Romance verbs refers to the verbs of the Romance languages. In the transition from Latin to the Romance languages, verbs went through many phonetic, syntactic, and semantic changes. Most of the distinctions present in classical Latin continued to be made, but synthetic forms were often replaced with analytic ones. Other verb forms changed meaning, and new forms also appeared.
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The following tables present a comparison of the conjugation of the regular verb amare "to love" in Classical Latin, and Vulgar Latin (reconstructed), and four modern Romance languages.
Latin | Proto-Italo-Western | Spanish | Portuguese | Italian | French | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | amāre | amare | amar | amar | amare | aimer |
Indicative Present |
amō amās amat amāmus amātis amant |
amo amas ama amamos amates aman |
amo amas ama amamos amáis aman |
amo amas ama amamos amais amam |
amo ami ama amiamo amate amano |
aime aimes aime aimons aimez aiment |
Preterite | amāvī amāvistī amāvit amāvimus amāvistis amāvērunt |
amai amasti amaut amammos amastes amaront |
amé amaste amó amamos amasteis amaron |
amei amaste amou amámos amastes amaram |
amai amasti amò amammo amaste amarono |
aimai aimas aima aimâmes aimâtes aimèrent1 |
Imperfect | amābam amābās amābat amābāmus amābātis amābant |
amaba amabas amaba amabamos amabates amaban |
amaba amabas amaba amábamos amabais amaban |
amava amavas amava amávamos amáveis amavam |
amavo amavi amava amavamo amavate amavano |
aimais aimais aimait aimions aimiez aimaient |
Pluperfect | amāveram amāveras amāverat amāverāmus amāverātis amāverant |
amara amaras amara amaramos amarates amaran |
amara amaras amara amáramos amarais amaran2 |
amara amaras amara amáramos amáreis amaram |
- |
- |
Future | amābō amābis amābit amābimus amābitis amābunt |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Future Perfect | amāverō amāveris amāverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint |
amare amares amare amaremos amaretes amaren |
amare amares amare amáremos amareis amaren3,6 |
amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem3 |
- |
- |
Subjunctive Present |
amem amēs amet amēmus amētis ament |
ame ames ame amemos ametes amen |
ame ames ame amemos améis amen |
ame ames ame amemos ameis amem |
ami ami ami amiamo amiate amino |
aime aimes aime aimions aimiez aiment |
Perfect | amāverim amāveris amaverit amāverimus amāveritis amāverint |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Imperfect | amārem amārēs amāret amārēmus amārētis amārent |
amare amares amare amaremos amaretes amaren |
- |
amar amares amar amarmos amardes amarem4 |
- |
- |
Pluperfect | amāvissem amāvissēs amāvisset amāvissēmus amāvissētis amāvissent |
amasse amasses amasse amassemos amassetes amassen |
amase amases amase amásemos amáseis amasen5 |
amasse amasses amasse amássemos amásseis amassem5 |
amassi amassi amasse amassimo amaste amassero5 |
aimasse aimasses aimât aimassions aimassiez aimassent5,6 |
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 SVM and STO in the active voice with that of the Romance copulae, their descendants. For simplicity, only the 1st. person singular is listed for finite forms. Note that certain forms in romance languages come from the suppletive verb SEDEO (to be sit down) instead of SVM, e.g. subjunctive present: SEDEA > sia, sea, seja... (mediaeval Galician-Portuguese, for instance, had double forms in the whole conjugation: sou/sejo, era/sia, fui/sevi, fora/severa, fosse/sevesse...)
Indicative | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Latin | Italian | French | Spanish | Portuguese | |||||
Present | SVM | STO | sono | sto | suis | soy | estoy | sou | estou |
Perfect/Preterite | FVI | STETI | fui | stetti | fus | fui | estuve | fui | estive |
Imperfect | ERAM | STABAM | ero | stavo | étais | era | estaba | era | estava |
Pluperfect | FVERAM | STETERAM | - | - | - | fuera | estuviera | fora | estivera |
Future1 | ERO | STABO | sarò | starò | serai | seré | estaré | serei | estarei |
Subjunctive | |||||||||
Present | SIM | STEM | sia | stia | sois | sea | esté | seja | esteja |
Perfect/Preterite2 | FVERIM | STETERIM | - | - | - | fuera | estuviera | for | estiver |
Imperfect | ESSEM | STAREM | - | - | - | - | - | ser | estar |
Pluperfect | FVISSEM | STETISSEM | fossi | stessi | fusse | fuese | estuviese | fosse | estivesse |
Non-finite | |||||||||
Infinitive | ESSE | STARE | essere | stare | être | ser | estar | ser | estar |
Supine | - | STATVM | stato | stato | été | sido | estado | sido | estado |
Gerund | ESENDVM | STANDVM | essendo | stando | étant | siendo | estando | sendo | estando |
Indicative | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Latin | Catalan | Sicilian | Romansh | Romanian | |||||
Present | SVM | STO | sóc | estic | sugnu | staiu | sun | sunt | |
Perfect/Preterite | FVI | STETI | fui | estiguí | fui | stesi | - | fui, fusei | |
Imperfect | ERAM | STABAM | era | estava | era | stava | era | eram | |
Pluperfect | FVERAM | STETERAM | fóra | estigués | fora | - | - | - | |
Future1 | ERO | STABO | seré | estaré | - | - | - | - | |
Subjunctive | |||||||||
Present | SIM | STEM | sigui, siga | estigi, estiga | - | - | saja | să fiu | |
Pluperfect | FVISSEM | STETISSEM | fos | estigués | fussi | stassi | fiss | fusesem | |
Non-finite | |||||||||
Infinitive | ESSE | STARE | ser, ésser | estar | siri | stari | esser | fire, a fi | |
Supine | - | STATVM | estat, sigut, sét | estat | statu | statu | stà | fost | |
Gerund | ESENDVM | STANDVM | sent, essent | estant | sennu | stannu | essend, siond | fiind |
In spite of the remarkable continuity of form, several Latin tenses have changed meaning, especially subjunctives.
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.