Lesson 6 – Passive verbs
So far all the verbs that we have encountered have been in what is called the active voice. This means that someone or something has carried out an action. We use this voice to say what the subject does.
For example:
Cartam confirmat – He confirms the charter.
The subject is ‘he’ and the object is ‘charter’.
However, we will also encounter verbs in the passive voice. This means that an action is done to the subject of the sentence. We use this voice to say what happens to the subject.
For example:
Carta confirmatur – The charter is confirmed.
The subject is ‘charter’.
The passive voice occurs in all the tenses. Luckily, however, in most instances the passive endings are similar for all four conjugations.
Have a look at the summary below.
Present passive tense
Carta confirmatur – The charter is confirmed.
Imperfect passive tense
Carta confirmabatur – The charter was being confirmed.
Future passive tense
Carta confirmabitur – The charter will be confirmed.
Perfect passive tense
Carta confirmata est – The charter was / has been confirmed.
Pluperfect passive tense
Carta confirmata erat – The charter had been confirmed
Future perfect passive tense
Carta confirmata erit – The charter will have been confirmed.
Forming the passive 1
Handy hint
The present, imperfect and future tenses all share the endings below.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| -r | I |
| -ris | you (singular) |
| -tur | he/she/it |
| -mur | we |
| -mini | you (plural) |
| -ntur | they |
Present passive tense
To form a present passive verb you need to add the relevant endings to the stem of the verb.
Exception
To form the first person singular, add the relevant ending, ‘-r’ to the first person singular present active tense, rather than to the stem.
For example:
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| voco | I call |
| vocor | I am called |
First and second conjugations
To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb.
For example:
The stem for voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) ‘to call’ would be ‘voca–’.
The stem for habeo, habere, habui, habitum (2) ‘to have’ would be ‘habe–’.
Then add the relevant endings.
For example:
Present passive of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) to call
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocor | I am called, I am being called |
| vocaris | you are called, you are being called |
| vocatur | he/she/it is called, he/she/it is being called |
| vocamur | we are called, we are being called |
| vocamini | you are called, you are being called |
| vocantur | they are called, they are being called |
Third conjugation
To get the stem, remove ‘-ere’ from the infinitive form of the verb.
For example:
The stem for duco, ducere, duxi, ductum (3) ‘to lead’ would be ‘duc–’.
Add ‘-e’ to the stem for the second person singular, ‘-i’ for the third person singular, first person plural and second person plural, and ‘-u’ for the third person plural.
For example:
Present passive of duco, ducere, duxi, ductum (3) to lead
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| ducor | I am led, I am being led |
| duceris | you are led, you are being led |
| ducitur | he/she/it is led, he/she/it is being led |
| ducimur | we are led, we are being led |
| ducimini | you are led, you are being led |
| ducuntur | they are led, they are being led |
Fourth conjugation
To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb.
For example:
The stem for audio, audire, audivi, auditum (4) ‘to hear’ would be ‘audi–’.
Then add the relevant endings.
Exception
For verbs of the fourth conjugation, you need to add a -u to the stem for the third person plural before adding the ending.
For example:
Present passive of audio, audire, audivi, auditum (4) to hear
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| audior | I am heard, I am being heard |
| audiris | you are heard, you are being heard |
| auditur | he/she/it is heard, he/she/it is being heard |
| audimur | we are heard, we are being heard |
| audimini | you are heard, you are being heard |
| audiuntur | they are heard, they are being heard |
Imperfect passive tense
Handy hint
The present, imperfect and future tenses all share the endings below.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| -r | I |
| -ris | you (singular) |
| -tur | he/she/it |
| -mur | we |
| -mini | you (plural) |
| -ntur | they |
The endings for the imperfect passive tense are the same as the other tenses in this group, but they need to be preceded with ‘ba-’.
| Endings | |
|---|---|
| Latin | English |
| –bar | I |
| –baris | you (singular) |
| –batur | he/she/it |
| –bamur | we |
| –bamini | you (plural) |
| –bantur | they |
To form an imperfect passive you need to add these endings to the stem of the verb.
First, second and third conjugations
To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb and add the relevant endings.
Imperfect passive of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) to call
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocabar | I was being called |
| vocabaris | you were being called |
| vocabatur | he/she/it was being called |
| vocabamur | we were being called |
| vocabamini | you were being called |
| vocabantur | they were being called |
Fourth conjugation
To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb, add ‘-e’ and then add the relevant endings.
For example:
audio, audire, audivi, auditum the stem ‘audi-’ becomes ‘audie-’.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| audiebar | I was being heard |
| audiebaris | you were being heard |
| audiebatur | he/she/it was being heard |
| audiebamur | we were being heard |
| audiebamini | you were being heard |
| audiebantur | they were being heard |
Future passive tense
Handy hint
The present, imperfect and future tenses all share the endings below.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| -r | I |
| -ris | you (singular) |
| -tur | he/she/it |
| -mur | we |
| -mini | you (plural) |
| -ntur | they |
First and second conjugations
The endings for the future passive tense are the same as the other tenses in this group, but for the first and second conjugation they need to be preceded with ‘-bo’, ‘-be’, ‘-bi’, ‘- bi’, ‘-bi’, ‘-bu’.
Endings for the first and second conjugations
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| –bor | I |
| –beris | you (singular) |
| –bitur | he/she/it |
| –bimur | we |
| –bimini | you (plural) |
| –buntur | they |
To form a future passive tense you need to add these endings to the stem of the verb.
To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb and add the relevant endings.
For example:
Future passive of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) to call
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocabor | I will be called |
| vocaberis | you will be called |
| vocabitur | he/she/it will be called |
| vocabimur | we will be called |
| vocabimini | you will be called |
| vocabuntur | they will be called |
Third and fourth conjugation
To form the future passive tense for third and fourth conjugation verbs, remove the ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb to get the stem as above, but this time, for fourth conjugation verbs only, add ‘-e’ to the stem. Then add the relevant endings.
For example:
The stem for duco, ducere, duxi, ductum (3) ‘to lead’ would be ‘duce–’.
The stem for audio, audire, audivi, auditum (4) ‘to hear’ would be ‘audi–’ + ‘-e’ = audie.
Exception
Note that for the first person singular of conjugations three and four, the vowel ‘-a’ should be used instead of ‘-e’.
Future passive of duco, ducere, duxi, ductum (3) to lead
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| ducar | I will be led |
| duceris | you will be led |
| ducetur | he/she/it will be led |
| ducemur | we will be led |
| ducemini | you will be led |
| ducentur | they will be led |
Future passive of audio, audire, audivi, auditum (4) to hear
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| audiar | I will be heard |
| audieris | you will be heard |
| audietur | he/she/it will be heard |
| audiemur | we will be heard |
| audiemini | you will be heard |
| audientur | they will be heard |
Forming the passive 2
Handy hint
To form the perfect passive, pluperfect passive and future perfect passive tense change the ‘-m’ ending of the supine to ‘-s’ to form the past participle.
For example:
voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) vocatus, -a, -um
Remember that a past participle must agree with the word it modifies in gender, number and case and it declines like ‘bonus, -a, -um’ .
Perfect passive tense
Add the present tense of the verb sum, esse, fui, -, ‘to be’ to the past participle.
Present passive of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) to call
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum sum | I have been called, I was called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum es | you have been called, you were called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum est | he/she/it has been called, he/she/it was called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata sumus | we have been called, we were called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata estis | you have been called, you were called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata sunt | they have been called, they were called |
Handy hint
Often you will find that the perfect tense of the verb ‘sum’, ‘esse’, ‘fui, – ’‘to be’, is used instead of the present tense.
Pluperfect passive tense
Handy hint
To form the perfect passive, pluperfect passive and future perfect passive tense change the ‘-m’ ending of the supine to ‘-s’ to form the past participle.
For example:
voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) vocatus, -a, -um
Remember that a past participle must agree with word it modifies in gender, number and case and it declines like ‘bonus, -a, -um’ .
To form the pluperfect passive tense use the past participle like the other tenses in this group, but with the imperfect tense of the verb sum, esse, fui, -, ‘to be’.
For example
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum eram | I had been called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum eras | you had been called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum erat | he/she/it had been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata eramus | we had been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata eratis | you had been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata erant | they had been called |
Future perfect passive tense
Handy hint
To form the perfect passive, pluperfect passive and future perfect passive tense change the ‘-m’ ending of the supine to ‘-s’ to form the past participle.
For example:
voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) vocatus, -a, -um
Remember that a past participle must agree with word it modifies in gender, number and case and it declines like ‘bonus, -a, -um’ .
To form the future perfect passive tense use the past participle like the other tenses in this group, but with the future tense of the verb sum, esse, fui, -, ‘to be’.
For example
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum ero | I will have been called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum eris | you will have been called |
| vocatus, vocata, vocatum erit | he/she/it will have been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata erimus | we will have been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata eritis | you will have been called |
| vocati, vocate, vocata erunt | they will have been called |
Checklist
Are you confident with
- the meaning of a present passive tense?
- the form of a present passive tense?
- the meaning of an imperfect passive tense?
- the form of an imperfect passive tense?
- the meaning of a future passive tense?
- the form of a future passive tense?
- the meaning of a perfect passive tense?
- the form of a perfect passive tense?
- the meaning of a pluperfect passive tense?
- the form of a pluperfect passive tense?
- the meaning of a future perfect passive tense?
- the form of a future perfect passive tense?