significas

Significas is a Latin verb form used in classical Latin, representing the second person singular present active indicative of significare, a verb meaning to signify, indicate, or mean. As a second-person form, significas corresponds to the English “you signify” or “you mean.”

The verb significare derives from signum, meaning a sign or mark, combined with a formative suffix that conveys “to make” or “to cause to be.” In Latin, significare is commonly used to express meaning, indication, or representation, with significas serving as the direct second-person present tense form.

In usage, significas appears in ordinary declarative or interrogative sentences when addressing a listener directly. For example, Quid significas? means “What do you mean?” or more literally, “What do you signify?” Hoc significas means “You signify this” or, in a broader sense, “This is what you mean/indicate.” The form can be combined with objects, clauses, or infinitives depending on what is being signified or indicated.

Grammatically, significas follows the standard 1st conjugation pattern for present indicative forms: significo (1st person), significas (2nd person), significat (3rd person), significamus, significatis, significant. The term is often encountered in Latin grammars, dictionaries, and texts illustrating how verbs of signification operate in Latin sentence structure. Cognates in Romance languages reflect the same semantic domain, with related forms in languages such as Spanish and Italian echoing significare’s sense of signaling or meaning.