Second conjugation present

The second conjugation covers many everyday verbs of the senses and the mind - seeing, warning, holding, fearing. Its signature is the long e that you hear in the infinitive -ere: monere (to warn), videre (to see), tenere (to hold), habere (to have). Once you recognize that steady e, these verbs read predictably.

Here is the present tense of moneo (I warn). The e stays visible in every form:

Person	Latin	English
1st sg.	moneo	I warn
2nd sg.	mones	you warn
3rd sg.	monet	he/she/it warns
1st pl.	monemus	we warn
2nd pl.	monetis	you (all) warn
3rd pl.	monent	they warn

Examples: Magistrum videmus. - We see the teacher. Canem timet. - He fears the dog.

For English speakers: do not confuse this family with the third conjugation, whose infinitive also ends in -ere. The difference is the vowel: here the e is long and stays put (mones, monet, monemus), whereas the third conjugation shows a shifting, short vowel (regis, regit, regimus). If you see the same e holding firm through the whole set, you are in the second conjugation.