In the thirty-fourth class of the Latin from Scratch course, we’ll study the morphosyntax of the passive voice: how to conjugate the verbs and how to express the complements of a passive verb.
Contents
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Syntax of the passive voice
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A sentence in the passive voice is pretty much a transitive active sentence in which the point of view is changed. Transitive active sentences express the action from the point of view of the agent (subject), whereas a passive sentence expresses the action from the point of view of the patient (subject).
The main features of a passive sentence are:
- the verb is in the passive voice
- the subject is the patient, not the agent (of course, the patient-subject agrees with the passive verb)
- the agent is expressed in the ablative case with the preposition a/ab when it is a person; things are expressed without preposition (and are better analyzed as cause rather than agent)
The rest of the complements are expressed in the same way as in the passive voice.
Passive morphology
There is a very important difference between present-stem tenses and perfect-stem tenses. Tenses such as the present, imperfect, etc., have their own endings, which we are about to learn, whereas tenses such as the perfect, pluperfect, etc., are more similar to the Enligh passive voice, which actually makes it confusing!
Passive endings
These endings are used only for the present-stem tenses:
- 1st singular: ‑(o)r
- 2nd singular: ‑ris / ‑re
- 3rd singular: ‑tur
- 1st plural: ‑mur
- 2nd plural: ‑mini
- 3rd plural: ‑ntur
The most frequent ending for the 2nd person singular is ‑ris, but ‑re can be found in older texts or archaizing authors.
When using these endings, a phonetic change happen in the 2nd person singular in the present indicative, only in the 3rd and mixed conjugations; and in the 2nd person singular in the future indicative in the 1st and 2nd conjugations: the short i, followed by the r of the ending, becomes e: *ducĭris → ducĕris.
Present-stem tenses
The tenses which are formed on the present stem (indicative: present, imperfect and imperfect future; subjunctive: present and imperfect) are conjugated in the same way as the active voice, but using the passive endings.
Present indicative
| 1st conjugation | 2nd conjugation | 3rd conjugation | mixed conjugation | 4th conjugation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amor amaris amatur amamur amamini amantur | moneor moneris monetur monemur monemini monentur | ducor duceris ducitur ducimur ducimini ducuntur | capior caperis capitur capimur capimini capiuntur | audior audiris auditur audimur audimini audiuntur |
The underlined letters have undergone the phonetic change ĭ → ĕ
Future indicative
| 1st conjugation | 2nd conjugation | 3rd conjugation | mixed conjugation | 4th conjugation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amabor amaberis amabitur amabimur amabimini amabuntur | monebor moneberis monebitur monebimur monebimini monebuntur | ducar duceris ducetur ducemur ducemini ducentur | capiar capieris capietur capiemur capiemini capientur | audiar audieris audietur audiemur audiemini audientur |
The underlined letters have undergone the phonetic change ĭ → ĕ
Perfect-stem tenses
The tenses which are formed on the perfect stem (indicative: perfect, pluperfect, perfect future; subjunctive: perfect and pluperfect) have a different type of passive voice conjugation, called periphrastic and more similar to the English passive conjugation.
However, there are important differences to take into account!
The general conjugation is the following:
- perfect participle (supine stem + 2-1-2 endings)
- verb sum in the corresponding tense
While conjugating, we need to take into account not only the person and the number of the subject, but also the gender: we have to decline the participle according to the number and gender (singular ‑us, ‑a, ‑um, or plural ‑i, ‑ae, ‑a).
Since the participle agrees with the subject and the subject is in the nominative case, the participle will always be in the nominative case as well.
For the indicative we have:
| perfect | pluperfect | perfect future |
|---|---|---|
| amatus, -a, -um sum (fui) amatus, -a, -um es (fuisti) amatus, -a, -um est (fuit) amati, -ae, -a sumus (fuimus) amati, -ae, -a estis (fuistis) amati, -ae, -a sunt (fuerunt) | amatus, -a, -um eram (fueram) amatus, -a, -um eras (fueras) amatus, -a, -um erat (fuerat) amati, -ae, -a eramus (fueramus) amati, -ae, -a eratis (fueratis) amati, -ae, -a erant (fuerant) | amatus, -a, -um ero (fuero) amatus, -a, -um eris (fueris) amatus, -a, -um erit (fuerit) amati, -ae, -a erimus (fuerimus) amati, -ae, -a eritis (fueritis) amati, -ae, -a erunt (fuerunt) |
For the subjunctive we have:
| perfect | pluperfect |
|---|---|
| amatus, -a, -um sim (fuerim) amatus, -a, -um sis (fueris) amatus, -a, -um sit (fuerit) amati, -ae, -a simus (fuerimus) amati, -ae, -a sitis (fueritis) amati, -ae, -a sint (fuerint) | amatus, -a, -um essem (fuissem) amatus, -a, -um esses (fuisses) amatus, -a, -um esset (fuisset) amati, -ae, -a essemus (fuissemus) amati, -ae, -a essetis (fuissetis) amati, -ae, -a essent (fuissent) |
In both tables, the forms of sum between parentheses are not used in classical texts, but can be found in other types of texts.
Of course, you have to pay special attention to the possible confusion: amatus sum does not mean I am loved (which would be amor), but I was / have been loved.
After learning the passive voice, we can learn the deponent verbs. But first, some practice!
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