First conjugation present

Frequently asked questions

When is First conjugation present used?

The first conjugation is the largest and most regular family of Latin verbs, so learning it hands you a key that unlocks hundreds of words. You spot these verbs by the -are ending of the infinitive (the dictionary form): amare (to love), laborare (to work), ambulare (to walk). The tell-tale vowel is a , which runs through almost every present-tense form.

How is First conjugation present formed?

Here is the present tense of amo (I love). Notice that the ending alone tells you who is acting: Examples: Puella cantat. - The girl sings. In hortō laboramus. - We work in the garden. For English speakers: the habit to unlearn is reaching for a subject pronoun. English needs "I" or "we", but Latin does not: the ending -o already means "I" and -mus already means "we". So amo is a whole sentence, "I love". Read the ending first, and add "I", "you", or "they" only in your English, never in the Latin.