This article assesses the level of mastery of primitive tenses of Latin verbs among second upper grade literary pupils in the city of Bunya. The study adopts an evaluative approach supported by statistical analysis and focuses on a sample of 143 pupils from seven literary secondary schools, selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire focusing on the identification of primitive tenses of verbs extracted from the textbooks in use. The results reveal a very low level of mastery, with an overall failure rate of 92.30%, and no school reaching the pass threshold of 50%. Regular verbs and paradigms are relatively better mastered than deponent, irregular, and third conjugation verbs. These findings emphasize the need to reinforce teaching practices and monitor learning in Latin verbal morphology.

The Latin verb is conjugated based on three themes, namely the theme of the present, perfect, and supine, depending on whether it expresses an unfinished or completed action. The perfect theme comprises several types of radicals derived from different formations. This study analyzes the reduplication perfect theme of Latin verbs, a morphological formation that appears to deviate from the theme of the infectum. It aims to establish the morphological link between the present and perfect by highlighting the linguistic mechanisms and their derivation. Therefore, this analysis will, on one hand, help understand that the perfectum theme originates from the radical of the infectum, despite their morphological dissimilarity, and on the other hand, to indicate that the evolution of Latin over time must have influenced its morphology. This phenomenon can only be explained through a diachronic-synchronic approach. Through this approach, it is evident that the perfectum t theme is formed based on the infectum theme and that the morphological dissimilarity arises either from the morphophonology of the infectum theme with the redoubled syllable, certain linguistic phenomena like apophony, assimilation, or from the evolution of Latin over time. This study will contribute to the teaching of Latin conjugation. Highlighting the linguistic phenomena that have contributed to the morphology of the perfect theme will further clarify the learner’s understanding of the reduplication perfect.