The same three genders are also found in the plural:
In Latin, words referring to males are always masculine, words referring to females are usually feminine.[28] (An exception is scortum (neuter) 'a whore'.) Words referring to things can be any of the three genders, for example mōns 'mountain' (masculine), arbor 'tree' (feminine), nōmen 'name' (neuter). However, there are certain rules; for example, nouns with the suffixes -a (unless referring to men), -tiō, -tās are feminine; the names of trees, islands, and countries, such as pīnus 'pine', Cyprus 'Cyprus', and Aegyptus 'Egypt' are also usually feminine, and so on. Some nouns such as parēns 'parent' can vary between masculine and feminine and are called of "common" gender.[29]
When words of different genders are combined, the adjective is usually masculine if referring to people, neuter if referring to things:[30]
However, sometimes the adjective may agree with the nearest noun.
Latin has six main tenses in the indicative mood, which are illustrated below using the verb facere 'to make' or 'to do':
The verb sum 'I am', which is irregular, has the tenses sum, erō, eram, fuī, fuerō, fueram. Some verbs (conjugations 1 and 2) instead of the Future -am, -ēs, -et etc. have a different future ending in -bō, -bis, -bit, e.g. amābō 'I will love'.
To these six ordinary tenses may be added various "periphrastic" tenses, made from a participle and part of the verb sum 'I am', such as factūrus eram 'I was about to do'.[59]
For the most part these tenses are used in a fairly straightforward way; however, there are certain idiomatic uses that may be noted.[60] Note in particular that the Latin perfect tense combines the English simple past ("I did") with the present perfect ("I have done") into a single form; this can make the perfect verb "feel" like it is set in the present ("Now I have done (it)") for the purpose of grammatical sequence of tenses.
Passive and deponent verbs[edit]
Passive and deponent tenses[edit]
In addition to the active voice tenses listed above, Latin has a set of passive voice tenses as follows:
The imperative mood[edit]
Present imperative[edit]
The imperative mood is used for giving direct orders. The active form can be made plural by adding -te:
The gerundive is a verbal adjective ending in -ndus (-nda etc. if feminine). It is usually passive in meaning (although a few deponent verbs can form an active gerund, such as secundus 'following' from sequor 'I follow').[206] The usual meaning of the gerundive is that it is necessary for something to be done. Often the word 'must' is a suitable translation:
If a word is added to show by whom the action must be done, this word is put in the dative case (e.g. nōbīs 'for us').[206]
Because it is passive in meaning, the gerundive is usually formed from transitive verbs. However, intransitive verbs such as eō 'I go' and persuādeō 'I persuade', which can be used passively in an impersonal construction, can also have an impersonal gerundive, ending in -um:[209]
The gerundive after ad can also be used to express purpose (a use which it shares with the gerund, see below):[212]
The gerund is a verbal noun ending in -ndum (accusative), -ndī (genitive), or -ndō (dative or ablative). Although identical in form to a neuter gerundive, and overlapping the gerundive in some of its uses, it is possible that it has a different origin.[209]
Gerunds are usually formed from intransitive verbs,[209] and are mainly used in sentences such as the following where the meaning is 'by doing something', 'of doing something', or 'for the purpose of doing something'. A gerund is never used as the subject or direct object of a verb (the infinitive is used instead).
Occasionally a gerund can be made from a transitive verb and can take a direct object:[219]
They can also be formed from deponent verbs such as ingredior 'I enter':
However, if the verb is transitive, a phrase made of noun + gerundive is often substituted for the gerund:[222]