Passive Voice

Perfect, Pluperfect, and Future Perfect

Voice

• There are two options for voice in both English and Latin:

active and passive• Active: the subject does

the action• Passive: the action is done

by the subjectThe girl has seen

the boy.The boy has been seen by the girl

Perfect PassiveEnglish

TranslationLatin

I have been prepared

paratus sum

You have been prepared

paratus es

He/She has been prepared

paratus est

We have been prepared

parati sumus

You all have been prepared

parati estis

They have been prepared

parati sunt

The perfect passive is formed using the fourth principal part of the verb plus the present tense form of sum.

This tense is best translated as ‘has/have been ______ed’

Let’s look at the verb paro, parare, paravi, paratus . . .

Note that the fourth part is the perfect passive participle and must agree with the subject in case, number, and gender (our example is in the nominative masculine)

Pluperfect PassiveEnglish

TranslationLatin

I had been prepared

paratus eram

You had been prepared

paratus eras

He/She had been prepared

paratus erat

We had been prepared

parati eramus

You all had been prepared

parati eratis

They had been prepared

parati erant

The pluperfect passive is formed using the fourth principal part of the verb plus the imperfect tense form of sum.

This tense is best translated as ‘had been ______ed’

Let’s look at the verb paro, parare, paravi, paratus . . .

Note that the fourth part is the perfect passive participle and must agree with the subject in case, number, and gender (our example is in the nominative masculine)

Future Perfect Passive

English Translation

Latin

I will have been prepared

paratus ero

You will have been prepared

paratus eris

He/She will have been prepared

paratus erit

We will have been prepared

parati erimus

You all will have been prepared

parati eritis

They will have been prepared

parati erunt

The future perfect passive is formed using the fourth principal part of the verb plus the future tense form of sum.

This tense is best translated as ‘will have been ______ed’

Let’s look at the verb paro, parare, paravi, paratus . . .

Note that the fourth part is the perfect passive participle and must agree with the subject in case, number, and gender (our example is in the nominative masculine)

Summary

• These tenses all use the fourth principal part plus a form of sum

• The fourth part is part adjective, so it must agree with the subject of the verb