conjugation (n.)

In GRAMMAR, a traditional term for a CLASS of VERBS in an INFLECTING language which occur with the same range of FORMS. Latin verbs, for example, belonged to four conjugations. Forms of the ‘first conjugation’, for example, were traditionally illustrated using the verb amare (‘to love’), which in the ACTIVE INDICATIVE present tense had the endings amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant (for ‘I/you/he-she/we/you/they’ persons respectively). ‘Fourth conjugation’ verbs, illustrated by audire (‘to hear’), conjugated differently; audio, audis, audit, audimus, auditis, audiunt (for the same persons). The term is not usually found in modern LINGUISTIC analysis (which talks in terms of word-classes), but will be encountered in studies of LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHY.