Ferō, ferre, tulī, lātum means “carry, bring, bear,” but also “endure,” “report,” “produce,” and more in established phrases. Its apparent irregularity comes from suppletion: three historically different stems share one paradigm. Present-system forms use fer-, the perfect active uses tul-, and the supine/perfect passive uses lāt-. Its compounds repeat those stem changes, often with prefix assimilation. Review Principal Parts as a Predictive System if those three jobs are not yet automatic.
Unless noted otherwise, all patterns are (neutral Classical prose). Some impersonal and reportative uses are especially common in (formal/literary) narrative, and those are labeled below.
Three principal-part stems, three jobs
| Stem family | Representative forms | Job |
|---|---|---|
| fer- | ferō, ferre, ferēbam, feram, ferrem | present system, infinitive, and present participle |
| tul- | tulī, tuleram, tulerō, tulerim | perfect active system |
| lāt- | lātum, lātus sum, lātūrus | supine, perfect passive, and future participle |
There is no sound rule within Classical Latin that lets a learner derive tul- or lāt- from fer- on sight. This is a genuine lexical irregularity: memorize all four principal parts. Once they are known, the endings attached to each stem are overwhelmingly regular.
Servus aquam ad mēnsam fert.
The household attendant carries water to the table.
Servus aquam tulit; aqua ad mēnsam lāta est.
The attendant brought the water; the water was brought to the table.
The minimal sequence displays all three families: present active fert, perfect active tulit, perfect passive lāta est. English “brought” can translate either of the last two constructions, but voice and syntax differ.
Present active and passive
The present indicative drops a connecting vowel in several forms:
| Person | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ferō | feror |
| 2nd singular | fers | ferris or ferre |
| 3rd singular | fert | fertur |
| 1st plural | ferimus | ferimur |
| 2nd plural | fertis | feriminī |
| 3rd plural | ferunt | feruntur |
The doubled r in ferris results from fer-ris. Imperfect ferēbam and future feram, ferēs, feret are built on the present stem. Present subjunctive feram, ferās, ferat overlaps with future first-person feram; syntax and the other forms in the clause resolve the ambiguity. Imperfect subjunctive transparently uses ferrem from ferre.
Hoc onus cotīdiē ferimus, sed crās aliī ferent.
We carry this load every day, but tomorrow others will carry it.
Rogat ut cibum ad aegrum ferāmus.
She asks us to bring food to the patient.
Explōrātor nesciēbat quō impedīmenta ferrentur.
The scout did not know where the baggage was being carried.
The ordinary active imperative is fer singular, ferte plural; its lack of the expected final vowel belongs with dīc, dūc, and fac. Passive commands ferre and feriminī exist but are less frequent (formal/literary).
Ferte mihi librum, deinde epistulam legite.
Bring me the book, then read the letter.
Perfect active and perfect passive
The perfect active is regular from tul-: tulī, tulistī, tulit; tulimus, tulistis, tulērunt. Pluperfect tuleram and future perfect tulerō use the same stem. Perfect subjunctive tulerim and pluperfect tulissem do likewise.
Amīcī auxilium tulērunt cum hostēs appropinquārent.
Our friends brought help when the enemy was approaching.
Sī hoc onus tulissēs, quam grave esset intelligerēs.
If you had carried this load, you would understand how heavy it was.
The perfect passive uses agreeing lātus, -a, -um plus a form of sum: epistula lāta est, dōna lāta sunt, epistula lāta erat. The future active participle is lātūrus “about to bring/carry.” The agreement and tense combinations are surveyed in Perfect-System Passive Forms.
Dōna ad templum lāta sunt ante sōlis ortum.
The gifts were carried to the temple before sunrise.
Nūntius malās fāmās lātūrus tacēre māluit.
The messenger, about to bring bad news, preferred to remain silent.
Do not use tul- for the passive or lāt- for a finite active perfect. The principal parts allocate the stems by system and voice.
Meaning beyond physical carrying
The core image of bearing something supports several established senses. Dolōrem ferre is “endure pain”; auxilium ferre is “bring help”; frūctum ferre is “bear fruit”; lēgem ferre is “propose or enact a law”; sententiam ferre is “give a judgment” or “cast a vote.” These are normal lexical combinations, not separate conjugations.
Nōn diū hunc dolōrem ferre possum.
I cannot endure this pain much longer.
Haec arbor aestāte multum frūctum fert.
This tree bears much fruit in summer.
Iūdex postrēmō sententiam tulit.
At last the judge delivered a verdict. (formal/legal)
Passive fertur can mean “is carried,” but with an infinitive it often means “is said/reported,” especially in (formal/literary) prose. The reported subject remains nominative in a personal passive construction.
Dux magnam victōriam reportāvisse fertur.
The commander is said to have won a great victory. (formal/literary)
English hides the structure with “is said.” Latin dux is nominative subject of passive fertur and understood subject of perfect infinitive reportāvisse.
Compounds and prefix assimilation
Compounds preserve the three stem families, but the prefix may change shape where sounds meet.
| Present | Perfect | Supine | Typical meanings |
|---|---|---|---|
| afferō | attulī | allātum | bring to, report |
| auferō | abstulī | ablātum | carry away, remove |
| cōnferō | contulī | collātum | bring together, compare, contribute |
| dēferō | dētulī | dēlātum | carry down, report, offer |
| differō | distulī | dīlātum | scatter; postpone; differ |
| efferō | extulī | ēlātum | carry out, raise, extol |
| offerō | obtulī | oblātum | present, offer |
| referō | rettulī | relātum | bring back, report, refer |
| trānsferō | trānstulī | trānslātum | carry across, transfer |
This table is precisely why each compound needs its own principal parts. English “reported” could be rettulit from referō or dētulit from dēferō, depending on the Latin idiom. A guessed referuit or deferuit ignores the actual perfect stem.
Puer epistulam ad patrem attulit.
The boy brought the letter to his father.
Fūr pecūniam ex arcā abstulit.
The thief took the money away from the chest.
Senātus rem in posterum diem distulit.
The senate postponed the matter until the next day. (formal/political)
Lēgātus verba rēgis ad senātum rettulit.
The envoy reported the king's words to the senate. (formal/political)
Parsing and production diagnostics
For collātus erat, identify -us as a masculine singular participial ending, erat as imperfect sum, and collāt- as the supine stem of cōnferō: “had been brought together/compared/contributed,” according to context. For rettulerint, identify rettul- as the perfect stem of referō and -erint as either perfect subjunctive or future perfect indicative. Do not translate until the clause type settles that ambiguity.
To produce “the gifts will be offered,” start with passive voice and future time. Present-system future passive of offerō is offerentur: dōna offerentur. To produce “the gifts have been offered,” switch to the supine stem and agreement: dōna oblāta sunt.
Common Mistakes
1. Building the perfect from fer-
❌ Herī aquam feruī.
Incorrect — the perfect active stem of ferō is tul-.
✅ Herī aquam tulī.
Yesterday I brought water.
2. Using tul- for a perfect passive
❌ Epistula tulta est.
Incorrect — perfect passive forms use lātus, -a, -um.
✅ Epistula lāta est.
The letter was delivered.
3. Regularizing the imperative
❌ Fere mihi aquam!
Incorrect — the singular present imperative is fer.
✅ Fer mihi aquam!
Bring me water!
4. Ignoring the compound's perfect principal part
❌ Nūntius epistulam afferuit.
Incorrect — the perfect of afferō is attulī.
✅ Nūntius epistulam attulit.
The messenger brought the letter.
5. Reading every fertur as physical motion
Dux hostēs vincere fertur.
The commander is said to be defeating the enemy—not ‘is carried to defeat the enemy.’ (formal/literary)
Dux in lectīcā fertur.
The commander is being carried in a litter; without an infinitive, the physical sense is natural.
Key Takeaways
The present system uses fer-, the perfect active uses tul-, and the supine/perfect passive uses lāt-. Ordinary endings then do most of the work. Compounds preserve the three-way architecture but reshape prefixes, so learn afferō–attulī–allātum and its peers as complete sets. Form and construction come before English: fertur may be physically “carried” or reportatively “is said,” and only its context chooses between them.
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