Chapter 18

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Verba Sequentur Home

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Concept Review:

Chapter Eighteen introduces the Passive Voice for the First and Second Conjugation verbs in the Present System. Remember that in the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action of the verb. In the active voice the subject performs the action of the verb.

Passive Voice Ex: The boy is told to clean his room by his mother.

In this sentence the mother is telling the boy to clean his room i.e. the mother is performing th action of the verb. The boy, however, is the subject of the sentence and the recipient of the action.

Active Voice Ex: The mother tells the boy to clean his room.

In this sentence the mother is still telling th boy to clean his room. In this case, however, the mother is also the subject of the sentence. The boy becomes the direct object, receiving the action of the verb. This sentence is more clear and concise. For these reasons, some often prefer the active voice in English sentence construction.

The formation of Passive Voice for the First and Second Conjugation verbs in the Present System rather simple. Just add the passive voice endings to the Present Stem for the Present Tense.

For the Future and Imperfect, first add the tense markers to the present stem. Imperfect (-ba) or Future (-bo,- bi,- bu). Then add the passive voice endings.

Ex. Present, Indicative, Passive, 3rd Person, Singular -> do, dare, dedi, datum

dare -> da (present stem) + -tur (ending) = datur

Translation: he is given.

Ex. Imperfect, Indicative, Passive, 3rd Person, Singular -> do, dare, dedi, datum

dare -> da (present stem) + -ba- (Imperfect tense marker) + -tur (ending) = dabatur

Translation: he is being given.

Ex. Future, Indicative, Passive, 3rd Person, Singular -> do, dare, dedi, datum

dare -> da (present stem) + -bi- (Future tense marker) + -tur (ending) = dabitur

Translation: he will be given.

For further references of the passive endings for the first and second conjugations in the present system please review the charts on pages 116-117 or pages 453-454.

The Ablative of Personal Agent indicates who performs the action of the passive verb. The preposition ab indicates the ablative of agent. Remember without the prepostion a or ab is the ablative of means.

Ablative of Agent Ex: The city is destroyed by the king. Urbs a rege deletur.

Ablative of Means Ex: The city is destroyed by the flames. Urbs flammis deletur.

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