Mastering the Perfect Tense in Latin

Perfect Tense in Latin

LO: Learn the perfect tense endings and how to translate perfect tense verbs.​

What is the perfect tense?

In English....

• In English, we use the perfect tense to describe completed actions in the past.

• Lots of perfect tense verbs in English end in -ed e.g walked, played, jumped

• However there are also lots of irregulars - went, sang, met

e.g If a verb ends in 't' then he/she/it is doing it.
If a verb ends in 'nt' then they are doing it.

Verbs change their endings in Latin depending on who is doing the verb and we need to pay careful attention to this when translating.

verbs in latin

Multiple Choice

The Perfect tense in English sounds like

• Walk

• Was walking

• Walked

• had walked

perfect tense

​Person of the verb	​Pronoun	​Perfect tense ending
​1st person singular	​I	​-i
​2nd person singular	You​	​-isti
​3rd person singular	He/She/It​	​-it
​1st person plural	We​	​-imus
​2nd person plural	You​	​-istis
​3rd person plural	They​	​-erunt

Match

Match the following person of the verb to their pronoun

• First Person Singular

• Second Person Singular

• Third Person Singular

I

You

He/She/It

• I

• You

• He/She/It

Match

Match the following Match the following person of the verb to their pronoun

• 1st Person Plural

• 2nd Person Plural

• 3rd Person Plural

We

You (pl)

They

• We

• You (pl)

• They

Reorder

Reorder the following

• i

• isti

• it

• imus

• istis + erunt

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Multiple Select

Which of the following are 1st person?

• i

• isti

• it

• imus

• istis

Multiple Select

Which of the following are 2nd person?

• isti

• it

• imus

• istis

• erunt

Multiple Select

Which of the following are 3rd person?

• isti

• it

• imus

• istis

• erunt

Draw

Fill in the pronouns and perfect tense endings

perfect tense

​Person of the verb	​Pronoun	​Perfect tense ending	amo = love	Translation
​1st person singular	​I	​-i	amavi	I loved
​2nd person singular	You​	-isti	amavisti	You (S) loved
​3rd person singular	He/She/It​	​-it	amavit	He loved
​1st person plural	We​	​-imus	amavimus	We loved
​2nd person plural	You​	​-istis	amavistis	You (pl) loved
​3rd person plural	They​	​-erunt	amaverunt	They loved

Categorize

Options (7)

i

imus

isti

istis

it

erunt

blank

Drag the ending into the correct person

1st person

2nd person

3rd person

4th person

How do I find the perfect tense?

In Latin, verbs are listed in a dictionary as principal parts:







To find the perfect stem, look at the third version of the verb in the dictionary and keep all the letters the same before the 'i'. That is your stem, then you can add 'i', 'isti', 'it' etc

​amo	​amare	​amavi	​amatum
​present tense	​infinitive	​perfect	​don't worry!
I love	To love	I loved