FFL Recitation Terms

[Lakeside]

I've been wondering why I am struggling with the format of Recitation for FFL and I think I may have figured out what is confusing me! In Lesson XI, for example, it lists the following for recitation: personal endings; tense endings (5 tenses); amo (six tenses, p.p.); do, sot, judo, lavo (p.p.); and sum (three tenses). Can anyone explain why personal endings are called personal endings and not present tense endings? Isn't that what they are, present tense endings?

Thank you!

[Clear Creek]

Personal endings are the pronoun. In Latin the verbs end with the pronoun that is performing the action of the verb. This is why one word (such as ambulo) can be an entire sentence, because is contains both the subject (the pronoun "I" written as the personal ending "-o") and the verb. The personal endings will differ based on the verb tense, but they are always the pronoun that is performing the action of the verb.

[Lakeside]

Personal endings are the pronoun. In Latin the verbs end with the pronoun that is performing the action of the verb. This is why one word (such as ambulo) can be an entire sentence, because is contains both the subject (the pronoun "I" written as the personal ending "-o") and the verb. The personal endings will differ based on the verb tense, but they are always the pronoun that is performing the action of the verb.

So, the present tense endings just happen to be the same as the personal endings?  

[Clear Creek]

So, the present tense endings just happen to be the same as the personal endings?  

 

The personal endings -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt are used in the present tense, yes. But don't just look for them to be sure that the verb is in the present tense because that is not always the case. They are also there in the future tense: -bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt. There is no such thing in the Latin language as a "verb ending," such as you would have if you conjugated a verb in the French or English languge, because both languages require a separately written subject for the verb. In Latin you have a verb stem and a personal pronoun ending. The personal ending has nothing to do with the verb and everything to do with the subject performing the action. This is why word order in Latin can vary; the personal ending on the verb dictates who performs the action, unlike in English where it is the subject that appears directly before the verb dictates who performs the action. In English if we write "the woman likes gifts" and "the gifts like the woman" it would have two different meanings based on the word order. In Latin, though, we can write "femina amat dona" or "femina dona amat" or "dona femina amat" or "dona amat femina" and they all still mean "the woman likes gifts."

 

Here are the parts of the verb vocabimus (we will call):

voca (verb stem + stem vowel) bi (tense sign) mus (personal pronoun ending)

[Lakeside]

The personal endings -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt are used in the present tense, yes. But don't just look for them to be sure that the verb is in the present tense because that is not always the case. They are also there in the future tense: -bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt. There is no such thing in the Latin language as a "verb ending," such as you would have if you conjugated a verb in the French or English languge, because both languages require a separately written subject for the verb. In Latin you have a verb stem and a personal pronoun ending. The personal ending has nothing to do with the verb and everything to do with the subject performing the action. This is why word order in Latin can vary; the personal ending on the verb dictates who performs the action, unlike in English where it is the subject that appears directly before the verb dictates who performs the action. In English if we write "the woman likes gifts" and "the gifts like the woman" it would have two different meanings based on the word order. In Latin, though, we can write "femina amat dona" or "femina dona amat" or "dona femina amat" or "dona amat femina" and they all still mean "the woman likes gifts."

 

Here are the parts of the verb vocabimus (we will call):

voca (verb stem + stem vowel) bi (tense sign) mus (personal pronoun ending)

Thank you!  This is very helpful, especially the bolded.  I was thinking that my study of French and Spanish was probably muddying the water for me and that helps me understand.  I need to reread your whole response, but that is definitely helpful!