Chapter 18
Well, here we are covering the last three chapters for the semester. I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I’m very proud of you all. Latin is not an easy language to learn. It takes a lot of memorization, especially the first semester, and you have all worked very hard and have done very well. For those who wish to continue, I have good news for you. Not all, but most of the difficult grammar has been covered. You will primarily learn vocabulary with some grammatical constructions added. But most of the grammar which you will use daily, you will have already learned. So I believe the most difficult part is over.
Now for today’s grammar. Today, we will be looking at the passive voice for the present tense, the imperfect tense, and the future tenses.
To begin, let’s first try to understand what a passive voice is.
In the active voice, the subject is to the doer of the action.
E.G. The girl praises the farmer. (active) Puella agricolam laudat.
The subject here, the girl, is the one who is doing the action. She is praising. Whom is she praising? She is praising the farmer. Farmer is the direct object of the verb, praising. To turn this sentence from an active voice to a passive voice, the object becomes the subject and the subject is put into a prepositional phrase.
E.G. The farmer is praised by the girl. Notice that what was the object, is now the subject. What was the subject is now a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase normally follows the verb. So far, no problem.
Now notice the verb. It goes from a present tense to a past. It is also preceded by the helping verb “to be”. In this case, we are using is. When you have a form of the verb to be, followed by the past tense of the verb, this is a good indication that one is in the passive voice.
The latin for the sentence, “the farmer is praised by the girl” is: Agricola a puella laudatur.
In latin, notice that the endings on the verb are different. So now let’s look at the passive endings.
1st -r -mur
2nd -ris -mini
3rd -tur -ntur
Now the nice part of this grammar is that for the present, imperfect or future of any verb. I teach it a little different than the book, but I think my way is easier.
Rule to form the passive for any verb, in any conjugation, in the present,
imperfect or future tenses
Replace the active endings with the passive endings. There is only one exception:
if the first person singular ends in an “o” just add the “r”;
if it ends in “m”, then replace it with the “r”. That
all there is to it.
E.G.
Amo = amor amamus = amamur
Amas = amaris amatis = amamini
Amat = amatur amant = amantur
Amabo = amabor amabimus = amabimur
Amabis = amabiris amabitis = amabimini
Amabit = amabitur amabunt = amabuntur
Amabam = amabar amabamus = amabamur
Amabas = amabaris amabatis = amabamini
Amabat = amabatur amabant = amabantur
It’s the same for any conjugation.
There is also a passive infinitive. Let’s just look at the first
and second conjugation.
The active infinitive ends in either “are” or “ere”.
To make the active infinitive a passive infinitive, just change the final “e”
to an “i”.
Amare to love becomes Amari to be loved.
Monere to warn becomes Moneri to be warned.
One last point of Grammar to look at today is the ablative of agent. After we look at this grammar point, we’ll try doing a few verb in the passive.
In the passive voice, the preposition phrase, expressing by whom the action is being performed, is referred to as an ablative of (personal) agent. In Latin, the preposition will be either “a” or “ab”. It will be translated “by”. That’s it. So now let’s try a few verbs.
Timeo timere timui timitus to be afraid
Do dare dedi datus
Capio capere cepi captus to capture
Audio audire audivi auditus to hear
Now let’s return to the workbook