Derivation of Verbs
Latin doesn't just inherit verbs — it builds them. From the noun fīnis (end) it makes fīnīre (to bound); from cūra (care) it makes cūrāre (to care for); from clārus (bright) it makes clārāre (to make bright).
These denominative verbs land mostly in the first conjugation, and once you spot the noun inside them, half the meaning is already done.
Latin also re-spins existing verbs. Canere means sing; the supine stem cant- plus the -tāre ending makes cantāre — sing again and again.
Drop -scō onto a stem and you get an inceptive — crēscere (begin to grow), senēscere (grow old), iuvenēscere (grow young) — the -sc- itself means "the action is starting." Add -urīre and you get a desiderative: ēsurīre = wanting to eat, parturīre = wanting to give birth.
None of these families is hard once the suffix tips you off. The whole point of this hub is suffix-recognition: meet -tāre, -scere, -urīre, -illāre in the wild and you instantly know what kind of action is being described.
A predictable suffix on a noun, adjective, or verb stem produces a new verb whose meaning the suffix already telegraphs.
Suffixes are far more reliable than guessing from context — -scere almost always means begin; -urīre almost always means want to.
See It In Action
— Verg. Aen. i. 3
Iactātus isn't just "thrown" once — it's the frequentative of iaciō, so Aeneas is tossed again and again by land and sea. The suffix carries the whole feeling of relentless repetition.
— Verg. Aen. viii. 540
Crēscere IS crē-scō — crē- is the root ("come into being"), and the -sc- tells you the river didn't just "be tall," it started swelling. That's the inceptive flavor in pure form.
— Catull. Carm. lxii. 56
Senēscere is built straight from the noun senex (old man) — denominative root + inceptive -sc-. Translate it as "begins to be old" or "is becoming old" and the suffix reads naturally.
— Sen. Ep. 87. 18
Ēsurit literally = "wants to eat" — the suffix -urīre signals desire. That's why the standard gloss is "is hungry" rather than "eats": the verb names the wanting, not the eating.
-tāre/-itāre = "keep doing," -scere = "begin to," -urīre = "want to," -illāre = "do feebly," -āre/-īre on a noun = "make, treat as."
cantāre: spot -tāre → frequentative
Strip the suffix; what noun, adjective, or verb is left?
cant- + -āre ← supine of canere (sing)
Suffix-meaning + source-meaning, slightly idiomatic.
frequentative + sing = "sing again and again, keep singing"
Translate inceptives with "begin to," "start to," or "grow + adjective" — never just the bare verb.
senēscit = "is growing old," not "is old"
Both end in -ere. The -sc- in the middle is what flips an ordinary verb into an inceptive — and it's easy to overlook.
"begin to X, become X"
senēscit
he is growing old (becoming old)
the action itself, no "begin" flavor
regit
he rules
Tip: Look for -sc- RIGHT before the personal ending (calē-sc-it, crē-sc-it, senē-sc-it). If it's there, translate with "begin to" or "start to" or "grow + adjective."
You meet dormītābat in a passage and don't recognize it. Which suffix-decode lands on the right meaning?
Study Tips
- •Treat suffix-recognition as a vocabulary multiplier. Memorize five suffix-flavors (-āre denominative, -tāre frequentative, -scere inceptive, -urīre desiderative, -illāre diminutive) and you'll decode dozens of verbs you've never seen.
- •When you hit an unknown verb in Reader, peel off the ending and ask: is there a noun, adjective, or simpler verb hiding inside? Cantāmus = cant- (supine of canere) + frequentative -āre → "we're singing repeatedly."
- •Don't memorize every example. Memorize the FAMILIES. The exam tests whether you recognize senēscere means grow old, not whether you've seen this exact verb.
- •Watch for the inceptive -sc- embedded mid-word: cognōscō, crēscō, nāscor, proficīscor. The -sc- is doing the work — "start to know, start to grow, start to be born, set out."