A conjugation is a major family of Latin verbs. If you know what conjugation a verb is in, you will know how to form it.
There are four conjugations of verbs: 1st conjugation, 2nd conjugation, 3rd conjugation, and 4th conjugation. However, 3rd IO verbs, a subcategory of the 3rd conjugation, forms its verbs in its own unique way.
Identifying the conjugation of a verb[]
Regular verbs[]
To tell what conjugation a regular verb is in, look at the endings on the first two principal parts of it.
- 1st conjugation: -o, -are
- 2nd conjugation: -eo, -ere
- 3rd conjugation: -o, -ere
- 3rd IO conjugation: -io, -ere
- 4th conjugation: -io, -ire
Deponent verbs[]
To tell what conjugation a deponent verb is in, look at the endings on the first two principal parts of it.
- 1st conjugation: -or, -ari
- 2nd conjugation: -eor, -eri
- 3rd conjugation: -or, -i
- 3rd IO conjugation: -ior, -i
- 4th conjugation: -ior, -iri