54 Passive Voice, Present System
“So let us come back to the language, and fill in a few more gaps in your knowledge. Every English and Latin verb has a feature that is called Voice. There are two voices in Latin, Active and Passive. All the verb forms we have studied so far have been Active. The active voice signals that the Subject is performing the action of the verb. ‘I love him’, for example.”
“THE PASSIVE VOICE SIGNALS THAT THE SUBJECT OF THE VERB IS THE
RECIPIENT OF AN ACTION. ‘You are hated by him’, for example. Here, the ‘him’ is the one who performs the action; ‘you’, the subject of the verb, is the recipient. The Passive Voice can be used with any person, number, or tense.”
“In English, passive verbs consist of two parts: (1) a form of the verb ‘is’ and (2) what’s called a participle, like ‘loved’, as in ‘they (1) were (2) loved. Notice the two parts in these English passive verbs, a form of ‘is’, and the participle:
I am loved
he was being hated you will be loved they were seen
“Infinitives can also be passive: ‘to be hated’, ‘to be loved’. And imperatives, like ‘Be heard!’”
“Latin Passive Verbs have a special set of personal endings to replace the Active personal endings in the Present, Imperfect, and Future tenses. These endings all contain the characteristic letter r
– the one exception is the 2nd person plural, with minī:”
Passive Personal Endings Compared to Active Personal Endings (A)
ActivePassive
SingularPluralSingularPlural
1st-ō or -m-mus-r-mur
2nd-s-tis-ris/-re-minī
3rd-t-nt-tur-ntur
“In the Present Tense, the First Person Singular, Passive Voice form has a short o before the -r personal ending. In the Present Tense, the Third Person Singular, Passive Voice form has a long vowel: -ātur for A-Verbs, -ētur for E-Verbs (recall that the Active Voice form, by contrast, has a short vowel: -at, -et).”
“These are the Passive Voice endings in the Present for A-Verbs and E-Verbs. Remember the letter r in the endings:”
-or-āmurrogorrogāmur
-āris/re-āminīrogāris/rerogāminī
-ātur-anturrogāturrogantur
I am askedwe are asked
you are askedyou all are asked
he she it is askedthey are asked
-eor-ēmurhabeorhabēmur
-ēris/re-ēminīhabēris/rehabēminī
-ētur-enturhabēturhabentur
I am heldwe are held
you are heldyou all are held
he she it is heldthey are held
“In English, a passive verb is often accompanied by a prepositional phrase starting with ‘by’ that says by what or by whom the action was accomplished: I am moved by your speech (a thing), I am asked by you (a person).”
“In Latin, there are two ways to express this. When the action is done by a THING, use the bare ablative, with no preposition. This is the Ablative of Means, which I have taught you:”
Ablative of Means Translated ‘By’, with a Passive Verb (C)
Īrā moveor, amōre exercentur. I am moved by anger, they are exercised by love.
“If the action is instead done by a PERSON, use the preposition ab or ā, which, in this context, should be translated ‘by’. This is called Ablative of Personal Agent:”
Ablative of Personal Agent Translated ‘By’, with a Passive Verb (D)
Sīgnum ab duce dābātur.The signal was being given by the leader. Honōrēs ā malīs nōn amantur.Honors are not loved by bad men.
“Write ‘Passive’ (or ‘pass.’) when you Mark Up a sentence:”
- Moventur cum ab dūce exercentur.
- Moventur (3rd pl. pres. pass.) cum ab dūce exercentur (3rd pl. pres. pass.).
- They are moved when they are exercised by the leader.
Postquam tot virī vōcibus mūtantur, fīnis vidētur. (2)
Vōs ā cōnsule parāre iubēminī. (3)
You are seen when you are loved by me. (4)
“Now to the passive endings in forms of the Imperfect. There is nothing unusual here, only the application of the new personal endings and the long vowel in the third-singular: -bātur (recall the third-singular Active Imperfect is –bat).”
-ā-bar-ā-bāmurrogābarrogābāmur
-ā-bāris/re-ā-bāminīrogābāris/rerogābāminī
-ā-bātur-ā-banturrogābāturrogābantur
I was being askedwe were being asked you were being askedyou all were being asked he she it was being askedthey were being asked
-ē-bar-ē-bāmurhabēbarhabēbāmur
-ē-bāris/re-ē-bāminīhabēbāris/rehabēbāminī
-ē-bātur-ē-banturhabēbāturhabēbantur
I was being heldwe were being held you were being heldyou all were being held he she it was being heldthey were being held
Lēge docēbāmur. (5)
Aliquid cārum ab eīs tenēbātur; nōn dābātur. (6)
Previously you were being changed by love. (7)
“These are the passive forms of the Future. There is one irregular vowel here: the second- singular is –beris/re, with an e (contrast the second-singular Future Active: –bis)”
-ā-bor-ā-bimurrogāborrogābimur
-ā-beris/re-ā-biminīrogāberis/ererogābiminī
-ā-bitur-ā-bunturrogābiturrogābuntur
I will be askedwe will be asked
you will be askedyou all will be asked he she it will be askedthey will be asked
-ē-bor-ē-bimurhabēborhabēbimur
-ē-beris/re-ē-biminīhabēberis/erehabēbiminī
-ē-bitur-ē-bunturhabēbiturhabēbuntur
I will be heldwe will be held
you will be heldyou all will be held he she it will be held they will be held
I will be held by the people to be a good man. (8) “Use a form of habeō.” Fēmina dolōre mūtābitur. (9)
“The passive infinitives end with long ī, and are translated ‘to be (verb)ed’:”
-ārīrogārīto be asked (4)
-ērīhabērīto be held
He ordered a place to be given to him on the right. (10)
“The passive imperatives are rare. They are identical to the 2nd person forms, with the endings re
and minī.”
-āre-āminīamāreamāminī (5)
Be loved!Be loved!
-ēre-ēminīvidērevidēminī Be seen!Be seen!
“You can tell imperatives by remembering that imperatives will usually be the first word in their sentence, and will be addressed to someone.”
“Take the verb amō, amāre, amāvī, ‘to love’ and write its 18 Passive forms in the three tenses, along with the Passive Infinitive and 2 Passive Imperatives, and translate all the forms.” (11)
Tū docēre ab eō, sī bella magna movēre dēbēs! (12)
Ante oculōs meōs tot oppida cāra iacuēre. Servābunturne? (13)
Vae, fōrma quoque mea aetāte mūtātur. Sed amāre meminī. (14)
Before we will be saved, a sign will be given by the hand of one (man). (15)
Just as beauty is to the limbs, so virtue is to the ranks of the people. (16)
- The Passive Verb videor, vidērī
“The Passive forms of videō, vidēre, ‘to see’ – videor and so on – can be translated ‘be seen’, but they are usually best translated with the English word ‘seem’ or ‘appear’.”
“In English ‘seem’ or ‘appear’ often has an infinitive ‘to be’, followed by a predicate nominative, and a person to whom the subject appears – not always in that order. Latin does something similar.
- Tibi dīvīna esse videor.
- Tibi (dat. sing.) dīvīna (nom. sing. fem.) esse (infin.) videor (1st sing. pres. pass.).
- To you divine (pred.) to be I seem/appear. >>> I seem/appear to you to be divine. “In Latin that person to whom the subject seems is called a Dative of Reference.”
“When the 3rd person singular form vidētur appears with no predicate, it sometimes means ‘to seem (good)’ – that is, to seem like a good idea, or something you approve of.”
Ad oppidum, sī vōbīs vidētur, īte.Go to the city, if it seems (good) to you. Cui bona vidēbere? (17)
Mihi malus esse vidēre, inimīce. (18)
CHARINUS Byrrhia, quid tibi vidētur? Adeōne ad eum? (19)
If it seems (good) to you, I will order peace to be preserved. (20)
When I finished, we took a closer look at the bibliothēca. Tiro had left, and Latinitas showed me all the different sorts of books Cicero wrote. “Cicero’s speeches are over here; his books on philosophy and oratory, over here. Their titles are on these little tags – they look like price tags, no? – attached to the knob of each scroll. In Catilīnam. What’s that?”
Against Catiline?
“Right. How about dē Nātūrā Deōrum?” About the Nature of the Gods.
“Very good. You’ll make a good librarian. Now let’s see: Ubi illae litterae ā Sulpiciō dē morte Tulliae? Where’s that letter from Sulpicius on the death of Tullia? A! Invēnī! Ah, found it!”
“I want you to read this. It’s a letter Cicero received two years ago when his beloved daughter Tullia died in childbirth. Cicero was so devastated by this loss, so depressed, that he was unable to do anything for months. One of his friends, Sulpicius Severus, a prominent judge, wrote a personal letter to him trying to shake him out of his depression. It’s a long letter, but look at this part. Copy it out, and try to translate it. You can finish tomorrow, if you need more time.”
I worked out most of what she gave me. Identify the individual Latin words that correspond to the English words in italics. (21)
Cōgitā quemadmodum adhūc Fortūna nōbīscum ēgerit: ea nōbīs ērepta esse, quae hominibus nōn minus quam līberī cāra esse dēbent: patriam, honestātem, dīgnitātem, honōrēs omnēs.
Think how Fortune has dealt with us so far: things have been stolen from us which ought to be no less dear to human beings than (their) children: country, nobility, dignity, all honors.
Hōc ūnō incommodō additō, quid ad dolōrem adiungī potuit? With this one inconvenience added, what could be added to our pain?
Aut quī nōn in illīs rēbus exercitātus animus callēre iam dēbet atque omnia minōris exīstimāre?
Or what mind exercised among those things ought not to be callous now and to judge all things of less worth?
Quae rēs mihi nōn mediocrem cōnsōlātiōnem attulerit, volō tibi commemorāre, sī forte eadem rēs tibi dolōrem minuere possit.
A thing which brought me no moderate consolation, I want to mention to you, if by chance the same thing might be able to diminish the pain for you.
Ex Asiā rediēns, cum ab Aegīnā Megaram versūs nāvigārem, coepī regiōnēs circumcircā prōspicere: post mē erat Aegīna, ante mē Megara, dextrā Pīraeus, sinistrā Corinthus, quae oppida quōdam tempore flōrentissima fuērunt, nunc prōstrāta et dīruta ante oculōs iacent.
Returning from Asia, once I was sailing from Aegina to Megara, I began to inspect the regions all around: behind me was Aegina, before me was Megara, on my right Piraeus, on my left Corinth, towns which at one time were very flourishing, and now lie before the eyes thrown down and demolished.
Coepī egomet mēcum sīc cōgitāre: “Hem! Nōs homunculī indīgnāmur, sī quis nostrum interiit aut occīsus est, quōrum vīta brevior esse dēbet, cum ūnō locō tot oppidum cadāvera prōiecta iacent?
I began to think thus to myself: “Hmm! We poor little humans are indignant, if one of us has died or been killed, whose life needs to be rather brief, when in one place so many cadavers of towns lie tosssed out?
Vīsne tū tē, Servī, cohibēre et meminisse hominem tē esse nātum?”
“Won’t you hold yourself together, Servius, and remember you were born human?” Crēde mihi, cōgitātiōne eā nōn mediocriter sum cōnfirmātus.
Believe me, by this thought I was strengthened not just a little.
Hoc idem, sī tibi vidētur, fac ante oculōs tibi prōpōnās: modo ūnō tempore tot virī clārissimī interiērunt, dē imperiō populī Rōmānī tanta dēminūtiō facta est, omnēs prōvinciae conquassātae sunt; in ūnīus mulierculae animulā sī iactūra facta est, tantō opere commovēris?
This same thing, if it seems right to you, make sure you put before your eyes: just now at one time so many very famous men have died, such a great diminishment from the power of the Roman people has taken place, all the provinces have been shaken; if a loss has occurred involving the poor little soul of one little woman, are you so strongly moved?