Verbs are among those variable words we saw in the
intro to this series.
Each verb has a stem, and a range of endings.
We'll dig into the components of those endings at the end of this video.
The feature known as "person" gives away the
conversational distance of the actor from the speaker.
I am the first person, you are the second person, and
somebody else, he, she, or it, is the third person.
Latin verbs had different endings for these three
persons: "𝘢𝘮𝘰," "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴" "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵."
You didn't even need a pronoun with the verb in Latin,
just these endings.
Romance verbs work the same way,
Vulgar Latin "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵," much like
Catalan "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢," and
Italian "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢."
Of course, you can include the subject, perhaps
for emphasis: "𝘌𝘨𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘛𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴;"
"𝘑𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘛𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴;"
"𝘐𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰," "𝘛𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪."
Certain languages, in or not far from France, the only
major one being French, require a subject.
But this is an innovation,
French "𝘑𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦" and not just "𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦" for "I sing."
The modern languages also developed polite
second person forms.
"𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴" addresses you informally, but to be polite,
languages like Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian,
co-opt "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵."
Other languages like French and Romanian use plural
forms for the same purpose.
First, second, and third person forms also exist
in the plural: "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘮𝘷𝘴," "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴," "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵."
Vulgar Latin verbs have unique endings for these too:
"𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵."
French, Romansh, Emiliano-Romagnolo, and a few
other languages still require pronouns.
Politeness matters in the plural too. To address a group
of people politely some languages use "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵."
French, Romansh, and Romanian
use the second person plural verb to address one of
you, politely, or a group of you in any way: "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴."
But the same isn't true of Spanish "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵á𝘪𝘴,"
which is only an informal way of saying "all of you sing."
Bring back those nouns from last time.
Third-person endings are the ones to use with them.
Singular, with singular nouns, plurals, with plural nouns.
So, "𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘶 𝘭𝘶𝘱𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵," or "𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘪 𝘭𝘶𝘱𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵," or maybe
with a more fitting noun.
"𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘶 𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵," "𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵."
Verbs like "𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴" and "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴" have a content part,
a stem, and a range of possible endings.
The stem doesn't stand alone, unlike in English.
"𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵-" needs an ending to be a useable word.
Verb endings come in pieces.
The first piece is the conjugation,
which is the grammatical group of verbs
that a verb belongs to.
These come in four flavors: "𝘢," "𝘦," "𝘪,"
and what was originally a nothing vowel.
These are numbered first conjugation,
second conjugation, third and fourth.
The verbs you've seen so far are of the a flavor,
the first conjugation.
These vowels in each conjugation are the verb's theme,
called it's thematic vowel.
So, "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢" has a stem meaning "sing,"
and a thematic "𝘢."
But it's not ready yet. We need person and number
endings, which you've already learned
We build "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴," or "you sing."
Compare that to fourth conjugation theme,
which is a stem with a thematic "𝘦."
So "𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴" means "you finish."
"𝘝𝘪𝘥-" means "see", and has a thematic "𝘦𝘴," so "𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴."
"𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴," "you sing" "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵," "he," or "she" "sings."
Now, what do you think the word
for "she sees" was in Vulgar Latin?
"𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵." So what's "we see?"
What about "they see?"
If you want to cite the verb conceptually,
but don't plan to name the subject,
Romance has an ending for that. It's the infinitive
"𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦," "𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦," "𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦," "𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘳𝘦."
I know I've been skipping that third conjugation
with the zero thematic vowel.
In Classical and Vulgar Latin, these often show up
with an unstressed "𝘦," like "𝘥𝘪𝘤ĕ𝘳𝘦."
Unlike all the other infinitives, the emphasis
is on the stem, not on the thematic vowel.
So it's "𝘥i𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦," not "𝘥𝘪𝘤é𝘳𝘦."
This robust system gets modified in many languages.
For instance, Iberian languages merge
that odd third conjugation into this second,
or to the fourth.
The four conjugations and six person numbers
are key components of the romance verb system.
We'll begin layering tenses, aspects,
and moods onto these components.