What are the rules for conjugations that have "phonetic facilitators" and "* forms"?
No matter how much I go over the handouts, I still can't figure out a way to know which verbs have I's and U's in their conjugations other than memorizing them. If there is no other way than to memorize them, which ones are they? Because I always feel like I'm missing some of them and it would be nice to finally get some closure on what is what verb wise.
posted by Ex Pluribus Unum @ 1:01 AM
3 Comments:
This is an issue that relates to the 3rd and 4th conjugations ONLY, whose infinitives end in IRE or unnaccented (unmarked in the book) ERE. When you conjugate these verbs, take off the -RE part and you will see how the 4th conjugation ones will feature an -i- before every personal ending.
audi-o, audi-s, audi-t, audi-mus, audi-tis, audi-U-nt.
The third plural doesn't really need that extra -U- there but gets it anyway. To be continued...
EM
In the third conjugation, you get rid of the -RE and then take off the unaccented -E- too. This means that your stem ends in a consonant, which don't sound very good when you conjugate:
leg-o, leg-s, leg-t, leg-mus, leg-tis, leg-nt...
This is phonetically impossible for the Romans. So, they develop some vowels (=phonetic facilitarors) to help the pronounciation:
leg-o, leg-I-s, leg-I-t, leg-I-mus, leg-I-tis, leg-U-nt.
To be concluded....
A special subgategory of the third conjugation verbs is what I call 3* (third star). These are verbs whose infinitives state that they are third conjugation (they end in unaccented ERE, but, once you get down to the dirty business of conjugating them, they actually look like 4th.
Capere (to catch, clearly third) but:
Capi-o, capi-s, capi-t, capi-mus, capi-tis, capi-unt.
Note that I have placed the -i- inside the stem, because this -i- is NOT a phonetic facilitator. It is a much more permanent feature of the verb, which returns in other tenses that we have not learned yet (the imperfect, the future, etc.) Just learn the present as is for now, and keep your eye on the infinitives. They will tell you all you need to know to conjugate your verbs properly.
Hope this helps. Do continue to ask any questions you have.
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