THE PASSIVE
VOICE
• Passive voice does NOT mean
“past tense.”
• There are 2 voices of verbs in
Latin:
–Active voice
–Passive voice
In the active
voice, the subject
PERFORMS
THE ACTION of
the verb.
Puellae
aquam
portant.
(The girls carry
water.)
In the passive
voice, the
subject is
ACTED UPON
by the verb.
Aqua a
puellis
portatur.
(The water is
carried by the
girls.)
Puella aquam
potat.
potat: drinks
Aqua a puella
potatur.
Ablative of Agent
• The words “a” and “ab”
can mean “by” in Latin.
• They are used with
passive voice verbs to tell
“by whom” something is
done.
Ablative of Agent
• The noun (agent) will be
in the ablative case.
• Ablative endings:
• -a, -o (singular)
• -is (plural).
Aqua a
puellis
portatur.
ABLATIVE
OF AGENT
In Latin, there are
special endings to
show that the
verbs are in the
passive voice!
Here are
the
passive
voice endings:
portare--passive voice
• portor
• portamur
• I am (being) carried…
• portaris
• you are (being)
carried…
• portatur
• portamini
• portantur
Imperfect Tense--passive voice
• -bar
• -bamur
• I was being verbed
• we were being verbed
• -baris
• -bamini
• you were being verbed
• Y’all were being verbed
• -batur
• -bantur
• he/she/it was being verbed
• They were being verbed
Future Tense
---passive voice 1st/2nd conjugation
• -bor
• -bimur
• I will be verbed
• we will be verbed
• -beris
• -bimini
• you will be verbed
• y’all will be verbed
• -bitur
• -buntur
• he/she/it will be verbed
• they will be verbed
Future Tense
---passive voice 3rd/4th conjugation
• -ar
• -emur
• I will be verbed
• we will be verbed
• -eris
• -emini
• you will be verbed
• y’all will be verbed
• -etur
• -entur
• he/she/it will be verbed
• they will be verbed
Perfect Participles
• In Latin, the PERFECT PASSIVE PARTICIPLE is
the 4th PRINCIPAL PART of the verb. It generally
ends in –tus or –sus:
• Porto, portare, portavi, PORTATUS
• PORTATUS: “Having been carried” or just “carried”
• Mitto, mittere, misi, MISSUS
• MISSUS: “sent” or “having been sent”
• These words decline in 1st/2nd declensions just like any
other –us, -a, -um adjective. Only the –us ending is
listed in your vocabulary.
Forming perfect passive tenses
• Now that you’ve learned participles, it’s time to put
them to good use!
• The perfect passive participle (part 4 of the verb’s
principal parts) is used to make PASSIVE VOICE
of the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect tenses.
• Remember that the participle is an adjective, so
we’re going to have to tweak its ending a little bit as
we conjugate from singular to plural and from
gender to gender.
• Perfect passive tenses are unique in that they use 2
words: a participle and a form of sum.
Perfect Passive Tense
• Take the perfect passive participle of a verb.
• Add the present tense of “sum” as a helping verb.
Yes, you’re using the PRESENT tense of sum
to form a PAST tense verb.
Be careful not to translate “sum” as present
tense when it’s partnered up with a participle.
You’ll see why on the next page….
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
Singular
Plural
Amatus sum
Amati sumus
I was, have been
loved
We were, have
been loved
Amatus es
Amati estis
You were, have
been loved
Y’all were, have
been loved
Amatus est
Amati sunt
He was, has been
*Note that sum is NOT
translated “I am”. This is loved
a PAST tense, so the
NOT “she” or “it”: that
regular meanings of
would be amatA or
“sum” are thrown out the amatUM, respectively
window…for this chart.
They were, have
been loved
Note that we changed –us to the
nominative plural –i. Had we been
working with amata, the plural would
be amatae. Amatum would change to
amata.
duco, ducere, duxi, ductus---lead
Singular
Plural
1st
ductus
ducti
2nd
ductus
ducti
3rd
ductus
ducti
Pluperfect Passive: The Same Pattern!
Just use “eram” as your helping verb.
amo, amare, amavi, amatus: love
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
Singular
Plural
Amatus eram
Amati eramus
I had been loved
We had been
loved
Amatus eras
Amati eratis
You had been
loved
Y’all had been
loved
Amatus erat
Amati erant
He had been
loved
They had been
loved
duco, ducere, duxi, ductus---lead
Singular
Plural
1st
ductus
ducti
2nd
ductus
ducti
3rd
ductus
ducti
Future Perfect Passive: The Same Pattern
AGAIN!
Just use “ero” as your helping verb (future of sum)
amo, amare, amavi, amatus: love
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
Singular
Plural
Amatus ero
Amati erimus
I will have been
loved
We will have
been loved
Amatus eris
Amati eritis
You will have
been loved
Y’all will have
been loved
Amatus erit
Amati erunt
He will have been They will have
loved
been loved
duco, ducere, duxi, ductus---lead
Singular
Plural
1st
ductus
ducti
2nd
ductus
ducti
3rd
ductus
ducti
Matching Practice
(watch out for genders and plurals!)
1. missa est
2. missa erunt
3. missum est
4. mittetur
5. missae sunt
6. mittebantur
7. missus est
8. mittuntur
9. missi erant
10. missum erit
a. He will be sent
b. it will have been sent
c. They had been sent
d. She has been sent
e. They were being sent
f. They will have been sent
g. They are sent
h. They have been sent
i. It was sent
j. He has been sent
Practice Sentences
•
•
•
•
•
Litterae in otio scribuntur.
Nautae ad provincias mittentur.
Viri in agris a puellis videbantur.
Pauci libri lecti erant.
Puella a puero amata est.