Passive Voice in Latin

1
Passive Voice in Latin

• How is it formed?
• What does it mean?

2
What does Passive Voice mean?

• There are two voices in Latin (and English)
  active and passive

3
Active Voice

• the SUBJECT performs the action
• Vir cibum portat
• (the subject, man, is doing the carrying)

4
Passive Voice

• the subject is being acted or performed upon
• Cibus a viro portatur
• (the subject, food, is being carried)

5

• In passive voice, the DOER/PERFORMER of the
  action is called the ablative of personal agent,
  and it follows the preposition a or ab.
• Cibus a servo portatur.
• (The doer of the action, the slave, is the
  personal agent, so we use a before it)

6

• NONpersonal doers of action go into the ablative
  of means WITHOUT a preposition
• Servus carro portatur.
• (The doer of the action is the cart)

7
(No Transcript)
8
How is Passive Voice Formed?

• In present, imperfect, and future tenses, passive
  verbs use a different set of endings.
• The verb stem standard vowel personal passive
  endings
• -r -mur
• -ris -mini
• -tur -ntur

9
Present tense, passive

• -r -mur
• -ris -mini
• -tur -ntur
• So, porto (carry, first conjugation) is
  conjugated and translated as follows
• portor (I am carried) portamur (we are
  carried)
• portaris (you are carried) portamini (you all
  are carried)
• portatur (he/she/it is carried) portantur (they
  are carried)

10
Present tense, passive

• -r -mur
• -ris -mini
• -tur -ntur
• .and teneo (hold, second conjugation) is
  conjugated and translated as follows
• teneor (I am held) tenemur (we are held)
• teneris (you are held) tenemini (you all
  are held)
• tenetur (he/she/it is held) tenentur (they
  are held)

11
Imperfect tense, passive

• In the imperfect tense, the same endings are
  used
• portabar (I was being carried) portabamur (we
  were being carried)
• ..etc.
• and
• tenebar (I was being held) tenebamur
  (we were being held)
• ..etc.

12
Future tense, passive

• The future tense, passive of first and second
  conjugation verbs is formed in a similar way
• Portabor (I will be carried) portabimur (we
  will be carried)
• Portaberis ..etc.
• Portabitur
• Tenebor (I will be held) tenebimur (we will
  be held)
• Teneberis ..etc.
• Tenebitur
• .but, remember

13
Future tense, passive, cont.

• just as in active voice, the third and fourth
  conjugations, future passive, is a little
  DIFFERENT (no bor, -beris, etc.)
• mittar (I will be sent) mittemur (we will
  be sent)
• mitteris (you will be sent) mittemini (you
  all will be sent)
• mittetur (he/she/it will be sent) mittentur
  (they will be sent)
• and
• audiar(I will be heard) audiemur (we will
  be heard)
• .etc.

14
Active to Passive

• When changing an active sentence into passive
  voice, remember this
• The direct object of the active sentence becomes
  the subject of the passive sentence.
• The subject of the active sentence becomes the
  agent (either personal or non-personal) of the
  passive sentence.

15
Active to Passive

• Example
• (Active) Servus portat cibum.
• (Passive) Cibus portatur a servo.
• The original direct object (cibum) becomes the
  subject (Cibus) of the passive sentence.
• The original subject (Servus) becomes the
  personal agent (a servo) of the passive
  sentence.

16
End Lesson 27
17
Perfect, Pluperfect and Future Perfect Tenses --
Passive

• Good News the perfect, pluperfect and future
  perfect tenses are VERY easy to form.
• First of all, you use the proper form of the
  perfect passive participle (4th principal part.)
• proper form means masculine, feminine or
  neuter, singular or plural, depending on the
  gender and number of the subject.

18

• ..in other words,
• if the subject is masculine/singular, you use
  (eg) portatus (4th principal part of PORTO,
  masculine singular form)
• if the subject is feminine/plural, you use (eg)
  portatae (feminine plural form)
• and so on.

19
Perfect Passive Forms

• For the perfect passive forms of the verb, you
  use the proper form of the perfect passive
  participle sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt
• portatus (or portata if Im female) sum (I have
  been carried)
• portatus (or portata if youre female) es (You
  have been carried)
• portatus est (He has been carried)
• portata est (She has been carried)
• portatum est (It has been carried

20
Perfect passive, plural forms

• .and the plural is formed in a similar way
• portati (or portatae if were all females) sumus
  (We have been carried)
• portati (or portatae if youre all females) estis
  (You all have been carried)
• portati sunt (They have been carried masculine
  or mixed company)
• portatae sunt (They have been carried feminine)
• portata sunt (They have been carried neuter)

21
Pluperfect Passive Forms

• For the pluperfect passive forms of the verb, you
  use the proper form of the perfect passive
  participle eram, eras, erat, eramus, eratis,
  erant
• portatus (or portata if Im female) eram (I had
  been carried)
• portatus (or portata if youre female) eras (You
  had been carried)
• portatus erat (He had been carried)
• portata erat (She had been carried)
• portatum erat (It had been carried

22
Pluperfect passive, plural forms

• .and the plural is formed in a similar way
• portati (or portatae if were all females) eramus
  (We had been carried)
• portati (or portatae if youre all females)
  eratis (You all had been carried)
• portati erant (They had been carried masculine
  or mixed company)
• portatae erant (They had been carried feminine)
• portata erant (They had been carried neuter)

23
Future perfect Passive Forms

• For the future perfect passive forms of the verb,
  you use the proper form of the perfect passive
  participle ero, eris, erit, erimus, eritis,
  erunt
• portatus (or portata if Im female) ero (I will
  have been carried)
• portatus (or portata if youre female) eris (You
  will have been carried)
• portatus erit (He will have been carried)
• portata erit (She will have been carried)
• portatum erit (It will have been carried

24
Future perfect passive, plural forms

• .and the plural is formed in a similar way
• portati (or portatae if were all females) erimus
  (We will have been carried)
• portati (or portatae if youre all females)
  eritis (You all will have been carried)
• portati erunt (They will have been carried
  masculine or mixed company)
• portatae erunt (They will have been carried
  feminine)
• portata erunt (They will have been carried
  neuter)

25
Some Examples

• Cista moveta est.
• Epistulae misae erant.
• Servus portatus erit.
• Plaustra audita sunt.