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170. The verb sum, be, is both irregular and defective, having no gerund or supine, and no participle but the future.

Its conjugation is given at the outset, on account of its importance for the inflection of other verbs.

PRINCIPAL PARTS: Present Indicative sum , Present Infinitive esse , Perfect Indicative fuī , Future Participle futūrus .

PRESENT STEM es- PERFECT STEM fu- SUPINE STEM fut-
INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE
PRESENT
SING. 1. sum, I am sim 1
2. ĕs, thou art (you are） sīs
3. es t, he (she, it) is sit
PLUR. 1. sumus, we are sīmus
2. es tis, you are sītis
3. sunt, they are sint
IMPERFECT
SING. 1. er am, I was essem
2. er ās, you were essēs
3. er at, he (she, it) was esset
PLUR. 1. er āmus, we were essēmus
2. er ātis, you were essētis
3. er ant, they were essent
FUTURE
SING. 1. er ō, I shall be
2. er is, you will be
3. er it, he will be
PLUR. 1. er imus, we shall be
2. er itis, you will be
3. er unt, they will be
PERFECT
SING. 1. fuī, I was (have been） fuerim
2. fuistī, you were fueris
3. fuit, he was fuerit
PLUR. 1. fuimus, we were fuerimus
2. fuistis, you were fueritis
3. fuērunt, fuēre, they were fuerint
PLUPERFECT
SING. 1. fueram, I had been fuissem
2. fuerās, you had been fuissēs
3. fuerat, he had been fuisset

PLUR. 1. fuerāmus, we had been fuissēmus
2. fuerātis, you had been fuissētis
3. fuerant, they had been fuissent

FUTURE PERFECT
SING. 1. fuerō, I shall have been PLUR. 1. fuerimus, we shall have been
2. fueris, you will have been 2. fueritis, you will have been
3. fuerit, he will have been 3. fuerint, they will have been

IMPERATIVE
PRESENT SING. 2. ĕs, be thou PLUR. 2. este, be ye
FUTURE 2. es tō, thou shalt be 2. es tōte, ye shall be
3. es tō, he shall be 3. suntō, they shall be

INFINITIVE
PRESENT esse, to be
PERFECT fuisse, to have been
FUTURE futūrus esse or fore, to be about to be
PARTICIPLE
FUTURE futūrus, -a, -um, about to be

a. For essem , essēs , etc., forem , forēs, foret , forent , are often used; so fore for futūrus esse .

b. The Present Participle, which would regularly be †sōns,2 appears in the adjective īn-sōns, innocent, and in a modified form in ab-sēns, prae-sēns . The simple form ēns is sometimes found in late or philosophical Latin as a participle or abstract noun, in the forms ēns, being; entia, things which are.

Note.--Old forms are:—Indicative: Future, escit , escunt (strictly an inchoative present, see § 263. 1).

Subjunctive: Present, siem, siēs, siet, sient; fuam, fuās, fuat, fuant; Perfect, fūvimus; Pluperfect, fūvisset.

The root of the verb sum is ES, which in the imperfect is changed to ER (see § 15. 4), and in many forms is shortened to S. Some of its modifications, as found in several languages more or less closely related to Latin, may be seen in the following table,— the Sanskrit syām corresponding to the Latin sim ( siem ):—

SANSKRIT GREEK LATIN LITHUANIAN
as-mi syām (optative) ἔμμι (old form) s-um sim (siem） es-mi
as-i syās ἐσσί (old form) es sīs (siēs） es-i
as-ti syāt ἐστί es-t sit (siet） es-ti
s-mas syāma ἐσμέν s-umus sīmus es-me
s-tha syāta ἐστέ es-tis sītis es-te
s-anti syus ἐντί (old form) s-unt sint (sient） es-ti

The Perfect and Supine stems, fu-, fut-, are kindred with the Greek ἔφυ, and with Nhe English be.

1 All translations of the Subjunctive are misleading, and hence none is given; see § 157. b.

2 Compare Sankrit sant, Greek ὤν.

Ginn and Company, 1903.

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