Chapter 181Allen and Greenough's Latin GrammarDickinson CollegeChristopher Francese
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In tenses formed upon the Perfect Stem,
v
between two vowels is often lost and contraction takes place.
Perfects in
-āvī
,
-ēvī
,
-ōvī
, often contract the two vowels into
ā
,
ē
,
ō
, respectively: as,
amāsse
for
amāvisse
;
amārim
for
amāverim
;
amāssem
for
amāvissem
;
cōnsuērat
for
cōnsuēverat
;
flēstis
for
flēvistis
;
nōsse
for
nōvisse
. So in perfects in
-vī
, where the
v
is a part of the present stem: as,
commōrat
for
commōverat
.
The first person of the perfect indicative (as,
amāvī
) is never contracted, the third very rarely.
Perfects in
-īvī
regularly omit
v
, but rarely contract the vowels except before
st
and
ss
, and very rarely in the third person perfect:—
audieram
for
audīveram
;
audīsse
for
audīvisse
;
audīstī
for
audīvistī
;
abiit
for
abīvit
;
abiērunt
for
abīvērunt
.
The forms
sīris
,
sīrit
,
sīrītis
,
sīrint
, for
sīveris
etc. (from
sīverō
or
sīverim
), are archaic.
In many forms from the perfect stem
is
,
iss
,
sis
, are lost in like manner, when
s
would be repeated if they were retained: as,
dīxtī
for
dīxistī
(
x
=
cs
);
trāxe
for
trāxisse
;
ēvāstī
for
ēvāsistī
;
vīxet
for
vīxisset
;
ērēpsēmus
for
ērēpsissēmus
;
dēcēsse
for
dēcessisse
. These forms belong to archaic and colloquial usage.