memini, odi, coepi (I Remember, I Hate, I Began)

I Remember, I Hate, I Began

Level 5

Perfect in form, present in meaning: memini, odi, novi.

How It Works

Perfect formMeaning nowInfinitive
meminiI remembermeminisse
odiI hateodisse
noviI knownovisse
coepiI begancoepisse

Novi comes from nosco, which means I get to know. Once you have got to know someone, you know them.

The command for memini is memento, and for several people it is mementote.

Memini takes the genitive for a person (memini tui). It takes the accusative for someone or something you remember from your own experience. Coepi is an ordinary past tense, and it usually takes an infinitive: coepit dicere (he began to say). For the present, Latin uses incipit.

Examples (5)

  1. Memini tui.

    I remember you.

    Memini is perfect in form. It takes the genitive tui.

  2. Odi et amo.

    I hate and I love.

    Catullus 85. Odi is perfect in form and means I hate right now.

  3. Iam diu te novi.

    I have known you for a long time.

    Novi, the perfect of nosco, means I know. Iam diu shows how long.

  4. Memineram tui.

    I remembered you.

    The pluperfect memineram works as the past of memini.

  5. Exinde coepit Iesus praedicare et dicere.

    From then on Jesus began to preach and to say.

    Matthew 4:17. Coepit takes the infinitives praedicare and dicere.

Common Mistakes

  • Giving memini the dative.

    Memini tibi.
    Memini tui.

    Memini takes a genitive for a person (memini tui) or an accusative (memini te). It does not take the dative.

How It Connects

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

memini, odi, coepi (I Remember, I Hate, I Began)Level 5I Remember, I Hate, I Began

Learn This First

These verbs have a perfect form with a present meaning, and the pluperfect and future perfect give their past and future, so those tenses come first.

Words in This Pattern

meminiodicoepinosco