expugnavi

Expugnavi is the first-person singular perfect indicative active form of the Latin verb expugno, meaning “I stormed” or “I captured by assault.” Expugno belongs to the first conjugation and means to take a fortress, town, or other stronghold by force, typically during a siege. The perfect form expugnavi is regular for its conjugation, derived from the stem expugn- with the suffix -avi.

In use, expugnavi conveys a completed action in the past and takes a direct object in the accusative, the thing that was stormed or captured. The verb is commonly found in historical and military narratives. Related forms include expugno (present: I storm), expugnabam (imperfect: I was storming), expugnabo (future: I will storm), and the passive participle expugnatus, used with sum to form passive perfects (expugnatus sum = I was stormed or I was captured).

Expugnavi is often contrasted with oppugnare, which also means to attack, but with a stronger sense of assault from an enemy position rather than the act of storming a fortification to capture it. The noun expugnatio denotes the act of storming or the capture itself, and expugnator or expugnator is a person who conducts such an assault.

In summary, expugnavi serves as a key historical tense for describing decisive, completed river or battlefield actions in Latin, exemplifying the typical 1st conjugation perfect form. See also expugnatio and expugnator for related nominal forms.