Lesson 24 · Review
Seven new verbs — and every one of them is intransitive: it takes no direct object in the accusative, yet its meaning reaches out to a person. That person stands in the dative (Section III). The lesson's own gloss makes the dative obvious — believe is "give belief to," obey is "give obedience to."
You already build the imperfect of the first two conjugations with the tense sign -bā- (amābam, monēbam). The last two conjugations use the very same sign; only the vowel that carries it onto the stem is new.
Every imperfect, in all four conjugations, is present stem + tense sign -bā- + the personal endings -m, -s, -t / -mus, -tis, -nt. Nothing you learned for amābam and monēbam changes; you only need to see how -bā- attaches to the third and fourth stems.
regē- + bā + m → regēbam · audiē- + bā + mus → audiēbāmus
| Person | III. regō (was ruling) | IV. audiō (was hearing) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 sg. | regēbam — I was ruling | audiēbam — I was hearing |
| 2 sg. | regēbās — you were ruling | audiēbās — you were hearing |
| 3 sg. | regēbat — he was ruling | audiēbat — he was hearing |
| 1 pl. | regēbāmus — we were ruling | audiēbāmus — we were hearing |
| 2 pl. | regēbātis — you were ruling | audiēbātis — you were hearing |
| 3 pl. | regēbant — they were ruling | audiēbant — they were hearing |
The third conjugation's present stem ends in a short -ĕ- (regĕ-). Before the tense sign that vowel is lengthened to -ē-: regē-bam. The result is spelled exactly like the second conjugation's imperfect — compare monēbam and regēbam.
agō → agēbam · mittō → mittēbat · dūcō → dūcēbant
The fourth conjugation keeps its long audī- and slips an -ē- between the stem and the tense sign: audi-ē-ba-m → audiēbam. So the fourth-conjugation imperfect always carries an extra -i- that the third does not (regēbam vs. audiēbam).
mūniō → mūniēbam · veniō → veniēbat · reperiō → reperiēbant
Exactly as in amābam, the long ā of -bā- is shortened before -nt and before final -m and -t. So the vowel is short in regēbam, regēbat, regēbant but long in regēbās, regēbāmus, regēbātis. The stem's own -ē- stays long throughout.
regēbam, regēbat, regēbant (short) — but regēbās, regēbāmus, regēbātis (long).
Some verbs never govern a direct object in the accusative, yet their meaning still reaches a person — you believe someone, you obey someone. Latin marks that person with the dative.
An intransitive verb admits no direct object, but many describe a benefit, injury, or feeling directed at someone. That recipient — the indirect object — stands in the dative. The verbs crēdō, faveō, noceō, pāreō, persuādeō, resistō, studeō (and others of like meaning) all govern the dative.
Cornēliae pārēbant — "they were obeying Cornelia" (dat. Cornēliae) · verbīs nōn crēdunt — "they do not believe the words" (dat. verbīs)
Each verb's sense can be reworded with English "to": give belief to, show favor to, do harm to, offer resistance to. That "to" is precisely the indirect-object job the dative was built for — which is why the recipient is dative and not accusative.
līberīs nocēbant — "they were harming (doing harm to) the children" · bellō student — "they are eager for (give attention to) war"
Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
regō, regere ("rule") is third conjugation. Which form means "we were ruling"?
Right. The third conjugation lengthens its short -ĕ- to -ē- before the tense sign, then adds the ending: regē-bā-mus (Rule 2). It comes out looking just like the second conjugation's monēbāmus. The -ā- of regābāmus would belong to the first conjugation, and regibāmus fails to lengthen the stem vowel.
Not quite — the third conjugation lengthens its stem vowel to -ē- before -bā-. "We were ruling" is regēbāmus, mirroring monēbāmus.
Question 2
audiō, audīre ("hear") is fourth conjugation. Which form means "they were hearing"?
Right. The fourth conjugation inserts an -ē- between the stem audi- and the tense sign: audi-ē-ba-nt → audiēbant (Rule 3), with the ā shortened before -nt. The form audībant omits that inserted -ē-, and -bunt is no imperfect tense sign at all.
Not quite — the fourth conjugation slips an -ē- in before -bā-: audi-ē-ba-nt. "They were hearing" is audiēbant.
Question 3
The lesson says the third-conjugation imperfect regēbam looks exactly like the imperfect of a conjugation you already know. Which one, and why?
Right. Lengthening the short -ĕ- to -ē- makes regē-bam match the second conjugation's monē-bam letter for letter (Rule 2). Every conjugation shares -bā-, so that alone can't single one out; and the fourth's audiēbam carries an extra -i- (audi-ē-bam), so it is not identical.
Not quite — all four conjugations share -bā-, so look at the stem vowel. The third lengthens -ĕ- to -ē-, making regēbam identical in shape to monēbam (second conjugation).
Question 4
Translate mittēbant (mittō, mittere = send).
Right. The syllable -bā- marks the imperfect and -nt is "they"; the imperfect is the past-progressive, "was / were ___-ing." So mittēbant = "they were sending." "They send" is mittunt; "they will send" is mittent.
Not quite — the -bā- inside mittēbant is the imperfect tense sign (past-progressive), and -nt is "they": "they were sending."
Question 5
pāreō ("obey") takes no accusative object. Fill the blank: Puerī ___ pārēbant ("the boys were obeying Cornelia").
Right. pāreō is one of the special intransitive verbs that govern the dative (Rule 4): the person obeyed is an indirect object in the dative, Cornēliae. The accusative Cornēliam would be wrong precisely because pāreō takes no direct object.
Not quite — verbs like pāreō take a dative, not an accusative. The one obeyed is an indirect object: Cornēliae pārēbant.
Question 6
In Multī verbīs nōn crēdēbant ("many were not believing the words"), why is verbīs in the dative?
Right. crēdō belongs to the verbs (crēdō, faveō, noceō, pāreō, persuādeō, resistō, studeō) that take a dative object instead of an accusative — "give belief to the words" (Rule 4). The subject is multī ("many"), in the nominative, and case never follows automatically from number.
Not quite — verbīs isn't the subject (multī is), and number alone never fixes case. crēdō simply governs the dative, so the thing believed stands in the dative.
Answered correctly: 0 / 6