Vīvō means “live,” “be alive,” “reside,” or “lead one’s life.” Its principal parts are vīvō, vīvere, vīxī, vīctum. The present stem vīv-, perfect stem vīx-, and supine stem vīct- are not predictable from English “live,” so all four principal parts must be learned.
Simple vīvō is intransitive: a person lives, but does not normally “live” a separate accusative object. It therefore has no ordinary personal passive. Latin can, however, present the activity impersonally with forms such as vīvitur “people live / life is lived.”
Active Indicative
| Tense | 1st sg. | 2nd sg. | 3rd sg. | 1st pl. | 2nd pl. | 3rd pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | vīvō | vīvis | vīvit | vīvimus | vīvitis | vīvunt |
| Imperfect | vīvēbam | vīvēbās | vīvēbat | vīvēbāmus | vīvēbātis | vīvēbant |
| Future | vīvam | vīvēs | vīvet | vīvēmus | vīvētis | vīvent |
| Perfect | vīxī | vīxistī | vīxit | vīximus | vīxistis | vīxērunt |
| Pluperfect | vīxeram | vīxerās | vīxerat | vīxerāmus | vīxerātis | vīxerant |
| Future perfect | vīxerō | vīxeris | vīxerit | vīxerimus | vīxeritis | vīxerint |
Avus meus adhūc vīvit.
My grandfather is still alive.
Tum parvā in vīllā vīvēbāmus.
At that time we were living in a small country house.
Sī pāx manēbit, tranquillius vīvēmus.
If peace lasts, we shall live more peacefully.
Multōs annōs Athēnīs vīxit.
He lived at Athens for many years.
The imperfect presents an ongoing way of life or residence; the perfect views a life or period as a whole. With an expression of duration, vīxit annōs octōgintā means “he lived eighty years.” It does not mean that the person is still alive.
Active Subjunctive
| Tense | 1st sg. | 2nd sg. | 3rd sg. | 1st pl. | 2nd pl. | 3rd pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | vīvam | vīvās | vīvat | vīvāmus | vīvātis | vīvant |
| Imperfect | vīverem | vīverēs | vīveret | vīverēmus | vīverētis | vīverent |
| Perfect | vīxerim | vīxerīs | vīxerit | vīxerīmus | vīxerītis | vīxerint |
| Pluperfect | vīxissem | vīxissēs | vīxisset | vīxissēmus | vīxissētis | vīxissent |
Present vīvam is formally identical to first-person future indicative; clause type distinguishes “I shall live” from “I may live.” Independent vīvat! is a wish or acclamation: “long live …!” (formal/ceremonial).
Vīvat rēs pūblica!
Long live the republic! (formal/ceremonial)
Tamquam semper vīctūrus esset, pecūniam spargēbat.
He was squandering money as though he would live forever.
The Impersonal Passive
Because vīvō has no accusative patient, forms such as “I am lived” or “they are lived” are not an ordinary personal paradigm. When Latin suppresses the people who live and foregrounds the manner of life, it uses the third-person singular impersonal passive. This construction is especially at home in maxims and reflective prose (formal/literary).
| Tense or mood | Impersonal form | Natural meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Present | vīvitur | people live / life is lived |
| Imperfect | vīvēbātur | people were living |
| Future | vīvētur | people will live |
| Perfect | vīctum est | people lived / life was lived |
| Pluperfect | vīctum erat | people had lived |
| Future perfect | vīctum erit | people will have lived |
| Present subjunctive | vīvātur | let life be lived |
| Imperfect subjunctive | vīverētur | people might be living |
| Perfect subjunctive | vīctum sit | people may have lived |
| Pluperfect subjunctive | vīctum esset | people might have lived |
Hīc simpliciter sed laetē vīvitur.
Here people live simply but happily.
Perfect vīctum est is fixed neuter singular; it does not agree with the people understood. In another context the same visible words can be the neuter perfect passive of vincō, “it was conquered.” Syntax and meaning resolve the ambiguity. See impersonal passive constructions.
Commands and Non-Finite Forms
Present imperatives are vīve, vīvite. Future vīvitō, vīvitōte, vīvuntō is (formal/archaic), chiefly relevant for laws, maxims, and recognition.
| Category | Form/status |
|---|---|
| Present infinitive | vīvere |
| Perfect infinitive | vīxisse |
| Future infinitive | vīctūrum esse |
| Present participle | vīvēns, vīventis |
| Future participle | vīctūrus, -a, -um |
| Gerund | vīvendī, vīvendō, vīvendum, vīvendō |
| Gerundive | vīvendum, normally impersonal |
| Supines | vīctum, vīctū; rare outside lexical reference |
| Impersonal passive infinitives | vīvī; vīctum esse |
Vīve memor quam brevis sit vīta.
Live mindful of how short life is.
Dīxit sē diū atque fēlīciter vīxisse.
He said that he had lived long and happily.
Omnibus fortiter vīvendum est.
Everyone must live courageously.
The gerundive obligation is impersonal: omnibus is dative, and neuter singular vīvendum est remains fixed. Future vīctūrus is commoner than any personal perfect passive because an intransitive verb can readily express a subject’s intention to live but has no patient to be “lived.”
Residence, Manner, and Means of Support
A place of residence uses an ordinary locative expression: in Italiā vīvit, Athēnīs vīxit, Rōmae vīvēbat. It is not a destination, so English speakers must not automatically add ad plus accusative. An adverb or ablative of manner describes how someone lives: bene, miserē, luxuriōsē vīvere.
Soror mea Rōmae cum familiā vīvit.
My sister lives in Rome with her family.
Latin can state a source of support with ex or dē plus ablative: ex agrō vīvere “live off the farm,” dē praedā vīvere “live on plunder.” Such phrases describe sustenance, not geographical origin.
Pauper agricola ex parvō agrō vīvēbat.
The poor farmer lived off a small farm.
The cognate object vītam vīvere “live a life” is possible because the accusative specifies the kind or span of life; it does not make vīvō generally transitive. English similarly permits “live a good life.”
Compounds and Semantic Neighbors
Convīvō, convīvere, convīxī, convictum means “live together” or “spend time together.” Classical revīvīscō, revīvīscere, revīxī means “come to life again, revive” and has no ordinary supine. The simpler revīvō, revīvere is post-Classical and has no attested perfect, so do not assign it revīxī. The noun convīvium “banquet” belongs to the same family but is not a finite form.
Post bellum veterēs amīcī rūrsus convīvēbant.
After the war the old friends were living together again.
Spēs in animīs cīvium revīxit.
Hope came alive again in the citizens’ hearts.
Here revīxit is the perfect of revīvīscō, not of later revīvō.
For residence, habitō can stress dwelling in a place; vīvō more broadly describes being alive or conducting one’s life. Sum merely asserts existence or identity and does not carry the same sense of lived activity.
Parsing Diagnostic
First identify the stem: vīv- signals the present system, vīx- the perfect active system, and vīct- the supine/future-participial system. Next decide whether a third-person singular passive is impersonal; do not invent a hidden nominative patient. Then read place, manner, duration, and source-of-support phrases before choosing among “be alive,” “reside,” and “lead one’s life.” In unmacronized texts, distinguish victum from forms of vincō by syntax and context.
Common Mistakes
Inventing a regular perfect
❌ Avus multōs annōs vīvit.
Incorrect for ‘my grandfather lived many years’ — vīvit is present, not perfect.
✅ Avus multōs annōs vīxit.
My grandfather lived for many years.
Making an ordinary personal passive
❌ Homines bene vīvuntur.
Incorrect — simple vīvō has no ordinary personal passive.
✅ Ab hominibus hīc bene vīvitur.
People live well here. (Literally: life is lived well here by people.)
Treating residence as destination
❌ Frāter meus ad Rōmam vīvit.
Incorrect for residence — ad Rōmam describes direction toward Rome.
✅ Frāter meus Rōmae vīvit.
My brother lives in Rome.
Making impersonal vīctum agree with people
❌ Ā cīvibus bene vīctī sunt.
Incorrect as an impersonal passive — the participial form must remain neuter singular.
✅ Ā cīvibus bene vīctum est.
The citizens lived well.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize vīvō, vīvere, vīxī, vīctum rather than inventing a perfect from the present stem.
- Simple vīvō is intransitive; passive morphology is impersonal and singular.
- Place, duration, manner, and source of support determine the most natural English gloss.
- Vīvēns, vīctūrus, and impersonal vīvendum est are the high-value non-finite forms.
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- Lengthened-Grade and Root PerfectsA2 — Recognize perfects built from a bare or vowel-altered root and carry their attested stems through the active perfect system.