Lesson 17: The Second Conjugation

The second conjugation is fairly similar to the first, so you may want to go back and review earlier lessons on the various tenses if you've forgotten them.

Recall that verbs of the first conjugation ended in -are in the infinitive, the second principal part of the verb: amo, amare, amavi, amatum. Verbs of the second conjugation have infinitives ending in -ēre: habeō, habēre, habuī, habitum. Removing the -re from the second principal part gives us a stem ending in -ē: habē-.

To that stem, we add the same endings we learned for all six tenses with the first conjugation.

Notice there's one difference in the present tense between the first and second conjugations. In the first conjugation, the first person singular form drops the -a- of the stem, so ama- plus -o becomes amo. In the second conjugation, the -ē- of the stem is kept: habēo.

All the other tenses are formed exactly like the first conjugation:

Wasn't that easy? It took several lessons to learn the first conjugation, and we just learned the second conjugation in one short lesson. The only thing that makes second conjugation verbs more difficult is that their third and fourth principal parts are much more irregular, as you'll see in the vocabulary. In the first conjugation, almost all the verbs followed the same format (-o, -are, -avi, -atum), except for a few exceptions like do and sto. In the second conjugation, there are lots of variations in the third and fourth principal parts, so we simply have to memorize them.

• habeō, habēre, habuī, habitum, have, hold
• maneō, manēre, mānsī, mānsum, stay, remain
• moneō, monēre, monuī, monitum, warn, advise
• moveō, movēre, mōvī, mōtum, move
• sedeō, sedēre, sēdī, sessum, sit
• teneō, tenēre, tenuī, tentum, hold
• timeō, timēre, timuī, —-, fear, be afraid
• videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsum, see

• Timeo has no fourth principal part, because it is never used in the passive voice.
• Teneo means “to hold” mostly in the sense of physically gripping something. It's where the English word “tenuous” comes from, and carries that sense of “tightly.” Habeo means “to hold” in the sense of “to possess” or “to own.” There's some overlap in meanings, but usually the context will suggest one or the other.

1. habebant, habuisti, habuero
2. mansit, manete, manes
3. monuerunt, monebatis, monebunt
4. movent, movebit, movimus
5. sedet, sederam, sedebo
6. tenuerint, tenuistis, tenebamus
7. timebant, timemus, timui
8. video, videtis, vidit, viderat

1. I used to see, he saw, they had seen
2. we feared, he will fear, you (plural) used to fear
3. we will hold, she was holding, I held (with timeo)
4. he sat, they will have sat, “Sit!”
5. I was moving, you will have moved, he had moved
6. we had warned, I will warn, we were warning
7. he stays, we will stay, they stayed
8. we have, they will have, you (plural) had

1. Puer gladium militis tenuit ubi in oppidum mansit.
2. Heri castra movimus et ambulavimus ad montes.
3. Hostes non timeo; paravi proelium.
4. Erant pontes multi in flumine lato.
5. Agricola animalia multa in agris habuit.
6. Dux noster cives de bello mansit.
7. Puellae cum parvo amico equo sedebant.
8. Animalia saepe ex silva in agros movent.
9. Gens mea est pater meus, mater mea, filii mei, et filiae meae.
10. Navem magnam in flumine cras videbimus.

1. Marcus, give bread and water to the captives.
2. Why is your horse in your wagon?
3. The German people feared the name of our leader.
4. I prepared the bread with great care.
5. After the battle, the soldier stayed in Spain with our allies.
6. The general gave money to the king and horses to the queen.
7. Sailors do not fear the sea.
8. On the mountain, we saw the fields, the towns, the forest, and the sea.
9. When we saw the farmer, he had a new horse and a new wagon.
10. Our forces will move into enemy territory tomorrow.

We quickly doubled the number of conjugations we know, so although there wasn't much new to learn here, it seems like a big step. As long as we get all four principal parts of these verbs memorized, it shouldn't be difficult to use them, since we already knew all the endings and tense-signs to add to them.

I'm thinking about making the next lesson a review of what we've seen so far, so get some extra practice in before moving on to some brand new things.

1. habebant, habuisti, habuero - they used to have, you had, I will have had
2. mansit, manete, manes - he stayed, “Stay!” (plural), you are staying
3. monuerunt, monebatis, monebunt - they warned, you (plural) were warning, they will warn
4. movent, movebit, movimus - they are moving, he will move, we moved
5. sedet, sederam, sedebo - he sits, I will have sat, I will sit
6. tenuerint, tenuistis, tenebamus - they will have held, you (plural) held, we were holding
7. timebant, timemus, timui - they were fearing, we fear, I feared
8. video, videtis, vidit, viderat - I see, you (plural) see, he saw, he will have seen

1. I used to see, he saw, they had seen - videbam, vidit, viderant
2. we feared, he will fear, you (plural) used to fear - timuimus, timebit, timebatis
3. we will hold, she was holding, I held - tenebimus, tenebat, tenui
4. he sat, they will have sat, “Sit!” - sedit, sederint, sede
5. I was moving, you will have moved, he had moved - movebam, moveris, moverat
6. we had warned, I will warn, we were warning - monuerat, monebo, monebamus
7. he stays, we will stay, they stayed - manet, manebimus, manserunt
8. we have, they will have, you (plural) had - habemus, habebunt, habuistis

1. Puer gladium militis tenuit ubi in oppidum mansit. - The boy held the soldier's sword when he was in the town.
2. Heri castra movimus et ambulavimus ad montes. - Yesterday we broke camp and walked toward the mountains.
3. Hostes non timeo; paravi proelium. - I do not fear the enemy; I have prepared for battle.
4. Erant pontes multi in flumine lato. - There were many bridges over the wide river.
5. Agricola animalia multa in agris habuit. - The farmer had many animals in the fields.
6. Dux noster cives de bello mansit. - Our leader warned the citizens about war.
7. Puellae cum parvo amico equo sedebant. - The girls were sitting with the small, friendly horse.
8. Animalia saepe ex silva in agros movent. - The animals often move out of the forest into the fields.
9. Gens mea est pater meus, mater mea, filii mei, et filiae meae. - My family is my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters.
10. Navem magnam in flumine cras videbimus. - We will see the great ship on the river tomorrow.

1. Marcus, give bread and water to the captives. - Da, Marce, panem et aquam captivis.
2. Why is your horse in your wagon? - Cur equus tuus in carro tuo est?
3. The German people feared the name of our leader. - Populus Germanus nomen ducis nostri timuit.
4. I prepared the bread with great care. - Panem magna cum diligentia paravi.
5. After the battle, the soldier stayed in Spain with our allies. - Post proelium milites in Hispania cum sociis nostris mansit.
6. The general gave money to the king and horses to the queen. - Imperator pecuniam regi dedit et equos reginae.
7. Sailors do not fear the sea. - Nautae mare non timent.
8. On the mountain, we saw the fields, the towns, the forest, and the sea. - In monte, agros et oppida et silvam et mare vidimus.
9. When we saw the farmer, he had a new horse and a new wagon. - Ubi agricolam vidimus, equum novum et carrum novum habuit.
10. Our forces will move into enemy territory tomorrow. - Copiae nostrae in fines hostium cras movebunt.