MS: Lesson - The Latin Infinitive - Active Voice, Regular Verbs

The Latin Infinitive - Active Voice, Regular Verbs

The Latin infinitive is formed in three tenses: present, perfect and future. All three tenses can be formed in the active voice.

Active Infinitive Formation

Let's explore how the active infinitive tenses are formed.

Active Infinitive Formation
Information Present Active Perfect Active Future Active
Formation Rules The present active infinitive is used as the 2nd principal part for regular verbs. With the exception of irregular verbs, the present active infinitive will end in -re. The perfect active infinitive is formed using the active perfect stem. Add the perfect infinitive inflection -isse to that stem.

The future active infinitive is formed using the future active participle + esse. 

The future active participle is formed by adding -ur to the participle stem, followed by 1st/2nd declension adjective endings.
Translation

to + verb
-ing

 to + have + English past participle to + be + about to + verb
Example(s)

porto, portare, portavi, portatus

  • Use the 2nd PP:
  • Present Active Infinitive: portare

porto, portare, portavi, portatus

  • Perfect Stem: portav-
    • Add -isse to the stem
  • Perfect Active Infinitive: portavisse

porto, portare, portavi, portatus

  • Form the future participle: portaturus, a, um
    • Add ese as a separate word.
  • Future Active Infinitive: portaturus, a, um esse

Nota bene

  • Future Active Infinitive: when writing this infinitive, a participle (us, a, um) is used before esse. Remember that a participle must agree with its antecedent, so the ending of the future participle can change. The future participle will always be either nominative or accusative. Example:
    • Feminine, accusative, singular:
      • portaturam esse

Regular Verbs - Active Infinitive Review

To explore these infinitives, we will use the following example verbs:

  • porto, portare, portavi, portatus - to carry
  • video, videre, vidi, visus - to see
  • duco, ducere, duxi, ductus - to lead
  • capio, capere, cepi, captus - to take
  • audio, audire, audivi, auditus - to hear
Active Infinitive Examples
Present Active Perfect Active Future Active
  • portare - to carry, carrying
  • videre - to see, seeing
  • ducere - to lead, leading
  • capere - to take, taking
  • audire - to hear, hearing
  • portavisse - to have carried
  • vidisse - to have seen
  • duxisse - to have led
  • cepisse - to have taken
  • audivisse - to have heard
  • portaturus, a, um esse - to be about to carry
  • visurus, a, um esse - to be about to see
  • ducturus, a, um esse - to be about to lead
  • capturus, a, um esse - to be about to take
  • auditurus, a, um esse - to be about to hear