About Latin Tenses:
When you parse a Latin verb, you list the following:
- meaning/translation
- person
- number
- mood
- voice (active/passive)
- tense/aspect
Present Tense:
The first of the simple tenses in the Indicative Mood is the present tense. The present tense in the Indicative Mood has both Active and Passive voices. The present tense shows action that is happening now.
- I walk - ambulo
Latin Imperfect Tense:
The next tense is the imperfect, which conveys incompleted action in the past. Imperfect means incomplete or unfinished. When translating an imperfect verb, the simple past tense sometimes works. Other times, "was" plus an "-ing" ending will convey the incompleted past action.
- I was walking - ambulabam
Latin Future Tense:
The third tense is the future tense. A verb in the future tense conveys action that will happen in the future. The customary auxiliary verb denoting the future tense is "will."
- He will walk - ambulabit
Latin Verb Endings:
Active Singular
- -o, -m
- -s
- -t
- -mus
- -tis
- -nt
- -or, -r
- -ris
- -tur
- -mur
- -mini
- -ntur
Perfect Active Endings
Singular
- -i
- -isti
- -it
- -imus
- -istis
- -erunt (sometimes -ere)
Past Tenses:
Past or perfected tenses are used for completed actions. There are three such tenses: perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect.
Latin Perfect Tense:
Generally called the perfect tense, this tense refers to an action that has been completed. Either a simple past tense ending (e.g., "-ed") or the auxiliary verb "have" conveys the perfect tense.
- I walked - ambulavi
Latin Pluperfect Tense:
A verb is in the pluperfect tense if it was completed prior to another. Usually the auxiliary verb "had" signifies a pluperfect verb.
- I had walked - ambulaveram
Latin Future Perfect Tense:
Future perfect is used to convey an action that will have been completed prior to something else. "Will have" are the customary auxiliary verbs.
- I will have walked - ambulavero
Moods and Tenses:
In addition to the tenses for verbs in the indicative mood, there is ordinarily one tense in the imperative mood, with both active and passive forms. In the subjunctive mood, there are four tenses, both active and passive: present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect.
