CAPITULUM XXI – GRAMMATICA

I. Perfect Tense

In this Chapter we learn about the perfect tense (tempus praeteritum perfectum): the forms of the perfect tense personal endings, the perfect stem for verbs of the four conjugations and some irregular verbs, the pattern of the perfect passive forms, how the perfect tense is to be understood, the infinitives in the active and passive voices and how to interpret them. This tense refers to actions or conditions or events that once happened and are now finished. Here is a chart for the forms in the active voice:

		first	second	third	fourth	esse
	stem:	amāv-	habu-	rēx-	audīv-
singular	ego	amāvī	habuī	rēxī	audīvī	fuī
	tū	amāvistī	habuistī	rēxistī	audīvistī	fuistī
	is, ea, id	amāvit	habuit	rēxit	audīvit	fuit
plural	nōs	amāvimus	habuimus	rēximus	audīvimus	fuimus
	vōs	amāvistis	habuistis	rēxistis	audīvistis	fuistis
	iī, eae, ea	amāvērunt	habuērunt	rēgērunt	audīvērunt	fuērunt

and here is a chart for the forms in the passive voice:

first	second	third	fourth
amātus, -a, -um sum	habitus, -a, -um sum	rēctus, -a, -um sum	audītus, -a, -um sum
amātus, -a, -um es	habitus, -a, -um es	rēctus, -a, -um es	audītus, -a, -um es
amātus, -a, um est	habitus, -a, um est	rēctus, -a, -um est	audītus, -a, -um est
amātī, -ae, -a sumus	habitī, -ae, -a sumus	rēctī, -ae, -a sumus	audītī, -ae, -a sumus
amātī, -ae, -a estis	habitī, -ae, -a estis	rēctī, -ae, -a estis	audītī, -ae, -a estis
amātī, -ae, -a sunt	habitī, -ae, -a sunt	rēctī, -ae, -a sunt	audītī, -ae, -a sunt

A. Compare this tense with the imperfect (tempus praeteritum imperfectum): Iūlia cantābat. Tum Mārcus eam pulsāvit. Julia was singing. Then Marcus hit her.

B. Compare it also with the present. Iūlia plōrat quia Mārcus eam pulsāvit. Julia is crying because Marcus has hit her.

C. The stem to which the new set of personal endings are added is different from the present stem:

1. First and Fourth conjugation regular verbs – add v to the present stem: pulsā + v = pulsāv-, e.g., Malī puerī pūnīti sunt quia eī parvās puellās pulsāvērunt.

2. Second conjugation regular verbs – change the ē to u: tenē ® tenu, e.g., Quīntus plōrat quia Mārcus eum sub aquā in impluviō tenuit.

3. Third conjugation regular verbs – there are several different patterns; for the most part these will have to be learned by observation.