Romance verbs

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.

Overview

The following table presents a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb cantare "to sing" in Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin (reconstructed as Proto-Italo-Western Romance, with stress marked), and diverse languages derived from Latin. The conjugations below were given from their respective Wiktionary pages.

Comparison of the verb "to sing" in diverse languages derived from Latin

Form		Classical Latin	Vulgar Latin	Ibero-Romance					Occitano-Romance			Gallo-Romance		Italo-Dalmatian				Eastern-Romance	Sardinian	Rhaeto-Romance			Gallo-Italic				Planned Languages
				Portuguese	Galician	Asturian (Central)	Spanish	Judezmo	Aragonese	Catalan	Occitan (Lengadocian)	French (written)[a]	French (spoken)[a]	Italian	Sicilian	Neapolitan	Barese (Murgia)	Romanian	Sardinian (Logudorese)	Romansh (Grischun)	Friulian	Ladin	Emilian (Frignano)[b]	Romagnol (Sammarinese)[b][1]	Ligurian[b]	Piedmontese	Occidental	Interlingua	Neolatino
Infinitive		cantāre	*cantáre	cantar	cantar	cantar	cantar	kantar	cantar	cantar	cantar	chanter	/ʃɑ̃te/	cantare	cantari	cantà	cande(j)	cânta	cantare	chantar	cjantâ	cianter	cantèr	cantè	cantâ	canté	cantar	cantar	cantare
Present participle[c]		cantandus	*cantándu	cantando	cantando	cantando	cantando	kantando	cantando	cantant	cantant	chantant	/ʃɑ̃tɑ̃/	cantando[d]	cantannu	cantanno	candann	cântând	–	chantond	cjantant	ciant	cantànd	cantànd	cantando	cantand	cantante	cantante	cantando
		cantāns	*cantánte	cantante	cantante	cantante	cantante	-	cantant	–	–	–	–	cantante	–	–	candand	cantende	–	–	–	–	cantant	cantante[e]	cantant	cantant	–	cantante
Past participle		cantātum	*cantátu	cantado	cantado	cantáu, cantao	cantado	kantado	cantato, cantau	cantat	cantat	chanté	/ʃɑ̃te/	cantato	cantatu	cantato	candoit	cântat	cantadu	chantà	cjantât	cianté	cantê/cantà	cantèd/cantèda/cantèdi[f]	cantou	cantà	cantat	cantate	cantato
Indicative	Present	cantō cantās cantat cantāmus cantātis cantant	*cánto *cántas *cántat *cantámos *cantátes *cántant	canto cantas canta cantamos cantais cantam	canto cantas canta cantamos cantades cantan	canto cantes canta cantamos cantáis canten	canto cantas canta cantamos cantáis cantan	kanto kantas kanta kantamos kantáx kantan	canto cantas canta cantam(os) cantaz cantan	canto cantes canta cantem canteu canten	canti cantas canta cantam cantatz cantan	chante chantes chante chantons chantez chantent	/ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃tɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃te/ /ʃɑ̃t/	canto canti canta cantiamo cantate cantano	cantu canti canta cantamu cantati càntanu	canto cante canta cantammo cantate cantano	candc cand cand candoim candoit candǝn	cânt cânți cântă cântăm cântați cântă	canto cantas cantat cantamus cantades cantant	chant chantas chanta chantain chantais chantan	cjanti cjantis cjante cjantìn cjantais cjantin	ciante ciantes cianta cianton cianteis cianta	a cant t' cant al/la canta a cantámm a cantê i/al canten	a chent t chent e/la chenta a cantém a cantéd i/al chenta	canto ti canti o/a canta cantemmo cantæ cantan	canto cante canta cantuma cante canto	canta	canta	canto cantas canta cantamos cantates cantan
	Imperfect	cantābam cantābās cantābat cantābāmus cantābātis cantābant	*cantába *cantábas *cantábat *cantábamos *cantábates *cantábant	cantava cantavas cantava cantávamos cantáveis cantavam	cantaba cantabas cantaba cantabamos cantabades cantaban	cantaba cantabes cantaba cantábemos cantábeis cantaben	cantaba cantabas cantaba cantábamos cantabais cantaban	kantava kantavas kantava kantávamos kantavax kantavan	cantaba cantabas cantaba cantaban(os) cantábaz cantaban	cantava cantaves cantava cantàvem cantàveu cantaven	cantavi cantavas cantava cantàvem cantàvetz cantavan	chantais chantais chantait chantions chantiez chantaient	/ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tje/ /ʃɑ̃tɛ/	cantavo cantavi cantava cantavamo cantavate cantavano	cantavu cantavi cantava cantàvamu cantàvavu cantàvanu	cantavo cantave cantava cantàvemo cantàveve cantàvano	candaj candiǝv candaj candajm candiǝv candajn	cântam cântai cânta cântam cântați cântau	cantaia cantaias cantaiat cantaiamus cantaiades cantaiant	chantava chantavas chantava chantavan chantavas chantavan	cjantavi cjantavis cjantave cjantavin cjantavis cjantavin	ciantove ciantoves ciantova ciantovan ciantovais ciantova	a cantèva t' cantèv al/la cantèva a cantèven a cantèvi i/al canteven	a canteva t cantevi e/la canteva a cantimi a cantivi i/al canteva	cantava ti cantavi o/a cantava cantavimo cantavi cantavan	cantava cantave cantava cantavo cantave cantavo	cantat	cantava	cantava/cantavo cantavas cantava cantavamos cantavates cantavan
	Preterite	cantāvī cantāvistī cantāvit cantāvimus cantāvistis cantāvērunt	*cantái *cantásti *cantáut *cantámos *cantástes *cantáront	cantei cantaste cantou cantámos cantastes cantaram	cantei cantaches cantou cantamos cantastes cantaron	canté cantesti cantó cantemos cantestis cantaron	canté cantaste cantó cantamos cantasteis cantaron	kantí kantates kantó kantimos kantatex kantaron	canté cantés cantó cantem(os) cantez cantoron	cantí / vaig cantar cantares / vas cantar cantà / va cantar cantàrem / vàrem cantar cantàreu / vàreu cantar cantaren / van cantar	cantèri cantères cantèt cantèrem cantèretz cantèron	chantai chantas chanta chantâmes chantâtes chantèrent[g]	/ʃɑ̃te/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃tam/ /ʃɑ̃tat/ /ʃɑ̃tɛʁ/	cantai cantasti cantò cantammo cantaste cantarono	cantai cantasti cantau cantammu cantastivu cantàrunu	cantaie cantaste cantaie cantàiemo cantàsteve cantàreno	candabb candast candò candamm candast candorǝn	cântai cântași cântă cântarăm cântarăți cântară	cantesi cantesti cantesit cantemus cantezis canteint	–	cjantai cjantaris cjantà cjantarin cjantaris cjantarin	–	a canté t' cantéss al/la cantò a cantén a cantéssi i / al cantén	a cantò t cantassi e/la cantò a cantasme a cantassi i / al cantò	–	–	cantat	cantava	cantai cantaste cantau cantammos cantastes cantaron
	Pluperfect	cantāveram cantāveras cantāverat cantāverāmus cantāverātis cantāverant	*cantára *cantáras *cantárat *cantáramos *cantárates *cantárant	cantara cantaras cantara cantáramos cantáreis cantaram[h]	cantara cantaras cantara cantaramos cantarades cantaran	cantara cantares cantara cantáramos cantarais cantaren	cantara cantaras cantara cantáramos cantarais cantaran[i]	kantara kantaras kantara kantáramos kantarax kantaran	–	–	–	–	–	–	cantirìa cantirissi cantirìa cantirìamu cantirìavu cantirìanu[j]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Future[k]	cantābō cantābis cantābit cantābimus cantābitis cantābunt	–	cantarei cantarás cantará cantaremos cantareis cantarão	cantarei cantarás cantará cantaremos cantaredes cantarán	cantaré cantarás cantará cantaremos cantaréis cantarán	cantaré cantarás cantará cantaremos cantaréis cantarán	kantaré kantarás kantará kantaremos kantaréx kantarán	cantaré cantarás cantará cantarem(os) cantarez cantarán	cantaré cantaràs cantarà cantarem cantareu cantaran	cantarai cantaràs cantarà cantarem cantaretz cantaràn	chanterai chanteras chantera chanterons chanterez chanteront	/ʃɑ̃tʁe/ /ʃɑ̃tʁa/ /ʃɑ̃tʁa/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tʁe/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɔ̃/	canterò canterai canterà canteremo canterete canteranno	cantirroggiu cantirrai cantirrà cantirremu cantirriti cantirrannu	cantarraggio cantarraie cantarrà cantarrammo cantarrate cantarranno	ghià cande(j) dà cande(j) và cande(j) mà cande(j) avit a cande(j) nà cande(j)	–	–	–	cjantarai cjantarâs cjantarà cjantarìn cjantarês cjantaran	ciantaré ciantaras ciantarà ciantaron ciantareis ciantarà	a cantarò t' cantarê al/la cantarà a cantarámm a cantarî i/al cantarân	a cantarò t cantarè e/la cantarà a cantarém a cantarìd i/al cantarà	cantiò ti cantiæ o/a cantià cantiemo cantiei cantian	canterai canteras canterà canteruma cantereve canteran	va cantar	cantara/ va cantar	cantarao/cantarai cantaràs cantarà cantaremos cantaretes cantaràn
	Conditional (Future in the past)[k]	–	–	cantaria cantarias cantaria cantaríamos cantaríeis cantariam	cantaría cantarías cantaría cantariamos cantariades cantarían	cantaría cantarís cantaría cantaríemos cantaríais cantarín	cantaría cantarías cantaría cantaríamos cantaríais cantarían	kantaría kantarías kantaría kantaríamos kantaríax kantarían	cantaría cantarías cantaría cantarían(os) cantaríaz cantarían	cantaria cantaries cantaria cantaríem cantaríeu cantarien	cantariái cantariás cantariá cantariam cantariatz cantarián	chanterais chanterais chanterait chanterions chanteriez chanteraient	/ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/ /ʃɑ̃təʁjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃təʁje/ /ʃɑ̃tʁɛ/	canterei canteresti canterebbe canteremmo cantereste canterebbero	cantirìa cantirissi cantirìa cantirìamu cantirìavu cantirìanu	cantarrìa cantarrisse cantarrìa cantarriamo cantarrisseve cantarrìano	candiss candiss candess candessǝm candiss candessǝr	–	–	–	cjantarès cjantaressis cjantarès cjantaressin cjantaressis cjantaressin	–	a cantarèv t' cantarèss al/la cantrèv a cantarèven a cantarèssi i⁠/⁠al cantarèven	a cantarìa t cantarés e/la cantarìa a cantarésmi a cantarésvi i/al cantarìa	cantieiva ti cantiësci o/a cantieiva cantiëscimo cantiësci cantieivan	canterìa canterìe canterìa canterìo canterìe canterìo	vell cantar	cantarea/ velle cantar	cantaría/cantarío/cantareva/cantarevo cantarías/cantarevas cantaría/cantareva cantariamos/cantarevamos cantariates/cantarevates cantarían/cantarevan
	Future perfect	cantāverō cantāveris cantāverit cantāverimus cantāveritis cantāverint	*cantáre *cantáres *cantáret *cantáremos *cantáretes *cantárent	cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantarem[l]	cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantaren	cantar(e) cantares cantar(e) cantáremos cantáreis cantaren	cantare cantares cantare cantáremos cantareis cantaren[l][e]	-	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Subjunctive	Present	cantem cantēs cantet cantēmus cantētis cantent	*cánte *cántes *cántet *cantémos *cantétes *cántent	cante cantes cante cantemos canteis cantem	cante cantes cante cantemos cantedes canten	cante cantes cante cantemos cantéis canten	cante cantes cante cantemos cantéis canten	kante kantes kante kantemos kantéx kanten	cante cantes cante cantem(os) cantez canten	canti cantis canti cantem canteu cantin	cante cantes cante cantem cantetz canten	chante chantes chante chantions chantiez chantent	/ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃tjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tje/ /ʃɑ̃t/	canti canti canti cantiamo cantiate cantino	cantu canti canta cantamu cantati càntanu	canto cante canta cantammo cantate cantano	candc cand cand candoim candoit candǝn	cânt cânți cânte cântăm cântați cânte	cante cantes cantet cantemus cantedes cantent	chantia chantias chantia chantian chantias chantian	cjanti cjantis cjanti cjantìn cjantais cjantin	ciante ciantes ciante cianton cianteis ciante	a canta t' cant al/la canta a cantàmma a cantèdi i/al canten	a chenta t chenta e/la chenta a cantémma a cantévva i/al chenta	cante ti canti o/a cante cantemmo cantæ cantan	canta cante canta canto cante canto	canta	canta	cante cantes cante cantemos cantetes canten
	Perfect	cantāverim cantāveris cantāverit cantāverimus cantāveritis cantāverint	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Imperfect	cantārem cantārēs cantāret cantārēmus cantārētis cantārent	*cantáre *cantáres *cantáret *cantáremos *cantáretes *cantárent	cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantarem[m]	cantar cantares cantar cantarmos cantardes cantaren	cantar(e) cantares cantar(e) cantáremos cantáreis cantaren	–	–	–	–	cantèssi cantèsses cantèsse cantèssem cantèssetz cantèsson	–	–	–	cantere canteres canteret canteremus canterezes canterent	–	–	cjantàs cjantassis cjantàs cjantassin cjantassis cjantassin	–	–	–	ciantasse ciantasses ciantassa ciantassan ciantassais ciantassa	–	a cantéss t cantéss e/la cantéss a cantéssmi a cantéssvi i/al cantéss	–	–	cantat	cantava	–
	Pluperfect[n]	cantāvissem cantāvissēs cantāvisset cantāvissēmus cantāvissētis cantāvissent	*cantásse *cantásses *cantásset *cantássemos *cantássetes *cantássent	cantasse cantasses cantasse cantássemos cantásseis cantassem	cantase cantases cantase cantasemos cantasedes cantasen	–	cantase cantases cantase cantásemos cantaseis cantasen	–	cantase cantases cantase cantasen(os) cantásez cantasen	cantés cantessis cantés cantéssim cantéssiu cantessin	–	chantasse chantasses chantât chantassions chantassiez chantassent[e]	/ʃɑ̃tas/ /ʃɑ̃tas/ /ʃɑ̃ta/ /ʃɑ̃tasjɔ̃/ /ʃɑ̃tasje/ /ʃɑ̃tas/	cantassi cantassi cantasse cantassimo cantaste cantassero	cantassi cantassi cantassi cantàssimu cantàssivu cantàssiru	cantasse cantasse cantasse cantàssemo cantàsseve cantàsseno	candiss candiss candess candessǝm candiss candessǝr	cântasem cântaseși cântase cântaserăm cântaserăți cântaseră	–	chantass chantasses chantass chantassen chantasses chantassen[o]	–	–	a cantéssa t' cantéss al/la cantéssa a cantéssen a cantéssi i/al cantéssen	–	cantesse ti cantesci o/a cantesse cantescimo cantesci cantessan	canteissa canteisse canteissa canteisso canteisso canteisse canteisso	–	–	cantasse/cantasso cantasses cantasse cantàssemos cantàssetes cantassen
Imperative[p]		cantā cantāte	*cánta *cantáte	canta cantai	canta cantade	canta cantái	canta cantad	kanta kantad	canta cantaz	canta canteu	canta cantatz	chante chantez	/ʃɑ̃t/ /ʃɑ̃te/	canta cantate	canta cantati	canta cantate	cand candoit	cântă cântați	canta cantade	chanta chantai	cjante cjantait	cianta cianton[q] ciantede	canta cantê	chènta cantémma[q] cantèd	canta cantæ	canta canté	canta	canta	canta cantate

1. Because of the phonetic erosion of verb endings, French has become a non-pro-drop language: each sentence always contains an explicit subject. The subjunctive is also always accompanied with the particle que.
2. Clitic subjects have been retained as they are essential for verb conjugation.
3. Both cantandus and cantāns change to their accusative forms cantandum and cantmāntem.
4. Functions as gerund in Italian.
5. Disused.
6. plural
7. Literary.
8. Fell into disuse in modern Portuguese, now found only in literary texts. Nowadays largely replaced by the compound forms tinha cantado or havia cantado (had sung).
9. Its meaning has mostly shifted to that of an imperfect subjunctive in modern Spanish. It is now usually interchangeable with cantase, cantases, cantase, etc. Nevertheless, a few rare uses as a pluperfect subsist.
10. Its meaning has shifted to that of a conditional in Sicilian.
11. The future indicative tense of the modern languages does not derive from the Latin form (which tended to be confounded with the imperfect due to sound changes in Vulgar Latin), but rather from an infinitive + habeō periphrasis (*cantāre habeō > *cantaráio > Sp. cantaré), later reanalysed as a simple tense. By analogy a conditional or future-in-the-past tense was formed from the imperfect or preterite of habeō (*cantāre habēbam > *cantaraía > Sp. cantaría).
12. Its meaning has shifted to that of a future subjunctive in Spanish and Portuguese.
13. Reanalysed as a personal infinitive. See below.
14. Its meaning has shifted to that of an imperfect subjunctive in most Romance languages, but as a pluperfect in Romanian and as a conditional in Romansh. But note the normal use, in modern south-eastern Umbrian of cantassimo instead of standard Italian cantammo to express an indicative past perfect.
15. Its meaning has shifted to that of a conditional in Romansch.
16. Only the second person singular and plural given on these examples. Other forms, the first person plural and third persons are usually supplied by the subjunctive present tense, but indicative present tense and only supplies the first plural in French.
17. 1st person, plural

Note that the Vulgar Latin reconstructions are believed to have regularized word stress within each tense (except the present and imperative). Word-final ⟨e⟩ probably converged on /ə/. Many verb forms have undergone elisions, like the indicative pluperfect cantāveram > *cantára and the subjunctive imperfect cantāvissem > *cantásse.

Vulgar Latin

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:

• The -v- of the perfect tenses were dropped or elided, but sometimes become /u/ after vowels.
• The past participle were sometimes sporadically rounded to *-ū-, this situation is preserved in French.
• The "unstressed" indicative imperfect is very likely from shortened *-bămus, *-bătis, yielding to the stress on the third-from-last syllable (cantā́bămus), as opposed to Classical Latin stress on the second-from-last syllable (cantābā́mus). Languages which retain this irregular stress were the languages of Iberia, Sicilian, and French.
• Romance metaphony. In forms containing -ī next to mid-open vowels, especially in preterite forms were heightened.

In the Proto-Romance grammatical tradition, the second and third conjugation are known as third conjugation, similarly to French.

First conjugation

Verbs in the first conjugation are in -āre (*-áre), later evolved to -are in Italian, -ar in most Romance languages and -er in French.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-áre

Infinitive		*-áre
Present participle		*-ánte
Gerund		*-ándu
Supine		*-átu
		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
Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

Second conjugation

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.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-ére

Infinitive		*-ére
Present participle		*-énte
Gerund		*-éndu
Supine		*-etu[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
Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

Third conjugation

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.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-ere

Infinitive		*-ere[a]
Present participle		*-énte
Gerund		*-éndu
Supine		*-etu[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	*-éront
	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
Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

Fourth conjugation

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.

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *-íre

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
Causes the previous syllable to be stressed (*amáre → *ámo).

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.

Modern languages

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:

• Italian conjugation
• Spanish verbs
• Portuguese verb conjugation
• Romanian verbs
• French conjugation
• Catalan verbs
• Occitan conjugation
• Sardinian conjugation

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.

Irregularities

Orthographic variation

Spanish

Hard		Soft
Back vowels	Front vowels	Back vowels	Front vowels
c-	quV-	z-	c-
g-	guV-	j-	g-
gu-	güV-

In many Romance languages, verb stems ending in "soft" (i.e. historically palatalised) c and g have purely orthographic variation to indicate that the soft pronunciation is intended before back vowels. Thus in Spanish lanz-ar /lanˈθaɾ/ "to throw" has a first person singular indicative form lanc-e /ˈlanθe/ "that I throw" where both c and z represent the phoneme /θ/ (/s/ in most American varieties) in different situations. Likewise there is French mang-er /mɑ̃ˈʒe/ "to eat", commenc-er /kɔmɑ̃ˈse/ "to begin", first person plural present indicative nous mange-ons /nu mɑ̃ˈʒɔ̃/ and nous commenç-ons /nu kɔmɑ̃ˈsɔ̃/.

Conversely, there may be forms with a "hard" (historically un-palatalised) c and g throughout, as with toc-ar /toˈkaɾ/ "to touch", toqu-é /toˈke/ "I touched". A third type in Spanish is the small group of verbs with stems ending in /gw/, as averigu-ar /abeɾiˈgwaɾ/ "to find out", averigü-é "I found out". Such alternations are purely orthographic quirks, not true irregularities.

True irregular verbs

Copula

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		French^1		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	–	–	–
	Future^2	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
	Perfect^3	fuerim	steterim		–	–	–	–	fuere	estuviere	for	estiver	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Imperfect	essem	stārem		–	–	–	–	–	–	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		–	stātum		–	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

1. In French the outcomes of sum and stō merged into a single verb paradigm; here the various forms are separated according to which root they descend from.
2. The future indicative tense does not derive from the Latin form (which tended to be confounded with the preterite due to sound changes in Vulgar Latin), but rather from an infinitive + habeō periphrasis, later reanalysed as a simple tense.
3. Formally identical to the future perfect indicative, the two paradigms merged in Vulgar Latin.

Other irregular verbs

• "To have": The verb habeō was regularly conjugated in Classical Latin, but later tends to be highly irregular in the Romance languages. The verb later transformed to *haveō in many Romance languages (but etymologically Spanish haber), resulting in irregular indicative present forms *ai, *as, and *at (all first-, second- and third-person singular), but ho, hai, ha in Italian and -pp- (appo) in Logudorese Sardinian in present tenses.

In Logudorese Sardinian, two -b-es lost in imperfect tenses.

In French, the past participle eu including the perfect stems (past historic and subjunctive imperfect stems) eu-/eû- rather evolved from earlier *habū-.

This is the Vulgar Latin conjugation of the verb *avére:

Vulgar Latin conjugation of *avére

Infinitive		*avére
Present participle		*avénte
Gerund		*avéndu
Supine		*áutu
		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	*averáio	*averáious	*averáiout	*averavémos	*averavétes	*averáunt
	Conditional	*averavéba	*averavéba	*averavébat	*averavébamos	*averavébates	*averavébant
	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.

• "To do": The verb faciō is also irregular in Classical Latin, with fēc- before perfect tenses (although the passive form of the verb was supplied by fīō, this suppletion is not included as the passive voice became periphrastic). This verb is one of the few verbs that retains perfect ablaut in Romance languages, with some changing the perfect stem to fi- due to metaphony rules.

Semantic changes

In spite of the remarkable continuity of form, several Latin tenses have changed meaning, especially subjunctives.

• The gerund in Sardinian changed the final -o in -e (like the Proto-Romance present participle accusative form, estinguished, in Sardinian). However, the French and Catalan suffixes -ant conflate with the accusative of present active participle suffix -āntem, and so the gerund sounds like the present participle, but ever present with "en".
• The supine disappeared, and remains just the past participle, with its stem, in all Romance languages.
• The pluperfect indicative became a conditional in Sicilian, and an imperfect subjunctive in Spanish.
• The pluperfect subjunctive developed into an imperfect subjunctive in all languages except Romansh, where it became a conditional, and Romanian, where it became a pluperfect indicative.
• The future perfect indicative became a future subjunctive in Old Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician.

The Latin imperfect subjunctive underwent a change in syntactic status, becoming a personal infinitive in Portuguese and Galician.^[2] An alternative hypothesis traces the personal infinitive back to the Latin infinitive, not to a conjugated verb form.^[3]

Periphrases

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:

• Perfect indicative: am fost, ai fost, a fost, am fost, ați fost, au fost;
• Future indicative: voi fi, vei fi, va fi, vom fi, veți fi, vor fi;
• Future perfect indicative: voi fi fost, vei fi fost, va fi fost, vom fi fost, veți fi fost, vor fi fost.

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.

See also

• Romance languages
• Vulgar Latin

Notes

1. Michelotti A., 2008. The Position of the Sammarinese Dialects in the Romagnol Linguistic Group. Phd thesis, Saarbrücken, VMD Verlag
2. Williams (1962); Wireback (1994)
3. Maurer (1968); Osborne (1982)

References

• Maurer, Theodoro H. (1968). O infinitivo flexionado português: estudo histórico-descritivo (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional.
• Paola Monachesi, The Verbal Complex in Romance: A Case Study in Grammatical Interfaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Osborne, Bruce (1982). "On the origin of the Portuguese inflected infinitive". In Anders Ahlqvist (ed.). Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Galway, April 6–10, 1981. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 243–48. ISBN 978-90-272-3514-5.
• Williams, Edwin Bucher (1962). From Latin to Portuguese: Historical phonology and morphology of the Portuguese language (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Wireback, Kenneth J. (1994). "The Origin of the Portuguese Inflected Infinitive". Hispania. 77 (3): 544–554. doi:10.2307/344992. JSTOR 344992.