catalan

Rhaeto-
Romance|

* Friulian
* Fornes
* Ladin
* Cadorino
* Nones
* Romansh
* Jauer
* Putèr
* Surmiran
* Sursilvan
* Tuatschin
* Sutsilvan
* Vallader

Others|

* Franco-Italian
* Mediterranean Lingua Franca (Western Romance-based pidgin)
* Venetian (unknown further classification)
* Chipilo
* Fiuman
* Talian
* Triestine

Others|

* African Romance
* British Latin
* Pannonian Latin
* Sardinian
* Campidanese
* Logudorese
* Dialects of Latin

Reconstructed|

* Proto-Romance
* Proto-Eastern Romance

* Italics indicate extinct languages
* Bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers
* Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

* v
* t
* e

Verbs of the world's languages

* Phonologies
* Orthographies
* Grammars
* Adjectives
* Determiners
* Nouns
* Prepositions
* Pronouns
* Verbs

Indo-European
(proto-language)|

| Germanic
(strong and weak)|

* English
* auxiliary
* modal
* Dutch
* conjugation
* German
* conjugation
* Gothic

|

Celtic|

* Irish
* conjugation

Italic|

* Latin
* conjugation
* tenses

Romance|

* Catalan
* conjugation
* auxiliary verbs
* French
* conjugation
* morphology
* Italian
* conjugation
* Occitan
* conjugation
* Portuguese
* conjugation
* Romanian
* Sardinian
* conjugation
* Spanish
* conjugation
* irregularity

Slavic|

* Bulgarian
* conjugation
* Czech
* conjugation
* morphology
* Macedonian
* conjugation
* Slovene

Iranian|

* Persian

Indo-Aryan|

* Hindustani
* Sanskrit

Other|

* Armenian
* Greek
* pure verbs

Uralic|

* Finnish
* conjugation
* Hungarian

Turkic|

* Turkish

Other European|

* Adyghe
* Basque
* Georgian
* conjugation
* Kabardian

Afroasiatic
(Derived stem)|

* Arabic
* Hebrew
* Tigrinya

Niger–Congo|

* Chichewa
* tenses
* Sotho
* deficient verbs

Japonic|

* Japanese
* conjugation
* Kagoshima dialect
* godan and ichidan
* irregular verbs

Other East Asian|

* Korean

Austronesian|

* Ilocano

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template