Chapter 14: Sum and Possum

Sum and its compounds are called irregular verbs

because, as you can tell from their infinitives, they do not
belong to any of regular conjugations.

Because these verbs are irregular they do not follow any

traditional rules.

Each tense is different and must be memorized

separately. There is no simple or easy trick to it.

Caution! Sum is one of the most common verbs and is

used for 4 independent functions in Latin. If you do not
memorize it and its compounds, you are asking for a
great deal of trouble and frustration as we use it in its
other capacities.

sum, esse, fui, futurus -- be

Present tense:
sum - I am
I am being

sumus - we are
we are being

es - you are
you are being

estis - you are

you are being

est - h/s/i is
h/s/i is being

sunt - they are

they are being

Notice that there are both the simple and progressive translations, but there
is no emphatic translation. You cant use the do form with sum.

Possum
Possum

will do the same things as sum,

but it has the added problem of the prefix.

As

it conjugates, the prefix jumps around.

Sometimes

it is spelled pos- and

sometimes it is spelled pot-. You cant
pick whichever one you want, you have to
memorize which one goes in which place.

There is a trick!
I

have a little rhyme that I used when I was

trying to memorize possum. It is quite
corny, but it worked for me and maybe it
will work for you.

noticed that each conjugated form of

possum was made up of 2 parts:
Prefix + sum (be)

Here is the rhyme:

Whenever the form of be

starts with an -e, you change
the -s to a -t.

Lets see it in action:

possum, posse, potui --- - can, be able

possum I can
I am able

possumus we can
we are able

potes

potestis you can

you are able

- you can
you are able

potest h/s/i can

h/s/i is able

possunt they can

they are able

Did you see it?

Whenever

the prefix came in front of an

-e, the prefix changed from pos- to pot-.

Its

not too difficult, but you do have to pay

attention.

Now lets try it in the imperfect tense:

Sum:

eram
eras
erat

eramus
eratis

erant

Possum:

poteram
poteras
poterat

poteramus
poteratis

poterant

I was

I was able

I kept on being

I kept on being able

I used to be

I used to be able

I was being

I was being able

Caution!
Possum

is often accompanied by an
infinitive in Latin.
Sometimes this causes students trouble in
translation, because the infinitive works in
English ONLY if you use the meaning be
able

Hoc agere possum.

I am able to do this.
I can do this.

Notice how I have translated the

infinitive as a general verb in the
second example because the
infinitive would not make sense.