Lesson 32 · Review
Seven words from the Perseus tale: a father, his heart full of grief and his fortune adverse, leads his daughter from the gate, her arms bound to the rocks, while her friends wait long.
Like cum and sine, the preposition prō governs the ablative — prō patriā, on behalf of one's country; prō portā, before the gate.
Every perfect is built on the perfect stem — and that stem is handed to you by the third principal part, one of the parts you must learn cold.
| Conjugation | Perf. Indic. (3rd part) | Perfect stem |
|---|---|---|
| I (amō) | amāvī | amāv- |
| II (moneō) | monuī | monu- |
| III (regō) | rēxī | rēx- |
| III -iō (capiō) | cēpī | cēp- |
| IV (audiō) | audīvī | audīv- |
The perfect has two senses. The perfect definite matches the English "have" perfect — amāvī, "I have loved" — action complete at the moment of speaking. The perfect indefinite matches the ordinary English past — amāvī, "I loved, I did love" — action simply placed in the past.
amāvī — I have loved · I loved, I did love
The perfect stem is always found by dropping -ī from the first person singular of the perfect — the third principal part. It cannot be predicted from the present: you must learn the principal parts. Nearly all first-conjugation perfects simply add -vī to the present stem (parāvī, vocāvī, cūrāvī, laudāvī).
rēxī → rēx- · audīvī → audīv- · fēcī → fēc-
When Latin tells a story, the perfect indefinite marks each forward step of the narrative ("she came, she led"), while the imperfect paints the attending circumstances ("he was trying, the wind was blowing").
discessērunt et diū exspectāvērunt — they departed and waited long (steps of the tale)
One set of endings — -ī, -istī, -it, -imus, -istis, -ērunt — added to the perfect stem, the same across every conjugation.
| I · amō | II · moneō | III · regō | III · capiō | IV · audiō | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 sg. | amāvī | monuī | rēxī | cēpī | audīvī |
| 2 sg. | amāvistī | monuistī | rēxistī | cēpistī | audīvistī |
| 3 sg. | amāvit | monuit | rēxit | cēpit | audīvit |
| 1 pl. | amāvimus | monuimus | rēximus | cēpimus | audīvimus |
| 2 pl. | amāvistis | monuistis | rēxistis | cēpistis | audīvistis |
| 3 pl. | amāvērunt | monuērunt | rēxērunt | cēpērunt | audīvērunt |
The perfect has its own endings, found in no other tense: -ī, -istī, -it, -imus, -istis, -ērunt. They attach directly to the perfect stem, with no tense sign between.
monu- + istis → monuistis, "you (pl.) advised"
The third person plural has a second, equivalent ending -ēre: amāvēre = amāvērunt, dīxēre = dīxērunt. Both mean "they loved / said." Do not confuse -ēre here with the present infinitive ending (dīcere, on the present stem).
rēxērunt = rēxēre — they ruled, they have ruled
Learn one perfect stem and its endings and you can inflect any Latin perfect. From the principal parts to learn this lesson: dedī, habuī, mōvī, pāruī, vīdī, dīxī, discessī, dūxī, fēcī, mīsī, mūnīvī, vēnī — each drops -ī to give a stem, then takes these same six endings.
Six out of six before you start the exercises.
Question 1
How is the perfect stem of a Latin verb found?
Right. The perfect stem is always the third principal part minus its final -ī: rēxī → rēx-, audīvī → audīv-. The present infinitive gives the present stem, and adding -vī works only for most first-conjugation verbs, not all.
Not quite — the present infinitive gives the present stem. The perfect stem comes from the third principal part. What is left when its -ī is dropped?
Question 2
The verb is dūcō, dūcere, dūxī (lead). What is its perfect stem?
Right. Drop -ī from the third principal part dūxī and you have dūx-. On it are built dūxit ("he led"), dūxērunt ("they led"), and the rest. dūc- is the present stem.
Not quite — the stem never keeps the ending. Take the third principal part dūxī and drop its final -ī.
Question 3
Translate: audīvit.
Right. audīv- + the perfect ending -it is the perfect third singular, carrying both senses: "he has heard" (definite) and "he heard, did hear" (indefinite). "He was hearing" is the imperfect (audiēbat); "he will hear" is the future (audiet) — both built on the present stem.
Not quite — -it on the perfect stem is the perfect. "Was hearing" is the imperfect and "will hear" the future, and both use the present stem, not audīv-.
Question 4
Parse fēcērunt (from faciō, facere, fēcī): which person and number?
Right. -ērunt is the third-plural perfect ending: fēc-ērunt, "they made / have made" (also written fēcēre). First plural is fēcimus (-imus); second plural is fēcistis (-istis).
Not quite — match the ending to the list -ī, -istī, -it, -imus, -istis, -ērunt. Which person does -ērunt mark?
Question 5
A Latin story reads: "…and then Cepheus led his daughter to the water." Which form does Latin use for this forward step of the narrative?
Right. Each completed step of a narrative takes the perfect indefinite — dūxit, "led." The imperfect (dūcēbat) is reserved for the surrounding circumstances ("was leading," "kept leading"), and the present is not a past narrative tense at all.
Not quite — a finished step in a past story is the perfect indefinite (English simple past). The imperfect gives ongoing background, not the step itself.
Question 6
Beside dīxērunt the lesson lists dīxēre. What is dīxēre?
Right. The third-plural perfect has two equivalent endings, -ērunt and -ēre: dīxērunt and dīxēre both mean "they said, they have said." The present infinitive of dīcō is dīcere (present stem dīc- + -ere), a different form entirely.
Not quite — the endings table gives two options for the third plural. The infinitive of dīcō is dīcere, built on the present stem, not on dīx-.
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