Present Tense: porto
First conjugation verbs in the present tense
PRESENT TENSE: porto
Think of Latin verbs like LEGO blocks - they're built from separate pieces that snap together! Every Latin verb has a stem (the main part that gives the meaning) and an ending that tells us who's doing the action. Let's explore this with porto - which means "I carry".
What's brilliant about Latin is that it packs lots of information into one word. Where English needs "I carry" or "they are carrying", Latin just changes the verb ending to tell us everything we need to know!
| Number | Person | Pronoun | Stem | Vowel | Ending | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st | I | port |
—
|
-ō
|
I carry / I am carrying
|
| 2nd | you | port |
-a
|
-s
|
you carry / you are carrying
|
|
| 3rd | he/she/it | port |
-a
|
-t
|
he/she/it carries / is carrying
|
|
| Plural | 1st | we | port |
-a
|
-mus
|
we carry / we are carrying
|
| 2nd | you (all) | port |
-a
|
-tis
|
you (all) carry / are carrying
|
|
| 3rd | they | port |
-a
|
-nt
|
they carry / they are carrying
|
- Notice the pattern: port- stays the same (that's our stem), then we add -a- as a connector vowel, then the personal ending tells us who's doing the carrying.
- Why doesn't porto have the -a-? Originally it was portao, but over centuries of spoken Latin, people found it easier to say porto - languages naturally evolve to be more efficient!
Here's the key insight: when you see a Latin verb, look for these two clues - the stem tells you what's happening, and the ending tells you who's making it happen.
Building the Verb
Click an ending to see how the verb is constructed: