UNIT 1
Deponent verbs
Background
Recall that Latin verbs have two voices: the active and passive. In the former voice the subject of the sentence is identical to the agent of the action expressed in the verb.
The mailman walks down the street often.
[active, because the subject is doing the walking]
We saw the dog chasing the cat.
[active, because the subject did the seeing]
In the passive voice the subject does not correspond to the agent of the verbal action. Rather, the subject is the entity affected by the action expressed in the verb.
The street is newly paved every summer.
[passive, because the subject is not doing the paving]
The cat was seen by us.
[passive, because the subject did not do the seeing]
Latin structure
There is a large class of verbs in Latin which only take passive forms. Surprisingly and uniquely, however, these verbs are not translated as passive, but rather, as active. That is, they are passive in form but active in meaning. Such deponent verbs exist in all four conjugations.
• Deponent verbs have only 3 principal parts.
○ The first principal part is the 1st person sg. present.
mīror I admire,
polliceor I promise,
sequor I follow,
patior I suffer,
orior I rise ○ The second principal part is the present infinitive.
For the formation of passive infinitives see
Unit 3 □ mīrārī to admire, pollicērī to promise, sequī to follow, patī to suffer, orīrī to rise
○ The third principal part is the 1st person sg. masculine perfect.
mīrātus sum I admired,
pollicitus sum I promised,
secūtus sum I followed,
passus sum I suffered,
ortus sum I rose • They take all the normal passive endings. Mīror can serve as an example:
○ The perfect forms below may also be translated as I have admired, you have admired, s/he ~ it has admired, etc.
Present | Imperfect | Future |
mīror I admire | mīrābar I was admiring | mīrābor I will admire |
mīrāris you admire | mīrābāris you were admiring | mīrāberis you will admire |
mīrātur s/he, it admires | mīrābātur s/he, it was admiring | mīrābitur s/he, it will admire |
mīrāmur we admire | mīrābāmur we were admiring | mīrābimur we will admire |
mīrāminī you admire | mīrābāminī you were admiring | mīrābiminī you will admire |
mīrantur they admire | mīrābantur they were admiring | mīrabuntur they will admire |
Perfect | Pluperfect |
mīrātus (-a, -um) sum I admired | mīrātus (-a, -um) eram I had admired |
mīrātus (-a, -um) es you admired | mīrātus (-a, -um) erās you had admired |
mīrātus (-a, -um) est s/he, it admired | mīrātus (-a, -um) erat s/he, it had admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) sumus we admired | mīrātī (-ae, -a) erāmus we had admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) estis you admired | mīrātī (-ae, -a) erātis you had admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) sunt they admired | mīrātī (-ae, -a) erant they had admired |
Future perfect |
mīrātus (-a, -um) erō I will have admired |
mīrātus (-a, -um) eris you will have admired |
mīrātus (-a, -um) erit s/he, it will have admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) erimus we will have admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) eritis you will have admired |
mīrātī (-ae, -a) erunt they will have admired |
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