Romance verbs are the most inflected part of speech in the language family. In the transition from Latin to the Romance languages, verbs went through many phonological, syntactic, and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with more analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.
The following tables present a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb amare "to love" in Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin (reconstructed as Proto-Italo-Western Romance, with stress marked), and nine modern Romance languages. The conjugations below were given from their respective Wiktionary pages.
Because the verb "to love" in Romanian is iubi, of which goes back to Proto-Slavic origin and it is in 4th conjugation; while in Romansh is avair gugent which composed from the irregular verb avair, the conjugations in Romanian and Romansh only give the endings.
| Form | Classical Latin | Vulgar Latin | Major languages | Minor languages | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French | Romanian | Sardinian (Logudorese) |
Sicilian | Catalan | Romansh | ||||||
| Infinitive | amāre | *amáre | amar | amar | amare | aimer | (-a) | amare | amari | amar | (-ar) | |||
| Present participle[a] | amandus | *amándo | amando | amando | amando | aimant | (-ând) | – | amannu | amant | (-ond) | |||
| amāns | *amánte | amante | amante | amante[b] | – | – | amende | – | – | – | ||||
| Past participle | amātum | *amáto | amado | amado | amato | aimé | (-at) | amadu | amatu | amat | (-à) | |||
| Indicative | Present | amō amās amat amāmus amātis amant |
*ámo *ámas *ámat *amámos *amátes *ámant |
amo amas ama amamos amáis aman |
amo amas ama amamos amais amam |
amo ami ama amiamo amate amano |
aime aimes aime aimons aimez aiment |
(-∅) (-i) (-ă) (-ăm) (-ați) (-ă) |
amo amas amat amamus amades amant |
amu ami ama amamu amati àmanu, àmunu |
amo ames ama amem ameu amen |
(-∅) (-as) (-a) (-ain) (-ais) (-an) | ||
| Imperfect | amābam amābās amābat amābāmus amābātis amābant |
*amába *amábas *amábat *amábamos *amábates *amábant |
amaba amabas amaba amábamos amabais amaban |
amava amavas amava amávamos amáveis amavam |
amavo amavi amava amavamo amavate amavano |
aimais aimais aimait aimions aimiez aimaient |
(-am) (-ai) (-a) (-am) (-ați) (-au) |
amaia amaias amaiat amaiamus amaiades amaiant |
amava, amavu amavi amava amàvamu amàvavu amàvanu, amàvunu |
amava amaves amava amàvem amàveu amaven |
(-ava) (-avas) (-ava) (-avan) (-avas) (-avan) | |||
| Preterite | amāvī amāvistī amāvit amāvimus amāvistis amāvērunt |
*amái *amásti *amáut *amámos *amástes *amáront |
amé amaste amó amamos amasteis amaron |
amei amaste amou amámos amastes amaram |
amai amasti amò amammo amaste amarono |
aimai aimas aima aimâmes aimâtes aimèrent[c] |
(-ai) (-ași) (-ă) (-arăm) (-arăți) (-ară) |
amesi amesti amesit amemus amezis ameint |
amai amasti amau, amò amammu, amamu amastivu amàrunu, amaru |
amí amares amà amàrem amàreu amaren |
– | |||
| Pluperfect | amāveram amāveras amāverat amāverāmus amāverātis amāverant |
*amára *amáras *amárat *amáramos *amárates *amárant |
amara amaras amara amáramos amarais amaran[d] |
amara amaras amara amáramos amáreis amaram[e] |
– | – | – | – | amirìa amirissi amirìa amirìamu amirìavu amirìanu[f] |
– | – | |||
| Future[g] | amābō amābis amābit amābimus amābitis amābunt |
– | amaré amarás amará amaremos amaréis amarán |
amarei amarás amará amaremos amareis amarão |
amerò amerai amerà ameremo amerete ameranno |
aimerai aimeras aimera aimerons aimerez aimeront |
– | – | amirò, amirogghiu amirai amirà amiremu amireti, amiriti amirannu |
amaré amaràs amarà amarem amareu amaran |
– | |||
| Future perfect | amāverō amāveris amāverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint |
*amáre *amáres *amáret *amáremos *amáretes *amárent |
amare amares amare amáremos amareis amaren[h][i] |
amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem[h] |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Subjunctive | Present | amem amēs amet amēmus amētis ament |
*áme *ámes *ámet *amémos *amétes *áment |
ame ames ame amemos améis amen |
ame ames ame amemos ameis amem |
ami ami ami amiamo amiate amino |
aime aimes aime aimions aimiez aiment |
(-∅) (-i) (-e) (-ăm) (-ați) (-e) |
ame ames amet amemus amedes ament |
amu ami ama amamu amati àmanu, àmunu |
ami ami ama amem ameu amin |
(-ia) (-ias) (-ia) (-ian) (-ias) (-ian) | ||
| Perfect | amāverim amāveris amāverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Imperfect | amārem amārēs amāret amārēmus amārētis amārent |
*amáre *amáres *amáret *amáremos *amáretes *amárent |
– | amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem[j] |
– | – | – | amere ameres ameret ameremus amerezes amerent |
– | – | – | |||
| Pluperfect[k] | amāvissem amāvissēs amāvisset amāvissēmus amāvissētis amāvissent |
*amásse *amásses *amásset *amássemos *amássetes *amássent |
amase amases amase amásemos amáseis amasen |
amasse amasses amasse amássemos amásseis amassem |
amassi amassi amasse amassimo amaste amassero |
aimasse aimasses aimât aimassions aimassiez aimassent[i] |
(-asem) (-aseși) (-ase) (-aserăm) (-aserăți) (-aseră) |
– | amassi amassi amassi amàssimu amàssivu amàssiru |
amés amessis amés améssim améssiu amessin |
(-ass) (-asses) (-ass) (-assen) (-asses) (-assen) | |||
| Imperative[l] | amā amāte |
*áma *amáte |
ama amad |
ama amai |
ama amate |
aime aimez |
(-ă) (-ați) |
ama amade |
ama amati |
ama ameu |
(-a) (-ai) | |||
Note that the Vulgar Latin reconstructions are believed to have regularized word stress within each tense (except the present and imperative tenses). Word-final ⟨e⟩ probably converged on /ə/. Many verb forms undergoes elisions, like the indicative pluperfect amāveram > *amára and the subjunctive imperfect amāvissem > *amásse.
The verb "to love" in Old French amer, the early form of modern French is rather irregular but still follows its regular sound changes, with having aim- in stressed forms (namely the singular and third person plural of indicative and subjunctive present tenses, and the second person singular imperative), and the stem changes again to ain- before -s and -t in subjunctive present. In Catalan, the verb amar has replaced by synonymous estimar, the former usually used only in poetic contexts.
In this section, "Vulgar Latin" is actually reconstructed as reconstructed Proto-Italo-Western Romance, most notably the shift from Classical Latin -i- and -u- to -e- /e/ and -o- /o/, as opposed to inherited /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively. The developments include:
In the Proto-Romance grammatical tradition, the second and third conjugation are known as third conjugation, similarly to French.
Verbs in the first conjugation are in -āre (*-áre), later evolved to -are in Italian, -ar in most Romance languages and -er in French.
| Infinitive | *-áre | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-ánte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-ándo | ||||||
| Supine | *-áto | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o[a] | *-as[a] | *-at[a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant[a] |
| Imperfect | *-ába | *-ábas | *-ábat | *-ábamos | *-ábates | *-ábant | |
| Preterite | *-áui | *-áusti | *-áut | *-ámos | *-ástes | *-áront | |
| Pluperfect | *-ára | *-áras | *-árat | *-áramos | *-árates | *-árant | |
| Future perfect | *-áro | *-áres | *-áret | *-áremos | *-áretes | *-árent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-e[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent[a] |
| Imperfect | *-áre | *-áres | *-áret | *-arémos | *-arétes | *-árent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ásse | *-ásses | *-ásset | *-assémos | *-assétes | *-ássent | |
| Imperative | *-a[a] | *-áte | |||||
Verbs in the second conjugation are in -ēre (*-ére), later evolved to -ere in Italian, -er in most Romance languages and -oir in French (no "regular" -oir verbs). Another infinitive -ere has merged into this paradigm.
| Infinitive | *-ére | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-énte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-éndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-eto[a] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-io[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ent[a] |
| Imperfect | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant | |
| Preterite | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-éront | |
| Pluperfect | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant | |
| Future perfect | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-ia[a] | *-ias[a] | *-iat[a] | *-iámos | *-iátes | *-iant[a] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-é[a] | *-éte | |||||
Verbs in the third conjugation are in -ere (*-ere, caused stress in previous syllable), later merged with -ere (*-ere, causes stress in antepenultimate syllable), but -re in French and Catalan. The suffix -re in French are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.
The -iō variant (*-io in Vulgar Latin) now defunct, later merged with the second conjugation; the paradigm now only exists in some descendants of the verb faciō.
| Infinitive | *-ere[a] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-énte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-éndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-eto[a] | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-o[a] | *-es[a] | *-et[a] | *-émos | *-étes | *-ont[a] |
| Imperfect | *-éba | *-ébas | *-ébat | *-ébamos | *-ébates | *-ébant | |
| Preterite | *-í | *-ísti | *-ét | *-émos | *-éstes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-éra | *-éras | *-érat | *-éramos | *-érates | *-érant | |
| Future perfect | *-éro | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-a[a] | *-as[a] | *-at[a] | *-ámos | *-átes | *-ant[a] |
| Imperfect | *-ére | *-éres | *-éret | *-éremos | *-éretes | *-érent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ésse | *-ésses | *-ésset | *-essémos | *-essétes | *-éssent | |
| Imperative | *-e[a] | *-éte | |||||
Verbs in the fourth conjugation are in -īre (*-íre), later evolved to -ire in Italian, and -ir in most Romance languages. This conjugation type are infixed with once-inchoative -īsc- → *-ísc- in some languages, but its placement varies.
| Infinitive | *-íre | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *-iénte | ||||||
| Gerund | *-iéndo | ||||||
| Supine | *-íto | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *-io[a] | *-is[a] | *-it[a] | *-ímos | *-ítes | *-iont[a] |
| Imperfect | *-iéba | *-iébas | *-iébat | *-iébamos | *-iébates | *-iébant | |
| Preterite | *-i | *-ísti | *-it | *-ímos | *-ístes | *-íront | |
| Pluperfect | *-íra | *-íras | *-írat | *-íramos | *-írates | *-írant | |
| Future perfect | *-íro | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *-ia[a] | *-ias[a] | *-iat[a] | *-iamos | *-iates | *-iant[a] |
| Imperfect | *-íre | *-íres | *-íret | *-íremos | *-íretes | *-írent | |
| Pluperfect | *-ísse | *-ísses | *-ísset | *-íssemos | *-íssetes | *-íssent | |
| Imperative | *-i[a] | *-íte | |||||
In Italian, Catalan, and Romanian, the infix -isc-; -esc-, -eix- (Catalan), and -ăsc- (Romanian) is placed on once-stressed indicative and subjunctive present forms (the first-, second-, third-singular and third plural present tenses), and stressed imperatives. In French, the infix -iss- is placed on all indicative present forms, the indicative imperfect, the subjunctive present, and plural imperatives.
While there are few non-infixed -īre verbs (also known are pure -īre verbs), in French the infixed verbs are the only regular verbs, otherwise irregular.
While the nominal morphology in Romance languages is primarily agglutinative, the verbal morphology is fusional. The verbs are highly inflected for numbers (singular and plural), persons (first-, second-, and third-person), moods (indicative, conditional, subjunctive, and imperative), tenses (present, past, future), and aspects (imperfective and perfective).
Because of the complexities in Romance conjugation, certain languages have a separate article regarding these conjugations:
While there are 4 regular infinitives in Classical Latin, namely -āre, -ēre, -ere, and -īre, some of these infinitive were merged. In many Romance languages including Spanish and Portuguese, the main infinitives are -ar, -er, and -ir, with addition of -ôr (Portuguese only) which only exists in the verb pôr, traditionally considered as -er verbs. While in Italian, the infinitives are -are, -ere, -ire. The infinitives -er and -ere (Italian) resulted from the merge of Latin infinitives -ēre and -ere. In French, the infinitives are -er, -oir, -re, -ir, but verbs with -oir and -re are in the third group, also known as irregular verbs.
Latin deponent verbs like sequor and nascor (infinitive sequī, nascī) changed to active counterparts *séquo and *násco (infinitive *séquere, *nascere), as in Portuguese seguir, Spanish seguir, and Italian seguire; and Portuguese nascer, Spanish nacer, and French naître.
| Hard | Soft | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Back vowels | Front vowels | Back vowels | Front vowels |
| c- | quV- | z- | c- |
| g- | guV- | j- | g- |
In many Romance languages, verb stems ending in -c, -z shown above were regularly altered to preserve its pronunciation. However, it is not considered irregular.
|
Main article: Romance copula |
While the passive voice became completely periphrastic in Romance, the active voice has been morphologically preserved to a greater or lesser extent. The tables below compare the conjugation of the Latin verbs sum and stō in the active voice with that of the Romance copulae, their descendants. For simplicity, only the first person singular is listed for finite forms. Note that certain forms in Romance languages come from the suppletive sources sedeo (to be seated) instead of sum, e.g. subjunctive present: sedea > sia, sea, seja... (medieval Galician-Portuguese, for instance, had double forms in the whole conjugation: sou/sejo, era/sia, fui/sevi, fora/severa, fosse/sevesse...)
| Form | Latin | Italian | French1 | Spanish | Portuguese | Logudorese | Catalan | Sicilian | Romansh | Romanian | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | Present | sum | stō | sono | sto | suis | – | soy | estoy | sou | estou | so | isto | sóc | estic | sugnu | staiu | sun | sunt | |
| Imperfect | eram | stābam | ero | stavo | – | étais | era | estaba | era | estava | essia | istaia | era | estava | era | stava | era | eram | ||
| Preterite | fuī | stetī | fui | stetti | fus | – | fui | estuve | fui | estive | essesi | istesi | fui | estiguí | fui | stesi | – | fui, fusei | ||
| Pluperfect | fueram | steteram | – | – | – | – | fuera | estuviera | fora | estivera | – | – | fóra | estigués | fora | – | – | – | ||
| Future2 | erō | stābō | sarò | starò | serai | – | seré | estaré | serei | estarei | – | – | seré | estaré | – | – | – | – | ||
| Subjunctive | Present | sim | stem | sia | stia | sois | – | sea | esté | seja | esteja | sia | iste | sigui, siga | estigui, estiga | – | – | saja | să fiu | |
| Perfect3 | fuerim | steterim | – | – | – | – | fuere | estuviere | for | estiver | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Imperfect | essem | starem | – | – | – | – | – | – | ser | estar | essere | istere | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| Pluperfect | fuissem | stetissem | fossi | stessi | fusse | – | fuese | estuviese | fosse | estivesse | – | – | fos | estigués | fussi | stassi | fiss | fusesem | ||
| Infinitive | esse | stāre | essere | stare | être | – | ser | estar | ser | estar | essere | istare | ser, ésser | estar | siri | stari | esser | fire, a fi | ||
| Supine | – | statum | – | stato | – | été | sido | estado | sido | estado | essidu | istadu | estat, sigut, sét | estat | statu | statu | stà | fost | ||
| Gerund | – | standum | essendo | stando | – | étant | siendo | estando | sendo | estando | essende | istande | sent, essent | estant | sennu | stannu | essend, siond | fiind | ||
This is the Vulgar Latin conjugation of the verb *avére:
| Infinitive | *avére | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present participle | *avénte | ||||||
| Gerund | *avéndo | ||||||
| Supine | *áuto | ||||||
| 1st singular | 2nd singular | 3rd singular | 1st plural | 2nd plural | 3rd plural | ||
| Indicative | Present | *áio | *áus | *áut | *avémos | *avétes | *áunt |
| Imperfect | *avéba | *avébas | *avébat | *avébamos | *avébates | *avébant | |
| Preterite | *áui | *avésti | *áut | *avémos | *avéstes | *áuront | |
| Pluperfect | *avéra | *avéras | *avérat | *avéramos | *avérates | *avérant | |
| Future | *avére áio | *avére áus | *avére áut | *avére avémos | *avére avétes | *avére áunt | |
| Conditional | *avére avéba | *avére avéba | *avére avébat | *avére avébamos | *avére avébates | *avére avébant | |
| Future perfect | *avéro | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent | |
| Subjunctive | Present | *áia | *áias | *áiat | *aiámos | *aiátes | *áiant |
| Imperfect | *avére | *avéres | *avéret | *avéremos | *avéretes | *avérent | |
| Pluperfect | *avésse | *avésses | *avésset | *avessémos | *avessétes | *avéssent | |
| Imperative | *áu | *avéte | |||||
Notice that these forms sometimes also have an inconsistent form, as the table above more resembling with that of French.
In spite of the remarkable continuity of form, several Latin tenses have changed meaning, especially subjunctives.
The Latin imperfect subjunctive underwent a change in syntactic status, becoming a personal infinitive in Portuguese and Galician.[1] An alternative hypothesis traces the personal infinitive back to the Latin infinitive, not to a conjugated verb form.[2]
In many cases, the empty cells in the tables above exist as distinct compound verbs in the modern languages. Thus, the main tense and mood distinctions in classical Latin are still made in most modern Romance languages, though some are now expressed through compound rather than simple verbs. Some examples, from Romanian:
New forms also developed, such as the conditional, which in most Romance languages started out as a periphrasis, but later became a simple tense. In Romanian, the conditional is still periphrastic: aș fi, ai fi, ar fi, am fi, ați fi, ar fi.