Chapter VIII: piratae      Back to Chapter 8 contents

Future Tense



We have already seen two different Latin verb tenses: the present and the imperfect. Both of these are built from the 1st and 2nd principle parts. There is one more tense built from the 1st and 2nd principle parts – the future tense. Obviously, this is the tense we use in Latin to talk about things that will happen in the future.

But first, a reminder of how the present and imperfect tenses are formed. First, we need to know the personal endings.

Personal endings

Singular (translation)

Plural (translation)

1st person

ō or m (I)

mus (we)

2nd person

s (you)

tis (y'all)

3rd person

t (he, she, it)

nt (they)

You will remember that there are four conjugations of verbs. You can tell what conjugation a verb belongs to by looking at the ending of the second principle part:

ending of 2nd principle part

1st conjugation

-āre

2nd conjugation

-ēre

3rd conjugation

-ere

4th conjugation

-īre

For the 1st and 2nd conjugations, we find the stem by removing the - re from the second principle part. For the 3rd and 4th conjugations, we find the stem by removing the -ō from the first principle parts.

General rules for regular verbs in the present system

1st conjugation (-āre) & 2nd conjugation (-ēre)

3rd conjugation (-ere) & 4th conjugation (-īre)

Stem for present system

remove re from 2nd principle part

remove ō from the 1st principle part

Present tense

I give, I am giving

stem + endings

             ō (1st sg.)

stem + i* + endings

            u (3rd pl.)

"fishhook"

Imperfect tense

I was giving, I used to give

stem + ba + endings

stem + ēba + endings

* if there is already an i at the end of the stem, don’t add another one


Forming the future tense: 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs

We form the future tense by adding the tense sign b, bi, bu to the stem and then adding the endings. We use b for the 1st person singular, bu for the third person plural, and bi for all the rest. So:

Future tense, 1st and 2nd conjugation (tense sign in italics)

Singular

Plural (translation)

1st person

amābō (I will love)

amābimus (we will love)

2nd person

amābis (you will love)

amābitis (y'all will love)

3rd person

amābit (he, she, it will love)

amābunt (they will love)

Forming the future tense: 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs

We form the future tense by adding the tense sign a, e to the stem and then adding the endings. We use a for the 1st person singular and e for all the rest. So:

Future tense, 3rd and 4th conjugation (tense sign in italics)

Singular

Plural (translation)

1st person

mittam (I will send)

mittēmus (we will send)

2nd person

mittēs (you will send)

mittētis (y'all will send)

3rd person

mittet (he, she, it will send)

mittent (they will send)

The cute little rhyme to help you remember this is:

b, bi, bu for 1 and 2

a and e for 4 and 3

More examples, including the linking verb:

1st conj.

2nd conj.

3rd conj.

3rd conj.

4th conj.

laudō -āre

doceō -ēre

vertō -ere

faciō -ere

audiō -īre

sum, esse

stem:

laudā

docē

vert

faci

audi

varies

Singular

1st

laudābō

docebō

vertam

faciam

audiam

erō

2nd

laudābis

docēbis

vertēs

faciēs

audiēs

eris

3rd

laudābit

docēbit

vertet

faciet

audiet

erit

Plural

1st

laudābimus

docēbimus

vertēmus

faciēmus

audiēmus

erimus

2nd

laudābitis

docēbitis

vertētis

faciētis

audiētis

eritis

3rd

laudābunt

docēbunt

vertent

facient

audient

erunt