NativLang | Romance Languages: conjugating verbs @NativLang | Uploaded December 2013 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
The next in a series of lessons on the grammar of the Romance languages. Learn how verbs developed from Classical Latin through Vulgar Latin and into the Romance languages.
Verbs have a meaningful stem and a grammatical ending. Vulgar Latin *cantas "you sing" has a stem cant- "sing" and an ending -as "you X".
The verb's ending shares information about the person (1st, 2nd or 3rd) and number (singular or plural) of its subject. It also contains a thematic vowel, which hints at its Latin conjugation (verb group). The four conjugations: I (thematic a), II (thematic e), III (thematic ĕ), IV (thematic i).
A few languages (notably French) have come to expect subject pronouns with verbs: French 'je chante' but not just *'chante' for "I sing". Latin, Vulgar Latin and the majority of modern Romance are pro-drop languages - the verb alone is enough for "I sing" in Portuguese 'canto', Romanian 'cânt', etc.
The infinitive ending -re allows you to cite a verb without a subject: *cantare "to sing", *videre "to see", *finire "to finish", etc.
"The Grammar of Romance" has an associated website (free) and book ($). Both of them offer more explanations and examples:
nativlang.com/romance-languages
amazon.com/gp/product/1475246633/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=nativlangu-20
Music by Kevin MacLeod
The next in a series of lessons on the grammar of the Romance languages. Learn how verbs developed from Classical Latin through Vulgar Latin and into the Romance languages.
Verbs have a meaningful stem and a grammatical ending. Vulgar Latin *cantas "you sing" has a stem cant- "sing" and an ending -as "you X".
The verb's ending shares information about the person (1st, 2nd or 3rd) and number (singular or plural) of its subject. It also contains a thematic vowel, which hints at its Latin conjugation (verb group). The four conjugations: I (thematic a), II (thematic e), III (thematic ĕ), IV (thematic i).
A few languages (notably French) have come to expect subject pronouns with verbs: French 'je chante' but not just *'chante' for "I sing". Latin, Vulgar Latin and the majority of modern Romance are pro-drop languages - the verb alone is enough for "I sing" in Portuguese 'canto', Romanian 'cânt', etc.
The infinitive ending -re allows you to cite a verb without a subject: *cantare "to sing", *videre "to see", *finire "to finish", etc.
"The Grammar of Romance" has an associated website (free) and book ($). Both of them offer more explanations and examples:
nativlang.com/romance-languages
amazon.com/gp/product/1475246633/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=nativlangu-20
Music by Kevin MacLeod
