duco

Historical Grammar

185. The Perfect Stem. The perfect stem of the verb is formed in various ways, but may always be found by dropping -ī from the first person singular of the perfect, the third of the principal parts. From the perfect stem are formed the following tenses:

The Perfect Active Indicative
The Pluperfect Active Indicative (English Past Perfect)
The Future Perfect Active Indicative

All these tenses express completed action in present, past, or future time respectively.

186. The Endings of the Perfect. The perfect active indicative is inflected by adding the endings of the perfect to the perfect stem. These endings are different from those found in any other tense, and are as follows:

190. Meanings of the Perfect. The perfect tense has two distinct meanings. The first of these is equivalent to the English present perfect, or perfect with have, and denotes that the action of the verb is complete at the time of speaking; as, I have finished my work. As this denotes completed action at a definite time, it is called the perfect definite.

The perfect is also used to denote an action that happened sometime in the past; as, I finished my work. As no definite time is specified, this is called the perfect indefinite. It corresponds to the ordinary use of the English past tense.

a. Note carefully the difference between the following tenses:

When telling a story the Latin uses the perfect indefinite to mark the different forward steps of the narrative, and the imperfect to describe situations and circumstances that attend these steps. If the following sentences were Latin, what tenses would be used?

“Last week I went to Boston. I was trying to find an old friend of mine, but he was out of the city. Yesterday I returned home.”

191. Inflection of the Perfect. We learned in § 186 that any perfect is inflected by adding the endings of the perfect to the perfect stem. The inflection in the four regular conjugations is then as follows:

1. The first person of the perfect is always given as the third of the principal parts. From this we get the perfect stem. This shows the absolute necessity of learning the principal parts thoroughly.

2. Nearly all perfects of the first conjugation are formed by adding -vī to the present stem. Like amāvī inflect parāvī, vocāvī, cūrāvī, laudāvī.

3. Note carefully the changing accent in the perfect. Drill on it.