23.02.25: Level 3; deponent verbs (1)

The previous text contained three verbs that were highlighted in the vocabulary list:

Avēs ex austrō revertuntur. │ The birds return from the south.

Bovēs iterum … herbā pāscuntur. │ The cattle again … graze on the grass.

Herba ē terrā nāscitur. │ Grass springs forth (is born) from the ground.

There is a group of verbs in Latin known as deponent that have passive forms but active meanings. At this stage it is best to remember two terms:

[i] An active verb is one where the subject performs the action.

The farmers harvest grain = active sentence

Agricolae frūmentum metunt.

The soldier killed the king = active sentence

Mīles rēgem interfēcit.

[ii] A passive verb is one where the subject experiences the action.

The grain is harvested by the farmers = passive sentence

Frūmentum ab agricolīs metitur.

The king was killed by the soldier = passive sentence

Rēx ā mīlite interfectus est.

With deponent verbs, however, the opposite is taking place; that’s not the be-all and end-all explanation, but it is enough for now. Deponent verbs look like passive verbs but they are active, the subject performing the action and not experiencing it.

Examples:

sequor = I follow, not I am followed!

ūtor = I use, not I am being used!

The deponent verbs only have three principal parts:

sequor, sequī, secūtus sum [3/dep]: follow

[1] sequor; first person singular present tense; I follow, not *I am followed*

[2] sequī; infintive; to follow, not *to be followed*

The third principal part is not passive in meaning but rather the meaning of a perfect tense of an active verb; it will still agree in gender and number with the subject of the verb like the perfect passive participle, but what looks like a passive is, in fact, active.

[3] secūtus, -a sum; perfect active; I (have) followed, not *I have been / was followed*

secūtus, -a est │ he / she followed

secūtī, -ae sumus │ we (m/f) followed

[1] revertor; first person singular; I return

[2] revertī; infinitive; to return

[3] reversus, -a (sum); perfect active participle; I (have) returned

The next three readings on the seasons will give further examples of deponent verbs at which point we will look at them in more detail. There is a high risk of becoming tied in knots with long-winded explanations as to why such verbs exist, some writers on Latin grammar trying to analyse each deponent verb to work out why a passive form is being used when an active sense is meant. Given that there are over 500 deponent verbs in Latin, it seems to me to be a time-consuming wild goose chase. The best approach is to note deponent verbs when they occur and, for the moment, simply note that deponent verbs are passive in form but active in meaning.

The Latin Tutorial video will give you an overview of the deponent verbs: