What is the passive voice?
The passive voice verb forms and passive sentence types are used to make so the subject is the passive recipient of the action, rather than being to one performing the action as it is in the active voice.
- Active: Nominative does action
- Passive: Nominative receives action
- Active → Passive: Accusative becomes the Nominative
What are the first and second passive voice conjugations?
Below is a table for the first and second conjugation indicative passive endings:
<!-- Second Conjugation -->
<tr>
<td rowspan="3">Second<br>(-ēre)</td>
<td>Present</td>
<td>-eor</td>
<td>-ēris</td>
<td>-ētur</td>
<td>-ēmur</td>
<td>-ēmini</td>
<td>-entur</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Imperfect</td>
<td>-ēbar</td>
<td>-ēbāris</td>
<td>-ēbātur</td>
<td>-ēbāmur</td>
<td>-ēbāmini</td>
<td>-ēbantur</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Future</td>
<td>-ēbor</td>
<td>-ēberis</td>
<td>-ēbitur</td>
<td>-ēbimur</td>
<td>-ēbimini</td>
<td>-ēbuntur</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
| Conjugation | Tense | Passive Endings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Sg. | 2nd Sg. | 3rd Sing. | 1st Pl. | 2nd Plural | 3rd Person Pl. | ||
| First (-āre) | Present | -or | -āris | -ātur | -āmur | -āmini | -antur |
| Imperfect | -ābar | -ābāris | -ābātur | -ābāmur | -ābāmini | -ābantur | |
| Future | -ābor | -āberis | -ābitur | -ābimur | -ābimini | -ābuntur | |
To form the present passive infinitive of first and second conjugation verbs, change the final -e of the active to -ī. So, laudāre → laudārī. Looking at imperfect and future, we can see those -ba and -bi, that we used in the imperfect and future tense of the first two conjugations. Refer back Latin Imperfect Past Tense and here Latin Future Tense respectively.
How do we use the passive voice?
In a general sentence, as mentioned earlier, the nominative does the action of the verb. In the passive voice, the nominative is acted upon. Generally, only transitive verbs are used in the passive. A active sentence can be turned into a passive one by making the accusative into the nominative. So:
Caesarem admonet — (He) warns Caesar Caesar admonētur — Caesar is being warned
Urbem dēlēbant — (They) were destroying the city Urbs dēlēbatur — The city was being destroyed. (Note: Despite being 3rd person plural in the active sentence, the passive sentence is conjugated with respect to the nominative, urbs)