Lesson 21 · Review
Eight words for the close of the Niobe story — two neuter nouns, two new verbs, three adjectives, and the personal pronoun ego, which Latin normally leaves buried in the verb ending and spells out only when it wants to stress "I."
Last lesson the imperfect was built by slipping -bā- into the verb. The future works the very same way — only the tense sign changes. Swap -bā- for -bi- and the whole future falls out of the present stem you already know.
In the first and second conjugations the tense sign of the Future Indicative is -bi-. Like the imperfect's -bā-, it is joined to the present stem and is followed by the ordinary personal ending. Every future form is therefore three parts: present stem + -bi- + ending.
amā- + bi + s → amābis "you will love"; monē- + bi + s → monēbis "you will advise."
The personal endings are the same as in the present tense (-s, -t / -mus, -tis, -nt). Learn one paradigm and the other conjugation follows the identical pattern.
| Person | I. amō (will love) | II. moneō (will advise) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 sg. | amābō | monēbō |
| 2 sg. | amābis | monēbis |
| 3 sg. | amābit | monēbit |
| 1 pl. | amābimus | monēbimus |
| 2 pl. | amābitis | monēbitis |
| 3 pl. | amābunt | monēbunt |
"I shall love" = amābō · "we shall advise" = monēbimus. This future is inflected just like erō, the future of sum.
The tense sign is plainly -bi- in most forms (amābis, amābit, amābimus, amābitis), but it shifts at the two ends of the paradigm: in the first person singular it contracts with the ending -ō to give -bō (amābō, not amābiō); in the third person plural it appears as -bu- before -nt (amābunt, not amābint).
amābō (1 sg., from -bi- + -ō) · amābunt, monēbunt (3 pl., -bi- → -bu- before -nt).
Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
From amō, amāre, the future "they will love" is —
Right. Present stem amā- + future tense sign -bi- (which appears as -bu- before -nt) + ending -nt → amābunt (Rule 2 & N.B.). amant = "they love" (present); amābimus = "we shall love."
Not quite — the future needs the tense sign -bi-, and "they" is third person plural (ending -nt, which turns -bi- into -bu-).
Question 2
Which added element is the tense sign that marks a verb as future in the first two conjugations?
Right. -bi- is the future's tense sign, slipped between the present stem and the personal ending (Rule 1): amā-bi-mus. -bā- is the imperfect tense sign ("was ___-ing"); -ō is just the first-person ending, not a tense sign.
Not quite — -bā- belongs to the imperfect you learned last lesson. Look for the tense sign that puts the action in future time (amābimus, monēbitis).
Question 3
The future monēbō is best translated —
Right. The future names an action still to come, so monēbō = "I shall advise" (Rule 2). "I advise" would be the present moneō; "I was advising" would be the imperfect monēbam.
Not quite — the tense sign -bi- (here contracted to -bō) puts the action in the future, and the -ō means "I."
Question 4
From videō, vidēre (second conjugation), "we shall see" is —
Right. Second-conjugation stem vidē- + -bi- + -mus → vidēbimus; the tense sign is identical to the first conjugation's (Rule 1). vidēmus = "we see" (present); vidēbō = "I shall see."
Not quite — add the same -bi- you used for amō, then the "we" ending -mus.
Question 5
Why is the first person singular amābō ("I shall love") and not amābiō?
Right. In the first person singular the tense sign -bi- merges with the personal ending -ō, contracting to -bō: hence amābō, monēbō (N.B.). The tense sign is still there — it has just fused with the ending.
Not quite — the tense sign stays; think about what happens when -bi- meets the first-person ending -ō.
Question 6
The pair amābat and amābit differ by one vowel. What is the difference in meaning?
Right. The vowel of the tense sign carries the tense: -bā- is the imperfect (amābat, "he was loving") and -bi- is the future (amābit, "he will love"). Misreading that single vowel flips the action between past and future (Rules 1 & 2).
Not quite — recall the two tense signs: -bā- was last lesson's imperfect, -bi- is this lesson's future. The vowel tells you when the action happens.
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