Five Verb Families in the Present

Level 2

Same endings; the vowel before them shows the family.

How It Works

Person	amare	habere	ducere	capere	audire
I	amo	habeo	duco	capio	audio
you	amas	habes	ducis	capis	audis
he, she	amat	habet	ducit	capit	audit
we	amamus	habemus	ducimus	capimus	audimus
you all	amatis	habetis	ducitis	capitis	auditis
they	amant	habent	ducunt	capiunt	audiunt

Capiunt and audiunt both end in -iunt, so the infinitive tells those two families apart: capere and audire.

The endings are the same in every family: -o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis and -nt. Only the vowel in front of them changes. Look at the third person singular: the first family has -at and the second has -et, while ducit, capit and audit all end in -it.

Examples (5)

Puellae Deum amant.
The girls love God.
First conjugation: amant.
Amici librum habent.
The friends have a book.
Second conjugation: habent.
Pueri amicos in hortum ducunt.
The boys lead their friends into the garden.
Third conjugation: ducunt. In hortum is in plus the accusative: into the garden.
Puellae cibum capiunt.
The girls take food.
Third conjugation in -io: capiunt.
Monachi Dominum audiunt.
The monks listen to the Lord.
Fourth conjugation: audiunt.

Common Mistakes

Leaving out the i in the fourth conjugation.
Pueri Marcum audunt.
Pueri Marcum audiunt.
Audire keeps its i in the third person plural: audiunt.
Treating capere like the plain third conjugation.
Puellae cibum capunt.
Puellae cibum capiunt.
Capio is a third conjugation verb in -io, so the third person plural is capiunt.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Five Verb Families in the PresentLevel 2

Learn This First

This puts the five present tenses side by side, so every present tense and to be come first.

Practice Five Verb Families in the Present in Bubblegum

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Latin lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.