Verb defendo question

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Boban
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Verb defendo question

Post by Boban »

I have a question about verb dēfendo, 3. dēfendi, dēfensum

Since Indicative Active Present and Indicative Active Perfect for 1th person plural of this verb have both same form "defendimus", how do you know which one is it?

timeodanaos
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Post by timeodanaos »

Context is king.

Boban
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Post by Boban »

timeodanaos wrote:Context is king.
But consider this sentence:
Vim defendimus vi.

Do you translate it like:
a) Force we rejected by force. (perfect)
b) Force we reject with force. (present)

Twpsyn
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Post by Twpsyn »

If you don't know from the context, then it's ambiguous.

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Deses
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Post by Deses »

Boban wrote:
timeodanaos wrote:Context is king.
But consider this sentence:
Vim defendimus vi.

Do you translate it like:
a) Force we rejected by force. (perfect)
b) Force we reject with force. (present)
In some cases you need more than a sentence as a sufficient context.

Note, by the way, that in "Vim defendimus vi" defendimus is most likely gnomic Perfect, translatable as Present Ind.
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