Latin GrammarFormation of the Perfect Tense of Deponent Verbs

(Grammar from 3B, pp.154-56)

The Perfect of Non-Deponents We have already learned the perfect of

non-deponent verbs. It’s easy to make. Merely remove the “-ī” from a verb’s third

principal part, and add the following endings:

singular plural

1st person: -ī -imus

2nd person: -istī -istis

3rd person -it -ērunt

Remember: These endings are unique to the perfect!

The Perfect of Non-Deponents amō, amāre, amāuī, amātus

singular plural

1st person: amāuī amāuimus

2nd person: amāuistī amāuistis

3rd person amāuit amāuērunt

The Perfect of Non-Deponents capiō, capere, cēpī, captus

singular plural

1st person: cēpī cēpimus

2nd person: cēpistī cēpistis

3rd person cēpit cēpērunt

Fact to Know Non-deponent verbs (with some minor

exceptions) of all conjugations, regular and irregular, form the perfect in the same way.

Perfect of Deponent Verbs The perfect of deponent verbs is even easier to

form than that of non-deponents. The third principal part of a deponent verb is

the first-person singular perfect form.

minor, minarī, minātus sum:

minātus sum = I threatened (have threatened)

ingredior, ingredī, ingressus sum:

ingressus sum = I entered (have entered)

Perfect of Deponent Verbs Note that the first word in the third principal part

of a deponent verb is a participle.

minātus sum

ingressus sum A participle is an adjective made from a verb. This participle declines just like multus, -a, -um,

that is, as an adjective of the first and second declension

Perfect of Deponent Verbs

Being adjectives, these participles have to agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.

Just as a man saysbonus sum

but a woman says

bona sum,

a man must sayminātus sum or ingressus sum,

but a woman must say

mināta sum or ingressa sum

Perfect of Deponent Verbs To conjugate the perfect of deponent verbs,

we simply conjugate the sum of the third principal part.

But we have to also change the form of the participle to agree with the subject.

Perfect of Deponent Verbs

singular plural

minātus, mināta, minātum sum minātī, minātae, mināta sumus

minātus, mināta, minātum es minātī, minātae, mināta estis

minātus, mināta, minātum est minātī, minātae, mināta sunt

singular plural

minātus, -a, -um sum minātī, -ae, -a sumus

minātus, -a, -um es minātī, -ae, -a estis

minātus, -a, -um est minātī, -ae, -a sunt

Fact to Know All deponent verbs of all conjugations form the

perfect in the same way. Rember, the nice thing about the perfect, both

non-deponent and deponent, is that all verbs form their perfect in the same way!

Perfect of Deponent Verbs Examples:

minātus es.

mināta es.

Marcus minātus est.

serua mināta est.

minātī sumus.

minātae sumus.

seruī minātī sunt.

meretrīcēs minātae sunt.