libero/liberare

[howiecram]

Can someone please conjugate, in English, all 6 tenses of libero? The specific question is how do you distinguish libero from liberavi? We are looking at lesson 12 worksheet 5, form drill #2. My daughter saw that she was working in the prefect system, but if it were a mixed review, how would we know if it was present or perfect?

[pickandgrin]

Christine -- I wrote you a response, but made one edit and it's flagged as spam! boo. Here's the text copied in...it may appear twice later.

Are you getting tripped up on the lack of English nuance? "I let go" is similar: Today I let go. Yesterday I let go. In Latin it is clear; in English it looks the same and requires context to sort out tense.

Present:

• Simple present: I set free, you set free, hsi sets free, we set free, y'all set free, they set free
• Progressive present: I am setting free, you are setting free, hsi is setting free, we are setting free, y'all are setting free, they are setting free
• Emphatic present: I do set free, you do set free, hsi does set free, we do set free, y'all do set free, they do set free

Imperfect: I was setting free, you were setting free, hsi was setting free, etc.
Future: I will set free, you will set free, hsi will set free, etc.

Perfect:

• I set free (is this your trouble? I'm guessing yes--If so, I would use one of the options below instead)
• I have set free, you have set free, hsi has set free, etc.
• I did set free, you did set free, hsi did set free, etc.

Pluperfect: I had set free, you had set free, hsi had set free, etc.
Future perfect: I will have set free, you will have set free, hsi will have set free.

I'm sure someone else can give you more specifics, but I hope this gives you a start. The answer on how not to get mixed up is to translate it the simplest way. Generally the text and workbook are going to be straightforward and not "tricky." Individual word drills don't have context, so pick one. Translation in context will help. For now, give her a pat on the back for catching this and asking!

[howiecram]

Thank you! My daughter is definitely "smarter" at Latin than I am, so I just wanted to make sure if I said if it comes up in a mixed review of individual word drills "pick one" was actually sufficient! . I also wanted to make sure "I" was conjugating in English correctly myself! (In the adult latin class I couldn't conjugate "fly" correctly in English the first try!!!!) ?. I feel better knowing I was correct in MY English translation!

[Jon Christianson]

Hello,

pickandgrin's got it; numerous verbs in English are simply not different enough between certain tenses to meaningfully distinguish them without context. We usually try to use translations that make it clear - e.g. "I am letting go" vs. "I have let go" for pres. vs. perf. - but in cases where there is genuine ambiguity and no mitigating context, choose whichever one you like.

In the case of your specific exercise (FFL 12, 5.2) there is a helpful instruction at the top: all V. Form Drills are perfect tense! However, if "I set free" were to appear in a regular translation exercise, it would not be so clear cut.

- Jon

[enbateau]

My FFL student found helpful the note in the TM that the preference is for the student to always translate the perfect tense with have or has plus the past participle instead of the simple past. I don't know if they have been so careful as to make sure the English to Latin translations where the perfect tense is desired uses the helping verbs have and has, but so far so good. Any confusion is usually cleared up by the presence of adverbs (like hodie, cras, and heri).

There are some cool verb charts on the web that list irregular verbs. I have been adding reading off a few each day now that we're tackling past particles in EGR II. Some of them are pretty surprising!