Overview
Active verbs are those where the subject, expressed in the nominative case, does something.
The teachers instruct the students.
Regular Latin verbs fall into four groups, called conjugations. The basic verb endings are almost the same, but the vowel before the ending, and the stem, changes with the conjugation.
There are six tenses in Latin:
| Present | I walk |
| Imperfect | I was walking |
| Perfect | I walked, I have walked |
| Pluperfect | I had walked |
| Future | I shall walk |
| Future Perfect | I shall have walked |
At this point, two moods are important too. These are the indicative and the subjunctive. The indicative is the normal form of the verb. The subjunctive is the form used in various constructions, which will be explained on each appropriate page.
+ View summary of verb forms and how to translate them
| Tense | Mood | Active | Translation | Passive | Translation |
| Present | Indicative | opto | I desire | optor | I am desired |
| Imperfect | Indicative | optabam | I was desiring | optabar | I was being desired |
| Perfect | Indicative | optavi | I (have) desired | optatus sum | I have been desired |
| Pluperfect | Indicative | optaveram | I had desired | optatus eram | I had been desired |
| Future | Indicative | optabo | I shall desire | optabor | I shall be desired |
| Future | Perfect Indicative | optavero | I shall have desired | optatus erim | I shall have been desired |
| Present | Subjunctive | optem | opter | ||
| Imperfect | Subjunctive | optarem | optarer | ||
| Perfect | Subjunctive | optaverim | optatus sim | ||
| Pluperfect | Subjunctive | optavissem | optatus essem |
