Salvēte omnēs! Welcome back to Latin for Wikiversity. Here you can peruse a new lesson in Latin, in a simple format. If you would like to catch up, you can find a directory of lessons, a classified vocabulary list, and Memrise courses at the links on the right.
This lesson, we’ll dive into a form of verbs that do not exist in English: deponent verbs. These are verbs that are identical to passive voice verbs in form, but have an active meaning. Now, passive voice is not something I’ve introduced yet – it’s usually left until intermediate/second year Latin in most courses, and deponent verbs are introduced after passive voice. But the deponent verbs include some high-frequency verbs that you need if you are going to converse in Latin, so I think it makes sense to teach them here. Just be aware that the endings are going to look very different from our typical active-voice endings; however, you will start to notice the patterns after practicing them.
New Grammar
Deponent verbs: passive form, (more-or-less) active meaning. A typical verb in the present tense has the by-now familiar pattern of endings: o/m, s, t, mus, tis, nt. A deponent verb can occur in any of the four conjugations, and has these passive endings instead:
| r | I |
| ris | you sing |
| tur | he / she / it |
| mur | we |
| minī | you pl |
| ntur | they |
The vocabulary listing looks different, with only three principal parts. Many deponent verbs can take objects in the accusative, but some tend to use the ablative or dative instead.
Let’s look at the conjugation of the 1st conjugation deponent verb, cōnor = try:
| cōnor | I try |
| cōnāris | you try |
| cōnātur | he / she / it tries |
| cōnāmur | we try |
| cōnāminī | you try pl |
| cōnantur | they try |
Verbs from other conjugations use the same endings, with variations of the vowel connecting the stem to the ending that mostly match what you have seen in those conjugations already. Note that the 2nd person singular is e instead of the expected i in the 3rd conjugation – here’s a model for you:
| sequor | I follow |
| sequeris | you follow |
| sequitur | he / she / it follows |
| sequimur | we follow |
| sequiminī | you follow pl |
| sequuntur | they follow |
Forgive us if this is a lot of confusing grammar all at once. We’ll keep the sentences fairly plain to try to make up for it. And when we do get to the passive voice, you’ll already know the forms!
New Vocabulary
| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| cōnor, cōnārī, cōnātus sum, 1 | try | ||
| vīvō, vīvere, vīxī, vīctus, 3 | live | this is a regular 3rd conjugation verb – compare with morior | |
| loquor, loquī, locūtus sum, 3 | speak | ||
| morior, morī, mortuus sum, 3 (i-stem) | die, pass away | ||
| nāscor, nāscī, nātus sum, 3 | am born | ||
| sequor, sequī, secūtus sum, 3 | follow, come after | ||
| ūtor, ūtī, ūsus sum, 3 (w. abl.) | use, employ, profit from/by | ||
| orior, orīrī, ortus sum, 4 | rise, arise, descend from | ||
| Anglicē, adv. | in English | ||
| Latīnē, adv. | in Latin | ||
| sōl, sōlis, m | sun |
New Sentences
| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paula iterum cōnātur. | Paula tries again. | |
| Puerī coquere cōnantur. | The boys try to cook. | |
| Canis mē sequitur. | The dog follows me. | |
| Lūciam sequeris. | You are following Lucia. | |
| Decem canēs eum sequuntur. | Ten dogs follow him. | |
| Infans Lūciae nāscitur. | Lucia’s baby is born. | |
| Nāscor, vīvō et morior. | I am born, I live and I die. | |
| Nāsceris, vīvīs et moreris. | You are born, you live and you die. | |
| Gāius vīvit, sed Mārcus moritur. | Gaius lives, but Marcus dies. | |
| Nāscimur, breve tempus vīvimus, et morimur. | We are born, we live for a short time, and we die. | |
| Nāscimini, vīvitis et moriminī. | You (pl.) are born, you live and you die. | |
| Nāscuntur, vīvunt et moriuntur. | They are born, they live and they die. | |
| Dē lībertāte loquor. | I speak about liberty. | |
| Quot linguīs loqueris? | How many languages do you speak? | |
| Loquerisne mihi? | Are you speaking to me? | |
| Nōbīscum loquitur. | He speaks with us/to us. | |
| Gāius Latīnē loquitur; Lūcia Anglicē loquitur. | Gaius speaks Latin; Lucia speaks English. | |
| In linguā nostrā loquimur. | We speak in our own language. | |
| Latīnē hīc loquuntur. | They speak Latin here. | |
| Gāius cultrō ūtitur. | Gaius uses the knife. | |
| Computātribus tribus ūtor. | I use three computers. | |
| Hōc librō ūteris. | You use this book. | |
| Pecūniā bene ūtuntur. | They use the money well. | |
| Mānum tollō; e sede ōrior. | I raise my hand; I rise from my seat. | |
| Sōl māne ōrītur. | The sun rises in the morning. | |
| Flūmina in montibus ōriuntur. | Rivers arise in the mountains. | |
| Haec lingua dē Latīnā ōrītur. | This language descends from/has its origin in Latin. | |
| Bellum contrā Rōmānōs ōrītur. | War arises against the Romans. | |
| sōl ōriēns / sōlis ortus | east, the direction of the sunrise |
Practice
| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
Enough for this lesson; next time we will continue introducing verbs in the present tense; then moving onto the infinitive and the imperative and the imperfect after that. In any case, we’ll be dealing with verbs for a while! Bonam fortūnam!