What are the tenses of Latin?

Answer 1

Latin has six basic tenses divided into two systems, which reflect how the verb forms are constructed.

Taking the first-conjugation verb amo, amare, amavi, amatus ("love") as an example, the Present system tenses are built on the present stem, ama-. They are:

• the present tense: amat, "he loves; he is loving"
• the imperfect tense: amabat, "he was loving; he used to love"
• the future tenses: amabit, "he will love; he is going to love"

The Perfect System tenses are built on the perfect stem, amav-. They are:

• the perfect tense: amavit, "he loved; he has loved"
• the pluperfect tense: amaverat, "he had loved"
• the future perfect tense: amaverit, "he will have loved"

These are the tenses of the indicative mood. The subjunctive mood has only four: the present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect. The imperative has two: present and future (though not all scholars agree that these are tenses).

Answer 2

The present tense is used for actions that are currently happening and can be translated in three ways: simple (I love), continuous (I am loving), and emphatic (I do love). The future tense is for actions that have yet to happen (I will love), and the imperfect tense is used for actions that occurred regularly or have not been completed (I used to love or I was loving).

The present active indicative endings are: -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt.

The future active indicative endings are: -bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt (for 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs) and -am, -es, -et, -emus, -etis, -ent.

The imperfect active indicative endings are: -bam, -bas, -bat, -bamus, -batis, -bant.

Answer 3

Four (five, if you count third -io).