Lesson 6: Passive verbs - part 2 | 1 2 3 4 5 6

Imperfect passive tense

The endings for the imperfect passive tense are the same as the other tenses in this group, but they need to be preceded with ‘ba-’.

Endings
Latin	English
-bar	I
-baris	you (singular)
-batur	he/she/it
-bamur	we
-bamini	you (plural)
-bantur	they

To form an imperfect passive you need to add these endings to the stem of the verb.

First, second and third conjugations

To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb and add the relevant endings.

Imperfect passive of voco, vocare, vocavi, vocatum (1) to call

Latin	English
vocabar	I was being called
vocabaris	you were being called
vocabatur	he/she/it was being called
vocabamur	we were being called
vocabamini	you were being called
vocabantur	they were being called

Fourth conjugation

To get the stem, remove ‘-re’ from the infinitive form of the verb, add ‘-e’ and then add the relevant endings.

For example:

audio, audire, audivi, auditum the stem ‘audi-’ becomes ‘audie-’.

Latin	English
audiebar	I was being heard
audiebaris	you were being heard
audiebatur	he/she/it was being heard
audiebamur	we were being heard
audiebamini	you were being heard
audiebantur	they were being heard