1. Chapter 5 Possum

2. Remember SUM? Review

3. Possum means “to be able.” It is a COMPOUND of the irregular verb, SUM. Therefore, its conjugation should look very familiar! Notice that if the SUM part of the word begins with a vowel, the POSSUM part ends with a “t.” If the SUM part begins with a consonant, the POSSUM part ends with an “s.” Possum: to be able

4. possum - I am able possumus - we are able potes - you are able potestis- you are able potest - he is able possunt - they are able Translation of POSSUM (Present)

5. Just as the present tense of POSSUM looked very much like the present tense of SUM, the imperfect tense of POSSUM looks very much like the imperfect tense of SUM. Remember the imperfect of SUM? Imperfect Tense

6. Imperfect of POSSUM

7. poteram- I was able poteramus - we were able poteras - you were able poteratis- you were able poterat - he was able poterant - they were able Notice that all forms of SUM begin with an “e” (a vowel), all forms of POSSUM end in “t.” Translation of POSSUM (imperfect)