When you give a command to more than one person - a class, a crowd, a group of soldiers - Latin uses the plural imperative.
Can recognize Imperatives plural in a short Latin prompt
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
Come and see!
Be quiet, pupils!
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
When you give a command to more than one person - a class, a crowd, a group of soldiers - Latin uses the plural imperative. It is built from the singular command by adding -te (with a linking vowel in the third conjugation). Roman writers of notices and speeches lean on it heavily, so it is worth recognizing at a glance.
| Conjugation | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ama! - love! | amate! - love! |
| 2nd | mone! - warn! | monete! - warn! |
| 3rd | rege! - rule! | regite! - rule! |
| 4th | audi! - listen! | audite! - listen! |
The verbs that shorten in the singular become regular again in the plural: dic! becomes dicite!, duc! becomes ducite!, fac! becomes facite!.
Examples: Legite librum! - Read the book (all of you)! Venīte huc! - Come here!
For English speakers: English uses the very same word whether you command one person or many ("Read!"), so nothing in your native grammar reminds you to mark the number. In Latin the -te ending does that work: audī tells one person to listen, audite tells the whole group. Watch the third-conjugation link vowel too - it is regite (with i), not "regte".
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A1 an
ÜbungsaufgabenCome and see!
The plural adds -te. It addresses several people, not one person politely - Latin has no polite plural.
Be quiet, pupils!
Tacete commands a group; discipuli is a vocative plural that looks like the nominative.
Im Kurs üben
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A1 an