# Verb Endings [Ways to remember: rhymes? etc.]



## onewhiterose

Hello  

I'm always really bad with learning verb endings in languages (except German). Does anyone have any tips on remembering Latin verb endings? (I'm teaching myself, by the way.)

Thanks in advance!


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## Agró

Latin conjugations.


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## onewhiterose

Thanks, but I'm looking for tips on how to remember them, not what they are. In my German class, we have a little chant we do, and that's the sort of thing I'm looking for; if anyone has any tips on how they remember them, I mean.


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## bibax

Countless generations of students memorized the Latin conjugations by repeating

amo - amas - amat / amamus - amatis - amant
peto - petis - petit / petimus - petitis - petunt
etc.

Again and again. Instead of playing computer games.


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## aviv chadash

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any obvious way other than continual repetition. The books I use, take the endings and remove the -re, leaving the a, e or i. I always "picture" it as though the -are, -ere, or -ire is removed; doubt that helps, but there you are!


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## rustymason

We chant the endings and some other forms at the beginning of every class. I remind my students to practice these chants a few times every day at home until they can recite them all forward and backward in under 5 minutes. It works amazingly well. Here is my chant sheet, though you should probably make your own for best effect:
http://www.rustymason.com/edu/lang/latin/latin_chants.pdf


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## marco.cur

The latin-italian dictionaries report the verb paradigm:
amo ās āvi ātum āre


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## englishmania

Unfortunately, you have to memorise them. And there's no miraculous tip... But you can do it if you try, of course. It needs practice, so practise a lot!  

Well, I'm Portuguese, so most of the verb endings make sense to me, as portuguese has "similar" verb endings. But I had to learn them too.
For example,   Present: Latin / (PT): amo(amo), amas(amas), amat(ama),amamus(amamos), amatis(amais), amant (amam)


Use the *dictionary*!  
amo, -as, -are, -aui, -atum
it tells you a lot about a verb  especially if it's an irregular verb.

Learn how to *form the verb tenses* (normally using the infinitive form: amare) and *add the verb endings* (depending on the person). These verb endings will vary but not that much. 
Basics:  SING:  1st p. "-o" "-m" ; 2nd p. "-s" "-sti"; 3rd p. "-t" ; 
            PL: 1st p. "-mus" ; 2nd p. "-tis" "-stis" ; 3rd p. "-nt".

_
VERB __amo_,_ amas, amare, amaui, amatum_
Present: amo, amas,...  amaT, amaMUS, amaTIS, amaNT

Imperfect: infinitive amare + ba + verb endings 
              amabaM, amabaS, amabaT, amabaMUs, amabaTIS, amabaNT



I don't know any trick... but I remember using the "mnemonic" "ba" for the Impefect and "bo, bis, bunt" for the future.

Good luck!


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## Ben Jamin

I began learning Latin in 1965, and until today I remember some of the stories and dialogues from our Latin primer. The key to understanding and remembering is *context*. Do not learn the tables of endings by heart, do not learn conjugation tables by heart, learn whole sentences that make meaning, e.g.: Mater filiam suam videt. Quid videte, amici? Make small drawings to illustrate the text (comic strip). You'll use half the time and triple the result.

P.S. The only thing to learn by heart in isolation are basic verb forms: amo, amare, amavi, amatus; fero, ferre, tuli, latum,and so on.


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## bibax

Little correction: Quid videtis, amici?

The conjugation tables are good for overall view and for comparing the verbal classes.


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## Ben Jamin

bibax said:


> Little correction: Quid videtis, amici?
> 
> The conjugation tables are good for overall view and for comparing the verbal classes.


Thank you for correction. I hav not refereshed my Latin enough since the old times. 
Of course, tables are useful for looking up, but I believe that the methods I described are more effective when learning for the first time.


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