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54 PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE

LESSON XIX

THE FOUR REGULAR CONJUGATIONS • PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE OF AMŌ AND MONEŌ

126. There are four conjugations of the regular verbs. These conjugations are distinguished from each other by the final vowel of the present conjugation-stem.[1] This vowel is called the distinguishing vowel, and is best seen in the present infinitive.

Below is given the present infinitive of a verb of each conjugation, the present stem, and the distinguishing vowel.

Conjugation Pres. Infin. Pres. Stem

DISTINGUISHING
VOWEL

I.
amā're, to love amā- ā
II.
monē're, to advise monē- ē
III.
re'gere, to rule rege- e
IV.
audī're, to hear audī- ī
a. Note that the present stem of each conjugation is found by dropping -re, the ending of the present infinitive.
Note. The present infinitive of sum is esse, and es- is the present stem.

127. From the present stem are formed the present, imperfect, and future tenses. 128. The inflection of the Present Active Indicative of the first and of the second conjugation is as follows:

a'mō, amā're (love) mo'neō, monē're (advise)
Pres. Stem amā- Pres. Stem monē- personal
endings
Sing. a', I love mo'neō, I advise
a'mās, you love mo'nēs, you advise -s
a'mat, he (she, it) loves mo'net, he (she, it) advises -t
Plur. amā'mus, we love monē'mus, we advise -mus
amā'tis, you love monē'tis, you advise -tis
a'mant, they love mo'nent, they advise -nt
  1. The stem is the body of a word to which the terminations are attached. It is often identical with the base (cf. § 58). If, however, the stem ends in a vowel, the latter does not appear in the base, but is variously combined with the inflectional terminations. This point is further explained in § 230.