Passive Voice in Latin
How is it formed?
What does it mean?
What does Passive Voice mean?
There are two “voices” in Latin (and
English): active and passive
Active Voice
the SUBJECT performs the action
Vir cibum portat
(the subject, man,
is doing the carrying)
Passive Voice
the subject is being acted or performed
upon
Cibus ā virō portātur
(the subject, food,
is being carried)
In passive voice, the DOER/PERFORMER
of the action is called the ablative of
personal agent, and it follows the
preposition ā or ab.
Cibus ā servō portātur.
(The doer of the action, the slave, is the
personal “agent”, so we use ā before it)
NONpersonal doers of action go into the
ablative of means WITHOUT a preposition
Servus carrō portātur.
(The “doer” of the action is the cart)
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
Present tense, passive
-r
-ris
-tur
-mur
-mini
-ntur
So, portō (“carry”, first conjugation) is
conjugated and translated as follows”
portor (I am carried)
portāris (you are carried)
portātur (he/she/it is carried)
portāmur (we are carried)
portāmini (you all are carried)
portantur (they are carried)
Present tense, passive
-r
-mur
-ris
-mini
-tur
-ntur
….and teneō (“hold”, second conjugation) is
conjugated and translated as follows:
teneor (I am held)
tenēris (you are held)
tenētur (he/she/it is held)
tenēmur (we are held)
tenēmini (you all are held)
tenentur (they are held)
Imperfect tense, passive
In the imperfect tense, the same endings are
used:
portābar (I was being carried)
…..etc.
portābāmur (we were being carried)
and………
tenēbar (I was being held)
…..etc.
tenēbāmur (we were being held)
Future tense, passive
The future tense, passive of first and second
conjugation verbs is formed in a similar
way:
Portābor (I will be carried)
portābimur (we will be carried)
Portāberis
Portābitur
Tenēbor (I will be held)
…..etc.
tenēbimur (we will be held)
Tenēberis
Tenēbitur
……….but, remember:
…..etc.
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)
mittēris (you will be sent)
mittētur (he/she/it will be sent)
…and
audiar(I will be heard)
….etc.
mittēmur (we will be sent)
mittēmini (you all will be sent)
mittentur (they will be sent)
audiēmur (we will be heard)
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.
Active to Passive
Example:
(Active) Servus portat cibum.
(Passive) Cibus portātur ā servō.
The original direct object (cibum) becomes the
subject (Cibus) of the passive sentence.
The original subject (Servus) becomes the
[personal] agent (ā servō) of the passive
sentence.
End Lesson 27
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……….
………..in other words,
if the subject is masculine/singular, you
use (eg) portātus (4th principal part of
PORTŌ, masculine singular form)
if the subject is feminine/plural, you use
(eg) portātae (feminine plural form)
……and so on.
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
portātus (or portāta if I’m female) sum (I have been carried)
portātus (or portāta if you’re female) es (You have been carried)
portātus est (He has been carried)
portāta est (She has been carried)
portātum est (It has been carried
Perfect passive, plural forms
…….and the plural is formed in a similar
way:
portāti (or portātae if we’re all females) sumus (We have been carried)
portāti (or portātae if you’re all females) estis (You all have been
carried)
portāti sunt (They have been carried –masculine or mixed company)
portātae sunt (They have been carried – feminine)
portāta sunt (They have been carried – neuter)
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
portātus (or portāta if I’m female) eram (I had been carried)
portātus (or portāta if you’re female) eras (You had been carried)
portātus erat (He had been carried)
portāta erat (She had been carried)
portātum erat (It had been carried
Pluperfect passive, plural forms
…….and the plural is formed in a similar
way:
portāti (or portātae if we’re all females) eramus (We had been carried)
portāti (or portātae if you’re all females) eratis (You all had been
carried)
portāti erant (They had been carried –masculine or mixed company)
portātae erant (They had been carried – feminine)
portāta erant (They had been carried – neuter)
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
portātus (or portāta if I’m female) ero (I will have been carried)
portātus (or portāta if you’re female) eris (You will have been carried)
portātus erit (He will have been carried)
portāta erit (She will have been carried)
portātum erit (It will have been carried
Future perfect passive, plural forms
…….and the plural is formed in a similar
way:
portāti (or portātae if we’re all females) erimus (We will have been
carried)
portāti (or portātae if you’re all females) eritis (You all will have been
carried)
portāti erunt (They will have been carried –masculine or mixed
company)
portātae erunt (They will have been carried – feminine)
portāta erunt (They will have been carried – neuter)
Some Examples
Cista movēta est.
Epistulae mīsae erant.
Servus portātus erit.
Plaustra audīta sunt.