Latin/Future Tense Lesson 1

Salvēte omnēs! Welcome back to Latin for Wikiversity. Here you can peruse a new lesson in Latin, in a simple format. If you would like to catch up, you can find a directory of lessons, a classified vocabulary list, and Memrise courses at the links on the right.

Today we continue exploring verb tenses with the Future Tense. The Present, Imperfect, and Future tenses together are known as the “Present system” because they all use the “present stem” which is formed from the 1st principal part. Studying these three tenses together is good because it’s easier to learn the endings and rules with this kind of systematic approach, it saves effort because these rules apply to most verbs, and we believe it helps long-term memory. And we’ll share a silly song that may help later on.

New Grammar edit

For all conjugations, the “present stem” is the 1st principal part, minus the on the end. Exemplī grātiā: voc-, mon-, mitt- or capi-, audi-

To form the future tense:

1st conjugation (āre) future tense
Formed by Latin Example vocō English meaning
present stem + ā + bō vocābō I will (shall) call
present stem + ā + bis vocābis you will call
present stem + ā + bit vocābit he will call
present stem + ā + bimus vocābimus we will (shall) call
present stem + ā + bitis vocābitis you will call
present stem + ā + bunt vocābunt they will call
2nd conjugation (ēre) future tense
Formed by Latin Example moneō English meaning
present stem + ē + bō monēbō I will warn
present stem + ē + bis monēbis you will warn
present stem + ē + bit monēbit he will warn
present stem + ē + bimus monēbimus we will warn
present stem + ē bitis monēbitis you will warn
present stem + ē + bunt monēbunt they will warn

(This first lesson will feature only 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs, and one irregular verb)

3rd (ere) and 4th (ire) conjugations future tense
Formed by Latin Example mitto (3rd) English meaning Latin Example capio (3rd) English meaning Latin Example audio (4th) English meaning
present stem + am mittam I will send capiam I will take audiam I will hear
present stem +ēs mittēs You will send capiēs You will take audiēs You will hear
present stem +et mittet He / she / it will send capiet He / she take audiet He / she hear
present stem + ēmus mittēmus We will send capiēmus We will take audiēmus We will hear
present stem + ētis mittētis You (pl) will send capiētis You (pl) will take audiētis You (pl) will hear
present stem + ent mittent They will send capient They will take audient They will hear

The irregular verb sum has its unique conjugation in future tense:

Future irregular verb sum
Latin English
erō I will be
eris you will be
erit he will be
erimus we will be
eritis you will be
erunt they will be

Now for the silly song, as promised, which gives you paradigms for all three tenses of the present system: (to the tune of Three Blind Mice)

-o, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt
-bam, -bas, -bat, -bamus, -batis, -bant
-bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt; or -am, -es, -et, -emus, -etis, ent

These are the endings for Present System, Active Voice (Use the 1st principal part)

New Vocabulary edit

Latin English Notes
proximus, ī  neighbor
proximus, a, um (adj.) nearest, next, most recent, latest

New Sentences edit

Latin English Notes
Gāius in scholā erit. Gaius will be in school.
Fēlicēs erimus. We will be happy.
Ubī eris /eritis? Where will you be?
Ibī erunt. They will be there.
Crās in officiō erō. I will be in the office tomorrow.
Tē exspectābō. I will wait for you.
Ūnam hebdomadem espectābunt. They will wait for one week.
Vocābisne / vocābitisne Mātrem? Will you call Mother?
Eam vocābō. I will call her.
Paula Mārcum proximā hebdomade vidēbit. Paula will see Marcus next week.
Mē nōn vidēbis. You will not see me.
Librum tibi diē Veneris dabō. I will give you the book on Friday.
Lūcia parentibus donum dabit. Lucia will give her parents a gift.
Ad scholam ambulābimus. We will walk to school.
Nōbīscum manēbis/manēbitis. You will stay with us.
Hīc pernoctābimus. We will spend the night here.
Diē Martis navigābimus. We will sail on Tuesday.
Nōs adjuvābunt (adiuvābunt). They will help us.
Vōbīscum crās labōrābō. I will work with you tomorrow.
Magistra discipulōs verbum novum docēbit. The teacher will teach the students the new word. doceō takes a double accusative; see Wiktionary
Līberī nimium televisiōnis spectābunt. The children will watch too much television.
Serpentēs Paulam terrēbunt. The snakes will frighten Paula.
Proximō annō raedam habēbō.
Raedam mihi erit.
Next year I will have a car.
Proximō mēnse pecūniae egēbit. He will need the money next month.
Proximō diē Solis cum proximīs cenābimus. Next Sunday we will eat dinner with the neighbors.
Monēbisne rēgem hostēs venīre? Will you warn the king that the enemies are coming? An example of the accusative + infinitive construction, literally, “Will you warn the king the enemies to come?”

Practice edit

Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson
Step one First learn the words using this lesson:
Step two Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this:
Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage.
If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function)

More future tense, including those 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs that have different endings, next time. Grātiās vōbīs agō et habēte bonam fortūnam!