Prerequisites: Infinitives, Participles, Gerund, Gerundive, Supine, Tense, Mood and Voice in Main Clauses, Ablative and Locative
Next: Subordinate Clauses
The forms of the infinitive, the participle, the gerund, the gerundive and the supine are on the page Infinitives, participles, gerund, gerundive, supine. This page shows what they do in sentences. It covers the accusative and infinitive after verbs of saying, thinking and perceiving, the use of the infinitive as subject, object and exclamation, the personal construction of verbs such as dīcitur, the participle as a substitute for a clause, the ablative absolute, the two periphrastic conjugations, the gerund and the gerundive of purpose, and the supine. Indirect speech in full is on the page Indirect speech.
Complementary infinitive with the same subject as the main verb: Volō īre. I want to go. The subject of the infinitive is not repeated. (constructed)
Infinitive as subject or predicate, treated as a neuter noun: Tacēre ūtile est. To be silent is useful. (constructed)
Infinitive as object:
Vincere scīs, Hannibal; victōriā ūtī nescīs.
You know how to conquer, Hannibal; you do not know how to use victory. (Livy 22.51.4, Maharbal speaking; the infinitives complete scīs and nescīs)
Verbs of ordering and allowing take the accusative and the infinitive, which is not indirect statement: Mīlitēs abīre iussit. He ordered the soldiers to leave. (constructed) The passive is personal: Mīlitēs abīre iussī sunt. The soldiers were ordered to leave.
Historical infinitive (a vivid narrative use, with the subject in the nominative) is described on the page Infinitives, participles, gerund, gerundive, supine.
The infinitive with a subject in the accusative can express indignation or surprise, in the form of a question or an exclamation:
Mēne inceptō dēsistere victam?
Am I, defeated, to abandon my undertaking? (Vergil, Aeneid 1.37, Juno speaking)
After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing and perceiving, Latin does not use a word for that. The statement is expressed by an accusative subject and an infinitive:
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| Dīcit Caesarem vēnisse. | He says that Caesar has come. (constructed) |
| Putō tē errāre. | I think that you are mistaken. (constructed) |
| Sciō eum esse bonum. | I know that he is good. (constructed) |
The verbs that take this construction include dīcō, putō, crēdō, sciō, videō, audiō, sentiō, intellegō, cognōscō, nūntiō, respondeō, ostendō, and the deponent arbitror. negō means I say that ... not (Negat sē vēnisse. He says he did not come.). The construction is also found after impersonal expressions:
Caesarī cum id nūntiātum esset, eōs per prōvinciam nostram iter facere cōnārī, mātūrat ab urbe proficīscī.
When it was reported to Caesar that they were trying to make a march through our province, he hurried to set out from the city. (Caesar, De Bello Gallico 1.7.1; nūntiātum esset is an impersonal passive, eōs is the subject accusative and cōnārī the infinitive of a deponent)
The tense of the infinitive is relative to the main verb. The present infinitive expresses the same time, the perfect infinitive a time before and the future infinitive a time after, whatever the tense of the main verb:
| Main verb dīcit he says | Main verb dīxit he said | |
|---|---|---|
| Present infinitive (same time) | Caesarem venīre. that Caesar is coming | Caesarem venīre. that Caesar was coming |
| Perfect infinitive (before) | Caesarem vēnisse. that Caesar has come | Caesarem vēnisse. that Caesar had come |
| Future infinitive (after) | Caesarem ventūrum esse. that Caesar will come | Caesarem ventūrum esse. that Caesar would come |
The future infinitive is made with the future active participle, which agrees with the subject accusative (ventūrum, ventūram, ventūrōs), and esse, often omitted. The passive is urbem capī (is being captured), urbem captam esse (has been captured), urbem captum īrī (will be captured). Verbs of hoping, promising, swearing and threatening (spērō, prōmittō, iūrō, minor) take the future infinitive: Spērat sē ventūrum esse. He hopes that he will come. (constructed)
When the subject of the infinitive is the same person as the subject of the main verb, the reflexive sē is used. When it is a different person, eum, eam, eōs is used:
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| Dīcit sē vēnisse. | He says that he himself has come. |
| Dīcit eum vēnisse. | He says that he (another person) has come. |
With the passive of verbs of saying, thinking and showing, Latin prefers the personal construction: the subject of the infinitive becomes the subject of the verb, and is in the nominative, with the infinitive after it:
| Active | Passive (personal) |
|---|---|
| Dīcunt Caesarem vēnisse. | Caesar vēnisse dīcitur. Caesar is said to have come. |
| Putant eum esse fēlīcem. | Is esse fēlīx putātur. He is thought to be happy. |
The verbs used in this way are dīcitur, putātur, trāditur, vidētur, iubētur, vetātur, in the present, imperfect and future.
Ille mī pār esse deō vidētur.
That man seems to me to be equal to a god. (Catullus 51.1; ille is the nominative subject and vidētur is followed by the infinitive esse)
The impersonal construction is used with the compound tenses (nūntiātum est, dictum est) and with cōnstat (it is agreed): Nūntiātum est Caesarem vēnisse. It was reported that Caesar had come. (constructed)
The participle expresses time relative to the main verb:
| Participle | Time | Example (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | same time | Puerum currentem vīdī. | I saw the boy running. |
| Perfect (passive) | before | Urbem captam vīdit. | He saw the captured city. |
| Future | after, purpose | Moritūrus scrībit. | About to die, he writes. |
Timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs.
I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts. (Vergil, Aeneid 2.49; the present participle ferentēs shows that the bringing is simultaneous with the fearing)
Multās per gentēs et multa per aequora vectus adveniō hās miserās, frāter, ad īnferiās.
Carried through many nations and over many seas, I come, brother, to these sad rites. (Catullus 101.1–2; vectus is the perfect passive participle of vehō, expressing a time before adveniō)
A participle agreeing with a noun can replace a whole clause. The meaning (time, cause, concession, condition) is not stated and must be taken from the context:
| Meaning | Latin (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Puer domum rediēns mātrem vīdit. | The boy, as he was returning home, saw his mother. |
| Cause | Perīculum timēns domī mānsit. | Because he feared the danger, he stayed at home. |
| Concession | Vulnerātus tamen pugnābat. | Although wounded, he went on fighting. |
| Condition | Hunc librum legēns multa discēs. | If you read this book, you will learn much. |
| Purpose (future participle) | Lēgātī pācem petītūrī vēnērunt. | Envoys came to seek peace. |
The future participle of purpose is rare in classical prose and more frequent in poetry and later writers.
Latin has no perfect active participle for ordinary verbs. English having captured the city cannot be rendered by a participle agreeing with the subject. Latin uses:
| English | Latin |
|---|---|
| Having captured the city, he left. | Urbe captā discessit. (ablative absolute) |
| Cum urbem cēpisset, discessit. (cum clause) | |
| Having encouraged the soldiers, he left. | Mīlitēs hortātus discessit. (deponent participle, active in meaning) |
All three examples are constructed.
Ab urbe conditā
From the founding of the city. (the title of Livy's history; the participle conditā agrees with urbe and the whole phrase means the city having been founded)
The ablative absolute is a phrase in the ablative case that gives the circumstances of the main clause and is grammatically independent of it (Latin absolūtus, loosened). It is made of two elements in the ablative: a noun or pronoun and a predicate that agrees with it.
| Pattern | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| noun + perfect passive participle | urbe captā | the city having been captured |
| noun + present participle | sōle oriente | with the sun rising, at sunrise |
| noun + noun | Cicerōne cōnsule | with Cicero as consul |
| noun + adjective | mē invītō | with me unwilling |
The present participle takes the ending -e in the ablative absolute (sōle oriente) and the ending -ī when it is used as an ordinary adjective. With the verb sum Latin has no present participle in classical prose, so two nouns, or a noun and an adjective, stand together (Cicerōne cōnsule).
Nīl dēspērandum Teucrō duce et auspice Teucrō.
There is no need to despair with Teucer as leader and guide. (Horace, Odes 1.7.27; Teucrō duce is an ablative absolute made of two nouns; dēspērandum is an impersonal gerundive, see below)
Ō fortūnātam nātam mē cōnsule Rōmam.
O fortunate Rome, born in my consulship. (Cicero, quoted by Juvenal 10.122)
The ablative absolute is vague by design, and the context gives the sense:
| Meaning | Example (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Time | Urbe captā Caesar discessit. | After the city had been captured, Caesar left. |
| Cause | Hostibus victīs omnēs gaudēbant. | Because the enemy had been defeated, everyone was happy. |
| Concession | Mē invītō profectus est. | He set out although I was unwilling, against my will. |
| Condition | Hoc factō omnia bene erunt. | If this is done, all will be well. |
| Circumstance | Sōle oriente iter fēcimus. | We made our journey at sunrise. |
The ablative absolute is the usual way to say in a word what English says with when, after, because, although or if, and it is more compact than a cum clause. The clause with cum is treated on the page Cum and temporal clauses.
The noun of an ablative absolute must have no other function in the sentence. If the noun is the subject or the object of the main verb, the participle agrees with that noun in the nominative or accusative instead:
| Faulty | Correct |
|---|---|
| Hostibus victīs eōs persecūtus est. (the enemy appears twice) | Hostēs victōs persecūtus est. He pursued the defeated enemy. |
| Caesare urbem relinquente flēvit. (Caesar is also the subject of flēvit) | Caesar urbem relinquēns flēvit. Caesar wept as he left the city. |
The faulty forms in the first column are shown only as warnings. If the doer of the participle's action is the same as the subject of the main verb, Latin uses a cum clause or a deponent participle, because a perfect active participle does not exist: Having seen the enemy, Caesar fled is Cum hostēs vīdisset, Caesar fūgit. or Hostibus vīsīs Caesar fūgit. (the second is also correct, since hostibus does not occur elsewhere in the main clause). Both examples are constructed.
The gerundive with a form of sum expresses obligation or necessity. The agent is in the dative (see Dative):
| Latin (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|
| Hoc faciendum est. | This must be done. |
| Hoc mihi faciendum est. | I must do this. |
| Puella laudanda erat. | The girl had to be praised. |
| Eundum est. | One must go. (impersonal, from an intransitive verb) |
Nīl dēspērandum Teucrō duce et auspice Teucrō.
There is no need to despair with Teucer as leader and guide. (Horace, Odes 1.7.27; dēspērandum is impersonal, since dēspērō is intransitive)
For Carthāgō dēlenda est and the impersonal bibendum, see the page Infinitives, participles, gerund, gerundive, supine.
The future active participle with a form of sum expresses what a person is about to do or intends to do. The tense of sum fixes the time:
| Latin (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|
| Ōrātiōnem habitūrus sum. | I am about to make a speech. |
| Ōrātiōnem habitūrus erat. | He was about to make a speech. |
| Moritūrus es. | You are going to die. |
The gerund is a verbal noun, and the gerundive is an adjective that agrees with a noun. Latin avoids the gerund with an accusative object and prefers the gerundive in agreement with the object:
| Pattern | Example (constructed) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ad + gerund | ad pugnandum parātus | ready for fighting |
| ad + gerundive | lēgātōs ad pācem petendam mīsit | he sent envoys to seek peace |
| gerundive + causā | pācis petendae causā | for the sake of seeking peace |
| gerund in the genitive | ars scrībendī | the art of writing |
| gerund in the ablative | Legendō discimus. | We learn by reading. |
The gerundive can be replaced by ut with the subjunctive, a purpose clause treated on the page Purpose and result.
| Form | Use | Example (constructed) |
|---|---|---|
| Supine in -um | purpose after a verb of motion | Vēnērunt auxilium petītum. They came to ask for help. |
| Supine in -ū | respect after an adjective | Mīrābile dictū. Wonderful to tell. |
| Construction | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Indirect statement | accusative + infinitive | that he ... |
| Personal passive | nominative + infinitive after dīcitur, vidētur | he is said to ... |
| Exclamatory infinitive | accusative + infinitive, with a question mark | Am I to ...? |
| Participle for a clause | participle agreeing with a noun | time, cause, concession, condition |
| Ablative absolute | noun and participle (or noun, adjective) in the ablative | time, cause, concession, condition |
| Passive periphrastic | gerundive + sum, agent in the dative | must be done |
| Active periphrastic | future participle + sum | about to do |
| Purpose | ad or causā with the gerund or the gerundive; supine in -um | in order to ... |
Identify the construction and translate.
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