Suburani 08 Intro to Perfect Stem Markers

When you look up a Latin verb in the dictionary, you will see four principal parts.

For example: vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus

Let's look at what each of these parts is.

vocō: This is the present tense in the 1st person singular: "I call" or "I am calling"

vocāre: This is the infinitive: "to call"

vocāvī: This is the perfect tense in the 1st person singular: "I have called" or "I called"

vocātus: Don't worry about this form for now. You will learn about next year.

When you are forming the perfect tense, you need to use your perfect stem. You get this by going to the third principal part and removing the -ī ending. E.g., The perfect stem for vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus is vocāv-.

A lot of Latin verbs have a -v- in the perfect stem. For example:

• laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātus

• audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātus: The present stem laud- changes to laudāv- for the perfect stem.

• audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus: The present stem aud- changes to audīv- for the perfect stem.

The letter -v- is the sign for the perfect stem. We call this the perfect stem marker,

Lots of Latin verbs have -v- as a perfect stem marker. But there are other perfect stem markers as well.

Look at these verbs:

• rīdeō, rīdēre, rīsī, rīsus

• gerō, gerere, gessī, gestus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• rīdeō, rīdēre, rīsī, rīsus: The present stem rīd- changes to rīs- for the perfect stem.

• gerō, gerere, gessī, gestus: The present stem ger- changes to gess- for the perfect stem.

For these verbs, the letter -s- is the perfect stem marker.

Look at these verbs:

• teneō, tenēre, tenuī, tentus

• rapiō, rapere, rapuī, raptus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• teneō, tenēre, tenuī, tentus: The present stem ten- changes to tenu- for the perfect stem.

• rapiō, rapere, rapuī, raptus: The present stem rap- changes to rapu- for the perfect stem.

For these verbs, the letter -u- is the perfect stem marker.

Look at these verbs:

• dūcō, dūcere, dūxī, ductus

• surgō, surgere, surrēxī, surrectus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• dūcō, dūcere, dūxī, ductus: The present stem dūc- changes to dūx- for the perfect stem.

• surgō, surgere, surrēxī, surrectus: The present stem surg- changes to surrēx- for the perfect stem.

For these verbs, the letter -x- is the perfect stem marker.

Look at these verbs:

• fugiō, fugere, fūgī, fugitus

• veniō, venīre, vēnī, ventus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• fugiō, fugere, fūgī, fugitus: The present stem fug- changes to fūg- for the perfect stem.

• veniō, venīre, vēnī, ventus: The present stem ven- changes to vēn- for the perfect stem.

It's a very subtle change. But these present stems have short vowels, and the perfect stems have long vowels. For these verbs, we say that the perfect stem marker is lengthened vowel.

Look at these verbs:

• capiō, capere, cēpī, captus

• agō, agere, ēgī, āctus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• capō, capere, cēpī, captus: The present stem cap- changes to cēp- for the perfect stem.

• agō, agere, ēgī, actus: The present stem ag- changes to ēg- for the perfect stem.

For these verbs, the short -a- has changed to a long -ē- in the perfect stem. This is also considered lengthened vowel, but, since a long -ā- sounds very similar to a short -a- in Latin, it changes to a long -ē- instead.

Look at these verbs:

• currō, currere, cucurrī, cursus

• poscō, poscere, poposcī

• stō, stare, stetī, status

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• currō, currere, cucurrī, cursus: The present stem curr- changes to cucurr- for the perfect stem.

• poscō, poscere, poposcī: The present stem posc- changes to poposc- for the perfect stem.

• stō, stare, stetī, status: The present stem st- changes to stet- for the perfect stem.

For these verbs, a consonant sound or sounds from the present stem are repeated in the perfect stem. This type of perfect stem marker is called reduplication.

Look at these verbs:

• bibō, bibere, bibī

• respondeō, respondēre, respondī, respōnsus

Compare the present stem to the perfect stem:

• bibō, bibere, bibī: The present stem bib- is identical to the perfect stem bib-.

• respondeō, respondēre, respondī, respōnsus: The present stem respond- is identical to the perfect stem respond-.

We say that these verbs have no perfect stem marker. You will have to figure out from the endings or from context whether they are perfect or present tense