Lessons 27-28:
Passive Voice
Ablative of Agent
Transitive/Intransitive Verbs
Nov. 10-17, 2014
All About Verbs!
• Latin verbs have FIVE (5) characteristics:
– Person
– Number
– Tense
– Voice
– Mood
Person
• Person=1st, 2nd, 3rd
• Who is doing/did it?
Number
• Number=Singular, Plural
• How many?
Person + Number
Chart!
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
Singular
Plural
I…
you
he, she,
it…
we…
you (y’all )…
they …
Tense
• Tense=Time (see below)
• When did it happen?
Voice
• Voice: Active, Passive
• Is the subject performing the action, or being
acted upon?
Mood
• Mood: Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive
• Indicative: statements of fact, simple
questions (we’ve used this since Latin 1)
• Imperative: commands (we’ve used this since
Latin 1, too!)
• Subjunctive: conditions, possibilities, other
special uses (wait until Latin 3!)
Passive Voice
• Passive Voice does NOT necessarily mean past
tense.
• It refers to whether the subject is performing
the action, or…
• …if the subject is being performed upon by
something/someone else.
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.)
Active vs. Passive
Change the following sentences to passive voice. Do NOT change the
sentence’s meaning or tense!
• The horse is kicking the
man.
• The man is being kicked
by the horse.
• The girl will sing a song.
• A song will be sung by
the girl.
• Dinner was being
cooked by Mom.
• Mom was cooking
dinner.
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!
First, let’s review the ACTIVE endings of
the present tense.
Portare—present
active voice
• porto
• portas
• portat
• portamus
• portatis
• portant
Portare—present
passive voice
• portor
• portamur
• I am (being) carried…
• portaris
• portamini
• you are (being) carried…
• portatur
• portantur
Imperfect Tense--passive voice
• -bar
• I was being verbed
• -baris
• you were being verbed
• -batur
• he/she/it was being verbed
• -bamur
• we were being verbed
• -bamini
• Y’all were being verbed
• -bantur
• 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
Transitive vs. Intransitive
• In English and Latin, if a verb has a direct
object, it is called transitive.
• If a verb does not have a direct object, it is
called intransitive.
Transitive vs. Intransitive
• In English and normally in Latin, transitive
verbs are the ones you can use with passive
voice (because you can switch the
subject/direct object).