Other Perfect Stems

Level 3

The perfects with no pattern to build, only forms to learn.

How It Works

Present	Perfect	English	What changes
video	vidi	I saw	long vowel
venio	veni	I came	long vowel
lego	legi	I read	long vowel
facio	feci	I made	new vowel
capio	cepi	I took	new vowel
do	dedi	I gave	doubled syllable
curro	cucurri	I ran	doubled syllable
sto	steti	I stood	doubled syllable

The c of feci and cepi is a hard k in classical Latin and a ch in Church Latin, because c before e and i is soft there.

The long vowel is not written here, so the sentence must show the tense. Cras venit means he comes tomorrow, and Heri venit means he came yesterday.

Examples (5)

Veni, vidi, vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Caesar's famous words. Veni, vidi and vici are all perfects with a long vowel.
Iulia donum dedit.
Iulia gave a gift.
Dedit is the perfect of do, with a doubled syllable.
Pueri ad forum cucurrerunt.
The boys ran to the forum.
Cucurrerunt doubles the first syllable of curro.
Marcus in via stetit.
Marcus stood in the street.
Stetit is the perfect of sto.
Qui fecit caelum et terram.
Who made heaven and earth.
A line from Psalm 120. Fecit is the perfect of facio, and qui means who.

Common Mistakes

Adding -v- to do.
Iulia donum davit.
Iulia donum dedit.
The perfect of do is dedi, with a doubled syllable.
Adding -v- to venio.
Marcus heri in forum venivit.
Marcus heri in forum venit.
Venio makes its perfect with a long vowel: veni, venit. Heri shows the sentence is in the past.

How It Connects

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

Other Perfect StemsLevel 3

Learn This First

These are the remaining ways to make a perfect stem.

Perfects in -si
Know the -vi, -ui and -si perfects, because the rest use the same endings on stems that change the vowel or repeat the first syllable: veni, dedi, cucurri.
Level 3

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