AM: Lesson - Semi-Deponent Verbs
Semi-Deponent Verbs
In the image of a statue to the right, the revelers gavisi sunt (have been rejoicing). The verb gavisi sunt looks passive, but is active in translation because it is a semi-deponent verb in Latin.
There is a small subset of deponent verbs called semi-deponent. The prefix semi means half; half of a semi-deponent verb's inflections are look active, while the other half look passive, but all forms are translated in the active voice. The present system (present, imperfect and future) use the normal active inflections, while the perfect system (perfect, pluperfect and future perfect) use the deponent passive forms. The principal parts of a semi-deponent verb show off this special combination:
- audeo, audere, ausus sum - to dare
Notice how the 1st and 2nd principal parts are like any other regular 2nd conjugation verb, while the 3rd principal part shows the perfect passive form.
Vocabulary
There are very few semi-deponent verbs. In this course, these are the only four you might encounter:
- audeo, audere, ausus sum - to dare
- gaudeo, gaudere, gavisus sum - to rejoice
- fido, fidere, fisus sum - to trust
- soleo, solere, solitus sum - to be accustomed to
Three of the four semi-deponent verbs are 2nd conjugation (audeo, gaudeo, soleo), while the last is 3rd conjugation (fido).
Semi-Deponent Participles
The participles are formed and used following the same guidelines as the fully deponent verbs:
- audeo, audere, ausus sum - to dare
- Present Active: audens (gen. audentis) - daring
- Perfect Active (formed as Perfect Passive): ausus, ausa, ausum - having dared
- Future Active: ausurus, ausura, ausurum - about to dare
Semi-Deponent Forms Chart
Let's look at a fully conjugated semi-deponent verb.
- audeo, audere, ausus sum - to dare
- Present stem: aude- (audere - re)
- Perfect stem: N/A - like fully deponent verbs, the semi-deponent verbs lack a perfect stem
- Participle stem: aus- (ausus sum - us sum)
| Language | Present Tense | Imperfect Tense | Future Tense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | audeo audes audet audemus audetis audent |
audebam audebas audebat audebamus audebatis audebant |
audebo audebis audebit audebimus audebitis audebunt |
| English | I dare You dare She dares We dare You (pl) dare They dare |
I was daring You were daring It was daring We were daring You (pl) were daring They were daring |
I will dare You will dare He will dare We will dare You (pl) will dare They will dare |
| Language | Perfect Tense | Pluperfect Tense | Future Perfect Tense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | ausus sum ausus es ausus est ausi sumus ausi estis ausi sunt |
ausus eram ausus eras ausus erat ausi eramus ausi eratis ausi erant |
ausus ero ausus eris ausus erit ausi erimus ausi eritis ausi erunt |
| English | I dared You dared She dared We dared You dared They dared |
I had dared You had dared She had dared We had dared You had dared They had dared |
I will have dared You will have dared She will have dared We will have dared You will have dared They will have dared |
Nota bene
- 3rd person singular can be any gender, so can be he OR she OR it. In the examples above, just one gender was selected for each translation. If you want to include all three, you can write:
- he/she/it dares, etc.
- Passive/deponent forms listed above only include the masculine form of the participle. Remember that the participle can be masculine, feminine OR neuter, so you have the following options:
- Singular: ausus, ausa, ausum
- Plural: ausi, ausae, ausa
Download the Passive Voice Verb Examples handout for additional fully conjugated semi-deponent verb examples.