Deponent Verbs
What is a Deponent Verb?

A deponent verb is a verb that does NOT use active forms
(for the most part)
, but uses passive forms with active meanings. o Deponent = dē
(down) ponō
(to put, place) o Deponent verbs are verbs that have “put down” or “set aside” their active forms.

E.g. loquor , loquī
, locūtus sum
, “to speak” o Look at that first principal part, loquor . See how it ends with
–or as opposed to an
–ō
? -or is the first of a series of passive voice personal endings, specifically, (o)r , ris , tur , mur , mini , ntur . o Look at the second principal part, loquī
. This is the present infinitive. Even though it looks like a present passive infinitive (cf. dīcī from dīcere
), it translates actively as “to speak” and NOT passively as “to be spoken.” o Look at the third principal part, locūtus sum
. This looks much more like a fourth principal part (cf. dīctus, -a, -um
).
This is the 1 st person singular perfect form, and it translates actively as “I have spoken” and NOT passively as “I have been spoken.” o Notice there are only three principal parts. You may wonder, where is loquor
’s equivalent of a normal verb’s third principal part, e.g. dīxī
(from dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dīctum
)?

Deponent verbs do not use these traditional third principal parts because they only serve to produce active forms in the perfect system.

Since a deponent verb does not
(for the most part)
, use active forms, it does not need this kind of principal part.
 “Wait. Then how do you make a deponent verb passive?” o ANSWER:
You don’t.
i

Deponent Verbs
What do I need to know to learn deponent verbs?

Like everything in Latin, later concepts are built on a foundation of more basic concepts learned earlier.

Passive Voice Conjugation o Clearly, if you are conjugating verbs that only use passive forms, you must have a strong foundation and control of conjugating verbs in the passive voice

Passive Voice ; Third Conjugation Passive ; Fourth
Conjugation (includes Passive Voice)

Indicative and Subjunctive Verb Paradigms By
Conjugation (includes both Active and Passive Voice)

Infinitives o You will also need to be able to form your infinitives correctly with deponent verbs, noting that:

Deponents retain the future active infinitive

The present passive infinitive form is translated actively

The perfect passive infinitive form is translated actively o TIP : Since you need to form the present stem as you would for a normal verb, it is extremely helpful to be able to discern what a deponent’s second principal part would have been if the deponent verb had been a hypothetical, “normal” verb of the same conjugation:
 deponent verb: loquor , loquī
, locūtus sum
 hypothetical verb: loquō
, loquere , ------, locūtus

Participles o Deponent verbs have all of the participles that normal verbs have, which includes the active participles (present active, future active). ii

Deponent Verbs
Special Deponent Verbs Taking the Ablative
P otior, potīrī, potītus sum to acquire, get possession of
U tor, utī, usus sum
(usual, usury, utility) to use ; to practice, experience
F ruor, fruī, fructus sum to enjoy, delight in
(fruit, fruition, fructose)
F ungor, fungī, functus sum to perform, execute, discharge, do
(defunct, perfunctory, function)
V escor, vescī, to feed on , eat, feast on, enjoy
All of these verbs take an ablative (of means) instead of an accusative direct object.
Exemplī:
1.
.
2.
.
3.
!
4.
.
5.
. iii

Deponent Verbs
Mechanics

Present System Indicative o Take the second principal part of a deponent verb. o Figure out what the present stem of the verb is, which you can most easily do by creating the hypothetical present active infinitive form and following ordinary steps of conjugation. o Add appropriate passive endings based on tense and conjugation. o Don’t forget to translate actively!
2 nd principal part hypothetical present active infinitive form the present stem person, number, tense add the ending translate into
English morārī morāre pollicērī pollicēre pollicē-
+ bimur pollicēbimur “we will promise” cōnsequī cōnsequere cōnsequ
- + ar cōnsequar “I will pursue” ēgredī ēgredere
(passive forms)
(active!) morā
- + bātur morābātur “(s)he/it was delaying” ordīrī ordīre ēgredi
- + untur ēgrediuntur “they go out” ordī
- + ēmur ordiēmur “we will begin”
 Can you see why it’s important to understand how to form your present active and passive infinitives?
 You’ll need the present stem to form present active participles too iv

Deponent Verbs

Perfect System Indicative and Subjunctive o Take the third principal part of the verb o Adjust the ending of the participial stem (i.e. the word that looks just like a regular verb’s fourth principal part) based on gender and number of the subject o Add appropriate passive endings based on tense and conjugation. o Don’t forget to translate actively!
3 rd principal part morātus sum adjust stem for gender and no. morāta person, number, tense
(passive forms) erat pair with the appropriate ending translate into
English
(active!) pollicitus sum cōnsecūtus sum ēgressus sum orsus sum morātus sum pollicitī cōnsecūtus ēgressae orsum morāta sunt erō sumus est sit morāta erat pollicitī sunt orsum est
“(s)he had delayed”
“they (have) promised” cōnsecūtus erō “I will have pursued” ēgressae sumus “we went out”
“it has begun / it began” morāta sit (depends on subjunctive use) pollicitus sum pollicitī essent pollicitī essent (depends on subjunctive use) v

Deponent Verbs

Present Tense Subjunctive o Same steps as conjugation present indicative except that in present tense subjunctive, you must shift the vowel according to each conjugation. o Mnemonic: “He beat a liar”
2 nd principal part hypothetical present active infinitive form the present stem person, number, tense add the ending shift the vowel
(passive forms) morārī morāre morā
- + tur morātur morētur pollicērī pollicēre pollicē-
+ mur pollicēmur polliceāmur cōnsequī cōnsequere cōnsequ
- + or cōnsequor cōnsequar ēgredī ēgredere ēgredi
- + untur ēgrediuntur ēgrediantur ordīrī ordīre ordī
- + mur ordīmur ordiamur

Imperfect Tense Subjunctive
2 nd principal part o Form the hypothetical second principal part of a deponent verb. + add passive voice personal endings.
hypothetical present active infinitive person, number, tense add the endings
(passive forms) morārī pollicērī morāre pollicēre
+ tur
+ mur cōnsequī cōnsequere
+ r ēgredī ordīrī ēgredere ordīre
+
+ ntur ris morārētur pollicērēmur cōnsequerer ēgrederentur ordīreris vi

Deponent Verbs

Infinitives o Deponent verbs like to have it both ways when it comes to infinitives. Their passive forms are translated actively:

Present: sequī looks present passive but translates as
“to follow” (vs. “to be followed”)

Perfect: secūtus esse looks perfect passive but translates as “to have followed” (vs. “to have been followed”) o On the other hand, they do retain an active form infinitive as well:

Future: secūtūrus esse looks future active and IS translated in the active voice too, as “to be about to follow” or “to be going to follow.” o So, deponent verbs really only set aside their active finite forms, in the indicative and subjunctive (and imperative).
They still have some active forms for infinitives as well as...

Participles o Just as with infinitives, deponent verbs like to have it both ways. So, one of the participles is truly “deponent”:

Perfect: secūtus looks perfect passive but translates as
“having followed” (vs. “having been followed”) o Yet, other participles look active and translate as active.
Unlike finite forms, they do get “set aside.”

Present: sequēns
( sequentis ) looks present active and translates accordingly as “following” or “while following” or “who follows,” etc.

Future: secūtūrus
looks future active and translates like a future active participle of a normal verb would:
“going/about to follow,” “destined to follow,” or
“intending to follow” o Even worse, there is one more participle that most of you probably have not learned, at least officially, that is passive in form and passive in meaning. Wait, what? One more vii

Deponent Verbs time: unlike most deponent forms that are passive in appearance and active in meaning, there is one participle that is passive in form and PASSIVE in meaning, like a normal verb. It’s the future passive participle. For a regular verb, the future passive participle will look like these examples:
 amandus, -a, -um
: “to be loved” or “about to be loved,” etc.
 memorandus, -a, -um: “to be remembered,” “going to be remembered,” etc.
 agendus, -a, -um: “to be done, ” etc.

(Notice that we get Amanda , memorandum , and agenda from these forms?)

Usage note: we most often use these forms in a construction called the passive periphrastic or gerundive , which consists of 1) the future passive participle paired with 2) a form of the verb esse . It is translated to convey a sense of obligation:
 Carthāgo dēlenda est . “Carthage is to be destroyed” or, in other words, “Carthage must be destroyed.”
 haec omnia agenda sunt.
“All these things must be done.”
 meum nōmen memorandum est.
“My name has to be remembered.”

For a deponent verb, the future passive participle looks future passive and translates future passive. In other words, it stops being “deponent” and translating the passive forms with an active meaning!!
 sequendus, -a, -um –
“to be followed”
 regulae sequendae sunt . “The rules must be followed” or “Rules have to be followed.” o *Phew* viii

Deponent Verbs
Practice
1.
ēgrediāmur ē hāc calamitāte quam celerrimē ut omnēs tūtī sīmus.
2.
tuus magister vōs omnēs hortātur nē morēminī .
3.
nōn poteram colloquium facile sequī quod ōrātōrēs celerius loquēbantur
.
4.
cum (conj. “although”) mulī hostēs nostrum oppidum aggressī sint, tamen id fabrī perītī rūrsus muniēnt
.
5.
vereor nē meī līberī patiantur
.
6.
nēmō arbitātus est nōs hodiē profectūrōs esse
.
7.
lūpa petīvit ā nautīs ut praeter illud aedificium sē sequerentur.
8.
centurio scīvit quomodo decima legio cōnsequerētur hostēs fugientēs.
9.
quīdam nostrōrum tum prosiluit ē aciē quō impetu in barbarōs
Germānōs acrius faceret
.
10.
hominēs Athēnīs (locative case, showing place where: “in
Athens”) nōn saepissimē patiēbantur fēminās ē domibus discēdere. ix