offerre

Offerre is a Latin verb meaning to offer, present, bring forward, or propose. It covers both the literal act of offering a gift or sacrifice and the more figurative sense of presenting an argument, suggestion, or petition. In classical usage, the thing offered is typically the direct object in the accusative, and the recipient is often expressed in the dative.

Etymology and form: Offerre is formed from the base offer- with the infinitive ending -re, indicating its status as a Latin verb of the third conjugation. The standard Latin principal parts are usually listed as offerō, offerre, obtulī, oblātum. These yield common forms such as offert (he offers) and obtulī (I offered). The word also gives rise to related nouns such as oblatio (an offering) and to various derivatives across Romance languages and English.

Conjugation: As a third-conjugation verb, offerō appears in the present active indicative as offerō, offeris, offert, offerimus, offertis, offerunt. Its imperfect is offerebam, offerebās, offerebat, offerebāmus, offerebātis, offerbant; the perfect active is obtulī, obtulistī, obtulit, obtulimus, obtulistis, obtulērunt. Passive forms and compounds follow standard third-conjugation patterns, and the supine is oblātum (or oblatum in some variants).

Usage and examples: Offerre governs a thing in the accusative and often a recipient in the dative, with contexts ranging from offerings to deities or officials to the presentation of arguments or evidence. Examples include offering a sacrifice (hostiam offerre) or offering a plea or prayer (orationem offerre). In literary and biblical Latin, offerre also appears in phrases denoting the presentation of something before others or before the gods.

See also and derivatives: The verb gives rise to English offer and to Romance forms such as offrir (French) or offrire (Italian). It is part of the broader Latin verb system and its semantic field of presenting or bringing forward.