01/08/93



                             CHAPTER 18

        "The Passive Voice for the 1st and 2nd Conjugations
              in the Present System; Ablative of Agent"

THE ACTIVE VOICE

Up to this point in Latin, you've been working with verbs only in
the "active voice"; that is, in forms which show that the subject
of the verb is the agent of the action denoted in the verb.  For
example, in the sentence "Pueri litteras ad amicos suos mittent",
the subject ("pueri") of the verb ("mittent"), and it is the
"pueri" who are actually performing the action.  And how do we
know that the subject of the verb is the author of the action?
In the present system, the verb tells you so in the personal
ending.  Do you remember the personal endings in Latin in the
present system:

           -o,-m     I               -mus   we
           -s        you             -tis   you
           -t        he, she, it     -nt    they

You learned that these endings tell you the person and number of
the subject, but they actually were telling you more than that,
though I kept it from you.  Now it's time to come clean: these
endings also tell you that the subject of the verb is itself
performing the action of the verb.  That is to say, these endings
tell you the number and person of the subject, but additionally
they tell you that the verb is in the "active voice".  So these
endings are more than the personal endings for the present
system; they are the present system "active" personal endings.

THE PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH

The grammars of Latin and English both recognize another "voice";
that is, another relationship the subject of the verb can have to
the action of the verb.  When the subject of the verb is itself
represented as the direct recipient of the action of the verb,
the verb is in the "passive voice".  In English, the formation of
the passive voice is a little clumsy: we use the third principal
part of the verb and use it as a passive participle; then we use
the verb "to be" in a inflected form as the auxiliary.  Like this
with the verb "see, saw, seen".

             Present:   I       am             seen.
 Present Progressive:   I       am being       seen.
              Future:   I       will be        seen.
           Imperfect:   I       was being      seen.

Can you detect this pattern: inflected form for the verb "to be"
plus the passive participle of the verb you're conjugating.
Notice that the verb "to be" is doing all the work.

THE PASSIVE VOICE OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM IN LATIN

By contrast, the formation of the passive voice in the present
system in Latin is a marvel of simplicity.  To begin with, which
principal part of the verb do you think the passive voice in the
present system will be built upon?  If you guessed the first
principal part, you did well.  Remember, the Latin present,
future, and imperfect tenses are formed off the first principal
part, regardless of the voice. Next the verb endings you're
familiar with are the active voice personal endings for the
present system.  Logically, therefore, it follows that there must
be a set of "passive" personal endings.  Here they are; watch for
similarities with the active endings:

   -or        I am [being]      -mur     we are [being]
   -ris [-re]                   you are [being]      -mini     you
are [being]
   -tur       he is [being]     -ntur    they are [being]

   These are the endings you add to the normal stems to form the
passive voice in the present system.  Do you detect the
similarities?  Only the second person singular and plural endings
are totally different from their active counterparts.  Now let's
take a closer look at how all of this is going to come together.

PRESENT TENSE PASSIVE FOR ALL CONJUGATIONS

The present tense in the active voice is formed simply by adding
personal endings to the first principal part. (And remember, this
stem includes the stem vowel: an "-a-" for first conjugation
verbs, "-e-" for the second, "-e-" for the third, and "-i-" for
the fourth.)  To form the present tense passive, you simply
replace the active personal endings with the passive endings.

   The only apparently usual form you're going to see in all this
is the second person singular of third conjugation verbs.  You
remember that the stem vowel of a third conjugation verb is short
"-e-" and that it changes when you start adding personal endings.
It becomes "-i-" and "-u-".  But think back.  The infinitive of
third conjugation verbs isn't "-ire" but "-ere".  That's because
when the short "-e-" is followed by an "-r-" it stays short
"-e-".  So what's that going to mean for the second personal
singular passive?  The passive personal ending is "-ris", so,
since the ending starts with an "-r-", the stem vowel will not
change to "-i-" as you might expect, but it will remain short
"-e-".  So the form will end in  "-eris", not "-iris", as you
might have expected.  Write out the present tense passive of all
four conjugations:

   laudo        moneo        duco        capio        audio

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________


__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________



FUTURE TENSE PASSIVE OF ALL CONJUGATIONS

To form the future tense passive, just as in the present tense,
you simply replace the active personal endings with the passive
personal endings.  So form the future tense of each verb, without
the personal endings first, then simply attach the passive
personal endings.  But be careful.  In the second person singular
of all conjugations except the fourth something odd is going to
happen.  Do you remember this rule of Latin phonetics? "When a
short '-e-' is followed by an '-r-' it remains short '-e-'.  So
what does this mean for us?  Watch this

           lauda  +  be   +     ris  =    laudabris
           mone   +  be   +     ris  =    monebris

Write out the future tense passive of the paradigm verbs, and
don't forget that 3rd and 4th conjugation verbs form the future
tense differently from the 1st and 2nd.

   laudo        moneo        duco        capio        audio

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________


__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________


IMPERFECT TENSE PASSIVE OF LATIN VERBS

Follow the same procedure you did with the present and future
tenses passive.  Construct the imperfect tense less the personal
endings, then use the passive personal endings.  The first person
singular is "-bar", where the personal ending "-r" is attached
directly to the "-ba- tense sign of the imperfect, without
inserting an "-o-" as you did in the present and future tenses.
Write out the imperfect passive of the paradigm verbs:

   laudo        moneo        duco        capio        audio

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________


__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________

__________   __________   __________  __________   __________


THE PASSIVE INFINITIVE

The present active infinitive passive is form which is also
derived from the first principal part. To form the passive voice
of the infinitive of first, second, and fourth conjugation verbs,
you simply use the ending "-ri" instead of "-re".  In third
conjugation verbs, you replace the stem vowel with "-i".

     1.  lauda  +    ri   =   laudari  "to be praised"
     2.  mone   +    ri   =   moneri   "to be warned"
     3.  duc    +    i    =   duci     "to be led"
     3i.        cap  +    i   =        capi    "to be captured"
     4.  audi   +    ri   =   audiri   "to be taken"

DRILLS

FIRST CONJUGATION VERB: laudo, -are

        PRESENT              FUTURE              IMPERFECT

1   _______________      _______________      _______________

2   _______________      _______________      _______________

3   _______________      _______________      _______________


1   _______________      _______________      _______________

2   _______________      _______________      _______________

3   _______________      _______________      _______________


                           INFINITIVE

                         _______________

SECOND CONJUGATION VERB: deleo, -ere

        PRESENT              FUTURE              IMPERFECT

1   _______________      _______________      _______________

2   _______________      _______________      _______________

3   _______________      _______________      _______________


1   _______________      _______________      _______________

2   _______________      _______________      _______________

3   _______________      _______________      _______________


                           INFINITIVE

                         _______________


THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PASSIVE VOICE

What's the difference between these two sentences:

           (a)  George kicked the ball.
           (b)  The ball was kicked by George.

Obviously, in (a) the verb is active, but in (b) it is passive.
But what's the difference between the active and passive voice as
a matter of presentation?  The action being described in both
sentences is the same.  Both authors are looking at the same
action.  What's the difference as far as the speakers' emphases are
concerned?   When we listen to or read English, we attach a certain
priority to the subject of the verb.  So in sentence (a) the
speaker (or writer) relating the event, but with the focus of his
attention on what George is doing.  In sentence (b), however, the
principle emphasis is on what is being done to the ball, and the
fact that George is the one who kick the ball is attached only as
further detail.

     The order of rhetorical importance begins with the subject,
next comes the action performed on it, and then finally the agent
who actually performed the action.  The sentence would still have
been a completed thought even if George's agency had not been
mentioned: "The ball was kicked".  Similarly, the order of priority
in sentence (a) begins with the subject of the verb, then the verb,
and finally the object of the action of the verb.

     You've probably been told sometime in your education
experience to eschew the passive voice.  That's probably good
advice in general, but when you do use it, make sure that your
emphasis in the passive voice construction reflects the real
subordination of ideas in your narrative in general.  Latin tends
to be more skittish of the passive voice than English is, and, as
you'll see, it definitely avoided our impersonal passive
constructions like "it seems that" or "it is asked that" and so on.


ABLATIVE OF PERSONAL AGENT: AB + ABLATIVE

Look at sentences (a) and (b) again.  You can see how sentence (b)
is really a modification of (a).  The original direct object in (a)
becomes the subject of the verb in (b) and the original subject of
(a) is expressed by a prepositional phrase in (b) -- "by George".

     In the passive voice construction in Latin, the agent of the
action, if it is mentioned, is expressed by the preposition "ab" +
the ablative case.  Wheelock gives you a stern warning: the
"Ablative of Personal Agent" is not the "Ablative of Means" (or the
"Instrumental Ablative").  The "Ablative of Means" expresses the
instrument with which the agent accomplished the action of the
verb; the "Ablative of Personal Agent" expresses the agent itself
in a passive construction.

     "Nulli tyranni ab Romanis laudabantur". (No tyrants used to be
     praised by the Romans.)
     "Multae rosae puellis ab poetis dabuntur". (Many roses will be
     given to the girls by the poets.)

But when the agent of a passive voice is not animate, then Latin
uses the Ablative of Means.

     "Omnes his periculis terrentur". (Everyone is frightened by
     these dangers.)
     "Multae urbes vi pecuniae capientur". (Many cities will be
     captured by the force of money.)
But

     "Omnes a malis terrentur". (Everyone is frightened by the evil
     [men].)
     "Multae urbes istis tyrannis capientur". (Many cities will be
     captured by those tyrants.)


PASSIVE VOICE LIMITED TO TRANSITIVE VERBS

There is one other idem you'll have to observe.  As Wheelock tells
you, the passive construction is only possible with verbs which are
truly transitive: that is, which take direct objects.  This makes
sense.  When you change the voice of a verb from the active to
passive, the original direct object accusative becomes the subject
nominative.  Since only transitive verbs take direct object
accusatives, it follows that only verbs that are transitive can
have a passive voice.

                (a)  "Romani nullos tyrannos laudabant".
                (b)  "Nulli tyranni ab Romanis laudabantur".
                (a)  "Poetae multas rosas puellis dabunt".
                (b)  "Multae rosae puellis ab poetis dabuntur".

DRILLS

Change the voice of the following sentences (active to passive or
passive to active):

1.   Illi libri nos adiuvabunt.


     ____________________________________________________________

2.   Haec pericula vos terrebant.


     ____________________________________________________________

3.   Hi libri a discipulis meis cum celeritate legentur.


     ____________________________________________________________

4.   Te in via videbo.


     ____________________________________________________________

5.   Magna ira cives movent.


     ____________________________________________________________


VOCABULARY PUZZLES

videor, -eri, visus sum
                      The passive voice of the verb "video" takes
                      on a special meaning; one that is not
                      entirely predictable simply by knowing the
                      rules of translating the Latin passive voice
                      into English.  To be sure, "videor" can mean
                      "I am seen", but more often it comes to mean
                      "I seem" or "I appear" and is often followed
                      by an infinitive: "videor legere" = "I seem
                      to be reading".  For your future reference,
                      the third person impersonal passive of
                      "video" -- "videtur" does not equal our
                      popular construction "it seems"; rather it
                      means "it seems right".  Latin never says "it
                      seem that George is sick"; it says "George
                      seems to be sick".

