Summary WJEC GCSE Latin - Irregular Verbs

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are ones that don’t decline in the usual ‘regular’ way: unfortunately, they
are also some of the most commonly used ones in Latin. Today we will be looking at esse,
ire, posse, velle and nelle.

Esse - to be

This is a word that is possibly the most commonly used in Latin, so learning it is essential.

Present Tense - I am Imperfect Tense - I was Future Tense - I will be

sum eram ero

es eras eris

est erat erit

sumus eramus erimus

estis eratis eritis

sunt erant erunt


Note - although the imperfect tense does not use the b (as in -bam, -bas, -bat, the last
part of the endings are still the same).

The verb to be takes a complement (another noun in the nominative), not an object:
senex olim miles erat - the old man was once a soldier.
If to be comes at the beginning of a sentence, it usually means there is:
est taberna in via - there is an inn in the street.

Exercises

1) dux noster severissimus est.
2) illa domus est nostra.
3) num ibi semper tristes eras?
4) est exquis in horto.
5) labor difficillimus est