13.01.25: Level 2; the passive voice [20]: the perfect passive [1]; three-in-one: the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect passive; the fourth principal part / the perfect passive participle

Image #1: It might seem a tall order to suggest that three passive tenses can be learned at the same time. However, you don’t have three separate tenses to learn but only one new form of the verb.

If you learned English as a non-native language, then most likely you would have seen this pattern:

see – saw – seen i.e. three parts which give you the basic information as to how the rest of the verb is formed. These are called the principal parts.

[1] see > to see > I see > I am seeing > I shall see etc.

[2] saw > I saw, you saw etc.

But it’s the third part that matters here

[3] seen: this is known in English grammar as the past participle

In English we can divide its use into two:

[i] I have seen, I had seen etc. i.e. it is used to create certain tenses of active verbs

[ii] he is seen, he was seen, he has been seen etc. i.e. it is also used to create the passive voice of all verbs

Latin has the equivalent of [3] [ii] i.e. a participle that is used to create three passive forms; it is not used to create the equivalent of English “I have done something”; Latin uses the one-word perfect tense for that.

Perfect passive: he was seen, or he has been seen

Pluperfect passive: he had been seen

Future perfect passive: he will have been seen

Image #2: The Latin equivalent of the English past participle is known as the perfect passive participle. Note again the term “passive”.

English has three principal parts: see – saw – seen

Most Latin verbs have four principal parts:

[1] First principal part: videō; the first person singular present tense

[2] Second principal part: vidēre; the present active infinitive

[3] Third principal part: vīdī; the first person singular perfect tense

And now we have the fourth - and final - principal part:

[4] vīsus, -a, -um: the perfect passive participle and, so as not to lose sight of what it means, we’ll translate it not just as ‘seen’ because that might lead you to believe it is identical to its English equivalent with more than one function, but as having been seen i.e. it is used only in passive constructions and refers to an action that was / has been completed or had been completed or will have been completed.

The past passive participle acts like a 1^st / 2^nd declension adjective i.e. it agrees in gender and number with the subject of the verb. A dictionary listing will usually only give the masculine singular form e.g. vīsus

The singular endings for the participle, a first / second declension adjective, are: Masculine: -us (amātus); Feminine:  -a (amāta);  Neuter: -um (amātum)

The endings for plural forms are:  Masculine: -ī (amātī); Feminine:  -ae (amātae); Neuter: -a (amāta)

Image #3: examples of perfect passive participles / the fourth principal part to give you an overview; note that the ending is either –tus or –sus and it is usually only the masculine form that is listed

amō, amāre, amāvī, ¦ amātus, [-a, -um] [having been loved]

videō, vidēre, vīdī, ¦ vīsus [having been seen]

dūcō, dūcere, dūxī, ¦ ductus [having been led]

capiō, capere, cēpī, ¦ captus [having been captured]

audiō, audīre, audīvī, ¦ audītus [having been heard]

Image #4: This fourth principal part can be confusing because it will be listed either as [i] amāt¦us or [ii] amāt¦um.

[i] If the dictionary lists amātus – having been loved - that is the perfect passive participle (which is what concerns us)

[ii] If it lists amātum that is a form known as the supine, a verb form that rarely occurs and will be discussed at a later point.

Whether you see [i] or [ii] it doesn’t matter: if the 4th principal part listed ends in -us, then you’re ready to go > amātus, -a, -um. If it ends in -um, change it to -us and you’re still ready to go.

The image, which was used in an earlier post, shows two different dictionary entries for the same verb. The first listing shows the verb as the perfect passive participle, but the second listing shows the supine form. Don’t be put off by that because the supine in -um can become a perfect passive participle i.e. frāctum > frāctus, -a, -um: having been broken

Image #5: formation of the three passives; overview

In short, what you need to know is one form i.e. the perfect passive participle. Once you have that all you are doing to create three different passive forms using that participle with the three different tenses of esse

Perfect passive: vocātus sum │ I was / have been called

Pluperfect passive: vocātus eram  │ I had been called

Future perfect passive: vocātus eram │ I shall have been called

But compare the Latin with the English translation because the Latin tenses and the English tense equivalents don’t match:

vocātus sum [present tense of esse] │ I was / have been called

vocātus  eram [imperfect tense of esse] │ I had been called

vocātus erō [future tense of esse] │I shall have been called

Perfect passive: vīsus est │ he was / has been seen [NOT he is seen]*

Pluperfect passive: vīsus erat │ he had been seen [NOT he was seen]*

Future perfect passive: vīsus erit │ he will have been  seen [NOT he will be seen]

*There are occasions in translation where, dependent upon context, the perfect passive may be translated literally, one of the best examples being the first line of Caesar's dē bellō Gallicō:

Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs │ Gaul is as a whole divided into three parts i.e. the participle is functioning more like an adjective describing the general state rather than an action being done. However, it is best to keep to the rule that the present tense of esse + the perfect passive participle conveys was or has been done.