Verba Irregulāria

A small group of high-frequency Latin verbs preserves archaic athematic conjugations or supplies its forms from multiple stems (suppletion). These are the "irregular verbs" — but their irregularity is itself ancient, not random: the regularization of Latin verbs proceeded historically, and these old verbs simply resisted (because of their high frequency and the conservative force of usage).

The irregular verbs of Latin:

(1) sum — already treated (§ 158, Lectiō XV). The most fundamental: "to be".
(2) possum — already treated (§ 159). Compound: pot- + sum.
(3) ferō, ferre, tulī, lātum "carry, bring". Athematic in present; suppletive perfect (tulī from a different root).
(4) volō, velle, voluī "wish". Athematic in present; nōlō and mālō are compounds.
(5) nōlō, nōlle, nōluī "be unwilling" = nē + volō.
(6) mālō, mālle, māluī "prefer" = magis + volō.
(7) eō, īre, iī (or īvī), itum "go". Stem alternates e-/ī-.
(8) fīō, fierī, factus sum "become / be made / happen". Active in form (present system) but supplies passive of faciō.
(9) edō, edere/ēsse, ēdī, ēsum "eat". Has both regular and athematic forms.
(10) queō, quīre, quīvī "be able"; nequeō "be unable" — defective companion verbs to possum, mostly poetic.

The irregularities concentrate in the present-system indicative; the perfect system, once the principal parts are memorized, is mostly regular. The forms are often athematic — meaning the personal endings attach directly to the root without a connecting vowel.

These verbs are essential for reading any Latin text: they are among the most frequent words in the language, and beginners must memorize their paradigms early. Sum, possum, volō, eō, ferō, fīō together account for a substantial fraction of all Latin verb-tokens in classical authors.

ferō is a third-conjugation verb that lacks the connecting vowel in some forms — i.e., the personal endings attach directly to the root fer- in places where regular 3rd-conj. verbs would have a connecting i or u.

The perfect tulī and supine lātum come from a different root (Indo-European tlē-, lā-) — classic suppletion: the present comes from one root, the perfect from another, with the original meaning being "carry, bear, endure".

Compounds of ferō are extremely common and must be learned: auferō "carry away" (= ab+ferō), cōnferō "bring together, compare" (= com+ferō), differō "differ" (= dis+ferō), īnferō "carry into" (= in+ferō), offerō "offer" (= ob+ferō), perferō "endure" (= per+ferō), referō "report, refer" (= re+ferō), trānsferō "transfer" (= trāns+ferō), circumferō "carry around", praeferō "carry in front, prefer", prōferō "carry forward, propose", sufferō "submit, undergo".

All compounds conjugate exactly like ferō, with the prefix attached. The 1sg. perfect of auferō is abstulī (= abs+tulī), supine ablātum — a useful reminder that the perfect-stem suppletion persists in compounds.

Three closely related verbs of wishing form a tight semantic group:

(1) volō, velle, voluī "wish, want, will" (the will-verb proper).
(2) nōlō, nōlle, nōluī "not wish, be unwilling" (= nē + volō; the negative).
(3) mālō, mālle, māluī "prefer, wish rather" (= magis + volō; "more-want").

They are athematic in the present indicative — that is, the personal endings attach directly to the stem without the usual connecting vowel. None has a passive voice or true imperative (except nōlī, nōlīte, which is used to form negative commands: nōlī ire "do not go" = "be unwilling to go"). They have no participles in the perfect or supine.

The three verbs are paradigmatic for expressing volition in Latin. volō is the unmarked wish; nōlō negates the wish; mālō compares two wishes and selects one. Examples:

• volō librum "I want the book" — direct desire.
• volō discere "I wish to learn" — with infinitive complement.
• nōlō pugnāre "I am unwilling to fight".
• mālō scrībere quam loquī "I prefer to write rather than speak" — comparison via quam.

The infinitives velle, nōlle, mālle are unique forms reflecting the athematic conjugation; they are mnemonic-friendly for their odd appearance.

eō uses two parallel stems in the present system: e- before vowels (eō, eunt, ībō) and ī- elsewhere (īs, it, īmus, ītis, ībam...). The principal parts: eō, īre, iī (or īvī), itum. The perfect iī is more common in classical prose; īvī appears occasionally and in certain compounds.

Compounds are common and important — many English words derive from them via French/Italian: abeō (go away), adeō (approach, also = "even, indeed" as adverb), exeō (go out), ineō (enter, "begin" — ineō annum "I enter (the new) year"), obeō (go to meet, perish), pereō (perish — per+eō, "go through to the end"), redeō (return), trānseō (cross), circumeō (go around), praeeō (go in front), subeō (go under, undertake), īnitium (a beginning — derived noun), aditus (an approach — derived noun).

Note: compounds with directional senses (e.g., trānseō "cross") are sometimes transitive and form their own passive paradigm: flūmen trānsītur "the river is crossed". The simple eō is intransitive, so its passive is impersonal: ītur "there is going / people are going".

The future participle is itūrus, -a, -um "about to go"; the gerundive eundus, -a, -um. The ablative absolute itō "with going" is rare.

fīō is unique in Latin's verb system. It is active in form in the present system (fīō, fīs, fit...), but it serves as the passive of faciō "do, make" — which has only marginal native passive forms. The perfect system is fully passive: factus sum "I was made / I have become".

The morphology is mostly fourth-conjugation in feel: fīō, fīs, fit, fīmus, fītis, fīunt; pres. inf. fierī. The long ī is generally preserved.

The dual semantics — "become / happen / be made" — reflects the verb's role:

(a) "to be made" (passive of faciō): aliquid fit ā Caesare "something is made by Caesar".
(b) "to become" (linking-verb sense): fit melius "it becomes better"; cōnsul fit "he becomes consul" (= "is made consul").
(c) "to happen" (impersonal): fit ut omnēs errent "it happens that all err".

The perfect participle factus is identical to that of faciō — they share the same one. The future participle is futūrus (from sum!) — yet another suppletion. The gerundive faciendus belongs to faciō; fīō has none of its own.

Like volō, fīō bears witness to the fact that Latin's verbal system is not a clean grid but a living mosaic shaped by phonology, syntax, and historical accident.

edō, edere/ēsse, ēdī, ēsum "eat" — third-conjugation verb with archaic alternative forms patterned on sum. The "regular" forms are edō, edis, edit, edimus, editis, edunt. The athematic alternatives — modeled on sum — are: ēs, ēst, ēstis (= edis, edit, editis); inf. ēsse (homophonous with the inf. of sum!); pres. subj. edim, edīs, edit, edīmus, edītis, edint. Both sets coexist in classical Latin; the athematic forms are slightly more archaic.

Compounds: comedō, comedere "consume", exedō "eat out, devour", peredō "eat through, consume utterly". They follow the same dual-pattern.

queō, quīre, quīvī "be able" and nequeō, nequīre, nequīvī "be unable" follow eō in inflection but with extreme defectiveness: many forms missing. Both are mostly poetic; possum covers their semantic territory in prose. The classical author Cicero rarely uses them.

Sum-family compounds (already mentioned in Lectiō XV): absum (be away), adsum (be present), dēsum (be lacking), īnsum (be in), intersum (be among), obsum (be against), praesum (be in charge), prōsum (benefit), subsum (be under), supersum (be left, survive). All conjugate like sum; prōsum inserts -d- before vowels: prōdes, prōdest, prōdesse.

These ten verbs together cover the irregular core of Latin's high-frequency verb system. Once mastered, they unlock the bulk of classical reading; their forms appear in every paragraph of Caesar, Cicero, and Vergil.