Classics and Religious Studies, Department of
Date of this Version
Fall 2008
Abstract
How does a student go from tetigit in the text to tango in the dictionary? Verbs in the third conjugation often prove difficult even for intermediate and advanced Latin students. The other conjugations all form the perfect stem with a v infix, with or without the thematic vowel. Third conjugation verbs form their perfect stem in five ways. Three of these ways correspond to Greek; the fourth way is with the standard u/v infix; and the fifth way is with no stem-change at all. A complete overview of these five types may preemptively spare your students time and grief.
Comments
Published in The Classical Outlook, Fall 2008, Volume 86, Number 1, pp. 28-29. Published by the American Classical League, http://www.aclclassics.org/pub_co.html