12/31/92


                              CHAPTER 6

       "Sum: Future and Imperfect Indicative; Possum: Present,
     Future, and Imperfect Indicative; Complementary Infinitive"


The two verbs which are the subject of this chapter are closely
related -- "possum" ("to be able") uses the forms of the verb
"sum" ("to be") -- so you don't have to learn two separate
irregular verbs outright.  You can tie them together.


SUM, ESSE: FUTURE TENSE

You have already learned the present tense of the irregular verb
"sum".  And those of you who followed my expanded notes on these
forms know the whole truth about the present tense.  Those of you
who skipped them, I recommend you go back to that section and
read them now.  They will help you with this discussion.

     Do you remember how you formed the future tense of the first
and second conjugation verbs?  It was something like this:

       stem + tense sign + personal endings = conjugated forms

The verb "sum" follows this formula exactly, but it has a tense
sign for the future you haven't seen before.  Let's start at the
beginning.

     (1)   The stem of the verb "to be" is "es-".
     (2)   The tense sign for the future is short "-e-".  For the
           first and second conjugations, the tense sign of the
           future was "be-", and the short "-e-" of the tense sign
           underwent changes when the personal endings were added
           to it.  Do you remember what they were?  The short
           "-e-" future tense sign will undergo the same changes.
     (3)   The personal endings are the same you've been using all
           along: "-o" or "-m", "-s", "-t" etc.

So let's set up a construction table for the future of "sum". For
now, fill in all the information except the conjugated form.

FUTURE TENSE: "sum, esse"

     STEM    +    TENSE SIGN    +    PERS. END.  =      CONJUGATED
FORMS

1st  _____         _________         ___________
_______________

2nd  _____         _________         ___________
_______________

3rd  _____         _________         ___________
_______________


1st  _____         _________         ___________
_______________

2nd  _____         _________         ___________
_______________

3rd  _____         _________         ___________
_______________

     There is one more thing you need to know before you can
finish this off.  It's a rule of Latin pronunciation that
whenever an "-s-" is between two vowels (when it's
"intervocalic", as the professionals say), it changes from "-s-"
to "-r-".  Now look at the stem of "sum".  "Es-" plus the tense
sign "-e-" will put the "-s-" between two vowels, so the "-s-" of
the stem will become an "-r-":  "ese-" = "ere-".  That, then,
will be the base to which you add the personal endings.  Now fill
out the conjugated forms -- and remember the changes the short
"-e-" is going to go through.  (Check Wheelock, p. 27.)


SUM, ESSE: IMPERFECT TENSE

The imperfect tense is a new tense for you, and we're not going
to look very deeply into it here.  For now, just remember that
the imperfect tense of "sum" is our "was" and "were".  At least
don't call this the past tense; call it the imperfect tense.  The
imperfect tense is formed along the same lines as the future
tense:

       stem + tense sign + personal endings = conjugated forms

Obviously, since this is a different tense, the tense sign is not
going to be the same as the future tense sign.  The tense sign of
the imperfect is "-a-".  One other slight difference is that the
imperfect tense uses the alternate first person singular ending:
"-m" instead of the expected "-o".  And don't forget the rule of
"-s-": when it's intervocalic, it changes to "-r-".  Fill out the
following table:

IMPERFECT TENSE: "sum, esse"

     STEM    +    TENSE SIGN    +    PERS. END.  =      CONJUGATED
FORMS

1st ______         _________        _____________
______________

2nd ______         _________        _____________
_______________

3rd ______         _________        _____________
_______________


1st ______         _________        _____________
_______________

2nd ______         _________        _____________
_______________

3rd ______         _________        _____________
_______________


POSSUM, POSSE: PRESENT, FUTURE, IMPERFECT TENSES

In Latin, the verb "to be able" is a combination of the adjective
base "pot-" ("able") plus the forms of the verb "sum".  To say "I
am able", Latin took the adjective "pot-" and combined it with
the present tense of "sum".  To say "I will be able", Latin used
"pot-" plus the future of "sum".  To say "I was able", Latin used
"pot-" plus the imperfect of "sum".  For the verb "possum", then,
it is the verb "sum" provides the person, number, and the tense.

     In the present tense, there is one glitch: wherever the verb
"sum" starts with an "s-", the "-t-" of "pot-" becomes an "-s-"
also.  So you see "possum" instead of "potsum" (from "pot +
sum"), and so on. (When a consonant turns into the consonant
which it is next to, we call this "assimilation".  So we would
say "t" assimilates to "s".)

     The one real oddity of the verb is its infinitive.  We might
expect "potesse" ("pot + esse") according to the rules, but the
form "posse" is just one of those unexpected moments in life
where things get out of control.  You might want to remember it
this way:  the English word "posse" is a group of citizens who
have been granted power to make arrests: that is, they have
"ableness".  Fill out the following charts for the verb "possum,
posse".

PRESENT TENSE: possum, posse

      ADJECTIVE  +   CONJUGATED FORM OF SUM  =     CONJUGATED FORM

1st      pot          ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________


1st   _________       ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________


FUTURE TENSE: possum, posse

      ADJECTIVE  +   CONJUGATED FORM OF SUM  =     CONJUGATED FORM

1st   _________       ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________


1st   _________       ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________

IMPERFECT TENSE: possum, posse

      ADJECTIVE  +   CONJUGATED FORM OF SUM  =     CONJUGATED FORM

1st   _________       ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________


1st   _________       ____________________         _______________

2nd   _________       ____________________         _______________

3rd   _________       ____________________         _______________


The only real difficulty with "possum" is the English
translations for it.  If you stick with "to be able", "will be
able", and "was/were able", you'll get through just fine.  But
you can also translate "possum" with the English verb "can".  But
"can", although it is popular in English, is loaded with
oddities.  For one, it has no future tense -- "I will can??" --
and secondly, the imperfect tense is "could", which is also a
conditional of some kind or another in English: "Do you think I
could have a dollar?"  Try to stay with "to be able" for now, but
be aware of the possibilities of "can".


THE COMPLEMENTARY INFINITIVE

If you were to walk up to a stranger and, out of the blue, say "I
am able", you'd be answered by a pause.  The stranger would be
expecting you to complete your thought: "Yes, you're able to do
what?"  That's because "to be able" requires another verb to
complete its sense, and the form the completing verb will have is
the infinitive.  It needs a completing infinitive (or
"complementary infinitive").  This is true in Latin as well.
"Possum" in all its forms will be followed by another verb in the
infinitive form: "Poterunt videre nostros filios".  (They will be
able to see our sons.)


VOCABULARY PUZZLES

liber, -bri (m)   How are you going to keep the noun for "book"
                  distinct in your mind from the adjective for
                  "free": "liber, -a, -um".  For one, the "-i-"
                  in "liber, -bri (m)" is short, but it's long in
                  "liber, -a, -um".  Next, there is a stem change
                  in "liber, -bri (m)" but not in "liber, -a,
                  -um".  So if you see an inflected form "libr-
                  something", then you know the word means
                  "book(s)".  Remember this by recalling their
                  English derivatives: library is from the
                  stem-changing "liber, -bri (m)", and "liberty"
                  is from "liber" in which there is no stem
                  change.  For the most part, derived words come
                  from the stem of the nouns, not the nominative
                  singular.

vitium, -ii (n)   Please don't confuse this with the word for
                  life "vita, -ae, (f)".  Keep them straight this
                  way: "vicious", which comes from "vitium", has
                  an "-i-" after the "-t", but "vital", which
                  comes from "vita", does not.  "Vitia" means
                  "vices" or "crimes"; "vita" means "life".

Graecus, -a, -um  Like "Romanus, -a, -um", this adjective can be
                  used as a noun: "Graecus" can be translated as
                  "a Greek man", and "Graeca" as "a Greek woman",
                  or as an adjective: "Graecus liber" = "a Greek
                  book".

-que              As Wheelock tells you, this word (called and
                  enclitic because it "leans on" another word and
                  never stands alone in a sentence) is attached
                  to the end of the second word of two that are
                  to be linked.  Think of it this way:  "x yque"
                  = "x et y".

ubi               If "ubi" comes first in a sentence which is a
                  question, always translate it as "Where".  "Ubi
                  es?" (Where are you?)  But when it is in the
                  middle of a sentence, it can be translated as
                  either "where" or "when", and does not mean
                  that a question is being asked.  You must try
                  them both out to see which of the two
                  possibilities makes the most sense.

insidiae, -arum (f)  We translate this word, although it is always
                     plural in Latin, as the singular "plot", or
                     "treachery".  It's going to happen often that
                     ideas which are conceived of as plural in
                     Latin are thought of as singular in English.

