Sunday, July 21, 2024

28.08.24: follow-up on previous post 'how cats shows their emotions' [3]; level 2; perfect passive participles - a brief introduction

(per)territus, -a, -um: (really) frightened

satisfactus, -a, -um: satisfied

These two work quite happily as adjectives and, at this stage, I wouldn’t go any further with them. They are, however, “knocking on the door” of a far larger topic, yet to be discussed in the group but one which is on the way at Level 2, and beyond. Therefore, here are some brief notes on them.

English:

You’ll need to pay for that broken window. [ = a window that has been broken]; Latin: frāctus, -a, -um (broken)

Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare. [= a play that has been written by Shakepspeare.]; Latin: scrīptus, -a, -um (written)

The ambulance took the injured motorcyclist [ = the motorcyclist who had been injured]  to hospital.; Latin: vulnerātus, -a, -um (injured)

What you see in those examples above are called in Latin perfect passive participles, they describe something that has been done to the noun:

a frightened cat = a cat that has been frightened; Latin: territus, -a, -um

a satsified customer = a customer who has been satisfied; Latin: satisfactus, -a, -um

The Latin words come from the fourth and final principal part of a verb. When you look up a verb in the dictionary you will – for most of them – see four parts, three of which have already been covered in detail in the posts. Here are the three principal parts for the verb ‘to break’:

First principal part: frangō │ Second principal part: frangere │ Third principal part: frēgī

Image #1: Now look at the entries from two different dictionaries. The fourth principal part can be confusing because it will be listed either as [i] frāct¦us or [ii] frāct¦um. If the dictionary lists frāctus (broken) that is the perfect passive participle (which is what is being used here), but if it lists frāctum that is a form known as the supine, a form that should be left until later.  However, it doesn’t matter: if the 4th principal part ends in -us, then you’re ready to go > frāctus, -a, -um. If it ends in -um, change it to -us and you’re still ready to go.

Here are some other things that could have happened to cats! The passive participles are important because, while the Romans never talked much about what happened to cats, they did talk about what happened to themselves: injured, murdered, carried off, poisoned, mistrusted, locked up etc.

cattus vulnerātus: an injured cat

cattus venēnātus: a poisoned cat

cattus necātus: a murdered cat

cattus suspicātus: a mistrusted cat

cattus numquam amātus: a “never having been loved” cat = that has never been loved

cattus ab omnibus laudātus: a cat praised by everybody

cattus ā fūribus ablātus: a cat stolen by thieves

cattus in caveā clausus: a cat locked up in a cage

The Latin Tutorial video will give you more information at the moment:




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