Past tenses of 'posse'

2 past tenses of 'posse'

IMPERFECT

PERFECT

In many European languages, expressing ABILITY or WILLING to do something isn't the same as English:

• I CAN FLY

• I AM ABLE TO FLY (using the INFINITIVE)

We need a quick recap of this verb: TO BE

• I am tall (male)

• (ego) sum altus

• We are tall (female)

• (nos) sumus altae

Multiple Choice

What is the Latin for:

they are strong

• sumus forti

• sunt fortes

• estis validi

• sunt parvi

The verb 'TO BE ABLE' is a compound of the verb 'to be'

• I am able to fly / I can fly

• possum volare

• The letters in green represent the INFINITIVE, the 'to do' part of any verb e.g. to run, to walk, to swim

• possumus volare = we can fly

Multiple Select

What does celeriter currere potest mean?

• They can run fast

• His is able to run fast

• They are able to run quickly

• She can run quickly

For the previous sentence: celeriter currere potest

• The '-est' ending is the PRESENT tense, 3rd person form (i.e. he, she, it)

• The 'pot-' prefix means 'able'

• currere is the infinitive of 'curro', meaning 'I run'

• If we were to swap 'they are able' (possunt) for 'he is able' (potest), nothing else changes

• celeriter currere possunt = they can run quickly

Now for the IMPERFECT tense

• 'TO BE ABLE' is the only Latin verb that DOESN'T use the -bam, -bas, -bat endings for this tense

• I was able to run quickly

• celeriter currere poteram

• We were able to fly

• volare poteramus

Multiple Choice

What does urbem oppugnare poteratis mean?

• They could attack the city

• We were able to attack the town

• You (plural) were able to attack the city

• Were you able to attack the town?

Finally, the PERFECT tense

• Once again, just by attaching a different set of endings to the 'pot' stem, TENSE and PERSON change

Multiple Choice

What does celeriter currere potuerunt mean?

• He could run quickly

• He/ she was able to run fast

• They were able to run quickly

• They could run quickly

celeriter currere potuerunt

• We've seen the 'celeriter currere' before: nothing has changed there

• '-erunt' (see right) is the 'they' ending.

• We can't say 'able-d' or 'could-ed' but this is effectively what the PERFECT tense is telling us

Multiple Choice

LAST ONE!

gladiator fortiter pugnare potuit

?

• The gladiator could fight bravely

• The gladiator was fighting bravely

• He fought the gladiator bravely

• He was able to fight the gladiator bravely