Form II Latin: Beginning Latn Grammar, Lesson 6: The Infinitive

"I would make them all learn English;

and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat." --Sir Winston Churchill

In English and in Latin the infinitive is a very important verb form. In English the infinitive may be recognized by the word "to" before the main verb, such as "to go" or "to live." In Latin the infinitive is the most important part of the verb because it shows to what part of the conjugation the verb belongs. It may be recognized in most verbs  by the ending "re", which is translated as "to" in English, for example "ambulare" means "to walk" and "cantare" means "to sing", and so forth.
In Latin lessons the verbs in vocabulary lists are usually given as infinitives. To form the Present Tense of a verb in the First Conjugation, remove the  "re" from the Infinitive and add the personal endings.

Exercises:
Form the entire Present Tense of the following and translate.

• Amare
• Laborare
• Exspectare

Translate:

Ambulamue

Poetae laborant.

Porto

Amatis

Translate into Latin:

• We are.
• We are singing.
• The girl and the queen are walking.
• The woman is waiting.

If you need to review English grammar before introducing Latin Grammar, go to Simple Grammar.

Lesson 1: Latin Nouns

Lesson 2: The First Declension

Lesson 3: Latin Verbs

Lesson 4: The First Conjugation

Lesson 5: Present Tense