Fourth conjugation present

The fourth conjugation is small but includes verbs you meet constantly - audire (to hear), venire (to come), dormire (to sleep), scire (to know). Its mark is the long i in the infinitive ending -ire, and that i stays loud and clear through the present tense.

Here is the present tense of audio (I hear):

Person	Latin	English
1st sg.	audio	I hear
2nd sg.	audis	you hear
3rd sg.	audit	he/she/it hears
1st pl.	audimus	we hear
2nd pl.	auditis	you (all) hear
3rd pl.	audiunt	they hear

Examples: Vocem audio. - I hear a voice. Amici veniunt. - The friends are coming.

For English speakers: the trap is the "they" form. You might expect "audint", but the fourth conjugation slips in an extra u: the ending is -iunt, giving audiunt, veniunt. Remember too that the single Latin present covers three English shades - venit means "he comes", "he is coming", and "he does come" - so choose the English that fits the sentence; Latin does not spell out that difference.