ENDINGS OF THE PERFECT

206. The personal endings which are used in forming the perfect indicative active are different from those used in the other tenses. They are as follows:

a. The use of the perfect endings is the same in all verbs, regular or irregular.

208. 1. Saepe filium tuum monui. 2. Servi ex agrīs saxa portāvērunt. 3. Socii nostri fortiter pugnāvērunt, sed primō nōn parāti erant. 4. Hoc oppidum numquam ā Rōmānis occupabitur. 5. Hi pueri poenam timuērunt. 6. Germānī multa oppida in Gallia occupāvērunt. 7. Hic agricola hortum pulchrum habet. 8. Quattuor equī in agrō errabant. 9. Hanc pictūram pulchram saepe laudāvī. 10. Hi virī numquam servi erunt.

209. 1. Cornelia warned her son, but he did not fear. 2. The boy carried the letter to the town. 3. We praised the boy's garden. 4. My friend has often praised your village. 5. These towns will be seized by the Gauls.

SUGGESTED DRILL

1. Give the personal endings of the perfect indicative active. 2. Conjugate occupō and habeō in the perfect indicative active. 3. Point out the personal endings in the verbs of sentences 4 and 5, section 208. 4. Conjugate sum in the future indicative. 5. Give the tense signs of the imperfect and the future indicative of regular verbs of the first and second conjugations. 6. What is the Latin word from which penalty comes?

LESSON XXXV

FORMATION OF THE PERFECT: THE PERFECT AND
THE IMPERFECT

THE PERFECT STEM

210. The perfect tense has no tense sign. Its forms are made by adding the perfect endings, which have been seen in section 206, to the Perfect Stem. Since the personal endings used in this tense are different from those used in the other tenses, they serve to distinguish it, just as the tense signs serve to distinguish the other tenses.

The perfect stem of any verb may be found by dropping the final -ī of the first person singular of the perfect indicative. Thus, the perfect stem of portō is portāv-, and the perfect stem of moneō is monu-. Tenses formed on the perfect stem make what is called the Perfect System, while tenses formed on the present stem make the Present System.

a. All first conjugation verbs given thus far, except dō, stō, and iuvō, have the perfect ending in -āvī and hence they are conjugated in this tense exactly like portō. The perfect of dō is dedī, stem ded-, the perfect of stō is stetī, stem stet-, and the perfect of juvō is jūvī, stem jūv-. Any form of the perfect of these verbs may be found by adding to the stem the personal ending for the person and number required. Thus, dedistī, jūvimus, stetērunt.

b. Many, but not all, verbs of the second conjugation have the perfect tense ending in -ui, like moneō. The perfect of those which differ from moneō in the ending of the stem will be explained later.

TRANSLATION OF THE IMPERFECT AND THE PERFECT

211. It has been seen in sections 169 a and 204 that the English past tense is sometimes translated by the perfect and sometimes by the imperfect. The distinction between the two consists in the fact that the imperfect represents a past act as going on or denotes a situation in past time, while the perfect either denotes a single past act without reference to its continuance, or is equivalent to the English present perfect. In the sentence We crossed the river a single act in past time is denoted, and hence the perfect must be used in Latin. In the sentence, Everyone feared war, a situation in past time is denoted, and hence the imperfect will be used.

213. 1. Haec loca rūrsus explōrāvimus. 2. Amīcum meum hodie invītāvi. 3. Fossae a servis complebuntur. 4. Hi virī in periculō sunt, sed tamen nōn timent. 5. Socii nostri prō patria sua fortiter pugnabant. 6. Eis pecuniam dedimus et eōs jūvimus. 7. Hī virī semper amīcī nostri erunt. 8. Bellum numquam amāvimus; bellum numquam amābimus.

9. Sed pugnavimus quod patria nostra in periculo erat. Circum oppidum est fossa lāta.

10.

214. 1. I have often explored this large plain. 2. This ditch was being filled by the boys. 3. Cornelia has invited these girls again. 4. Then I was living on an island. 5. The Romans built a small temple in this town.

SUGGESTED DRILL

1. Conjugate dō and juvō in the perfect indicative active. 2. Indicate the perfect stem of the verbs in sentences 1, 2, and 6 of section 213. 3. Explain the difference in meaning between the imperfect and the perfect tenses. 4. Give the third person singular of the perfect indicative active of pugnō and stō. 5. Name the tense of the verbs in each sentence of section 213. 6. Give an English noun which is related in derivation to the verb compleō.