ducere

Ducere is a Latin verb meaning to lead, guide, conduct, or carry. It is a third-conjugation verb, with the present active infinitive ducere and the standard principal parts duco, ducere, duxi, ductum. In the present indicative it appears as duco, ducis, ducit, ducimus, ducitis, ducunt; the imperfect is ducebam, ducebas, ducebat, ducebamus, ducebatis, ducebant; and the future active as ducam, duces, ducit, ducimus, ducitis, ducent. The perfect active uses the stem duxi with endings: duxi, duxisti, duxit, duximus, duxistis, duxerunt; the pluperfect is duxeram, duxeras, duxerat, duxeramus, duxeratis, duxerant; the future perfect is duxerō, duxeris, duxerit, duxerimus, duxeritis, duxerint. Passive forms exist correspondingly (ducor, duceris, ducitur, ducimur, ducimini, ducuntur; with the perfect passive participle ductus sum, etc.).

Usage and meaning extend beyond merely moving someone or something from one place to another. Ducere takes a direct object in the accusative (e.g., ducit exercitum, he leads the army) and often expresses direction or circumstance with prepositions (ad, in, ex, de). The verb is productive in compound formations such as ind ducere (to lead in), adducere (to bring to), deducere (to lead away or down), reducre (to lead back), and conduco or conducere (to bring together). It also yields the noun dux, meaning leader, and the adjective ductus, meaning guided or arranged.

Etymologically, ducere is the source of many English derivatives such as conduct, deduce, induce, reduce, and duct. The root remains central to Latin grammar and to many Romance languages, where cognate forms preserve the core sense of leading or guiding.