Verbs: person, tense, voice and principal parts
Read finite verbs by person, number, tense, mood and voice, including common irregular and deponent patterns.
Section MORPH-VERBS · Verbs, tense, mood and voice
Exam scope and assessment notes
Original teaching foundations for the 2026–2028 syllabus. Six prescribed texts have passage-specific sequences; all 693 printed vocabulary rows have been reconciled into 692 distinct records, with additional number, comparison and compound-verb practice. Linked teaching and lexical self-checks do not certify mastery. Complete line-by-line annotation, further translation and scansion practice, qualified Latin-teacher review, full timed papers and human marking remain outstanding. Open the assigned edition alongside these lessons: public ancient texts can differ in spelling, punctuation or editorial readings from the prescribed prose anthology. Practice explanations are formative, not Cambridge questions, marks or predicted grades. Cambridge has announced withdrawal; the last assessment is June 2028, in administrative zones 3, 4, 5 and 6 only. Confirm entry with your centre.
Before you begin
- Read a short Latin sentence with a finite verb
- Check endings and vocabulary in context
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Which evidence should you check first when a Latin sentence is unclear?
What you will learn
- Use endings and stems to identify a verb's person, number, tense, mood and voice.
- Distinguish active, passive and deponent meanings in context.
Find the finite verb before translating
A verb ending can identify the subject even when the subject noun is omitted. Check person and number, then tense, mood and voice.
Principal parts help you recognise different stems. The syllabus includes regular and irregular verbs, compounds, deponent and semi-deponent verbs, and the listed defective verbs.
Voice is not always a direct word-for-word signal
A passive form normally presents the subject as receiving an action. Deponent verbs have passive-looking forms with active meanings; learn each listed verb with its meaning.
Use tense and time markers together. A perfect form often reports a completed past action; context determines a natural English rendering.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
What is unusual about a deponent verb?
Worked example
Translate “Servus a domino laudatur.”
Show the worked solution
- Laudatur is third-person singular present passive.
- Servus is nominative and receives the action.
- A domino names the agent with a + ablative.
Answer The slave is praised by the master. The passive verb agrees with servus; a domino identifies who performs the action.
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Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Translate “Puellae in horto cantabant.” Identify person, number and tense.
Give me a hint
Read the ending of cantabant, then match it to the subject.
Compare my reasoning
- Cantabant is third-person plural imperfect.
- Puellae is nominative plural.
- In horto gives the setting.
The girls were singing in the garden. Cantabant is third-person plural imperfect, expressing an ongoing or repeated past action.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies the subject
- Parses person, number and tense
- Chooses a context-sensitive English tense
A story says “Dux milites vocavit et tum discessit.” Did the leader or the soldiers leave?
Give me a hint
Use the person and number of discessit.
Compare my reasoning
- Vocavit is singular and takes milites as its object.
- Discessit is third-person singular.
- Dux is the singular subject carried forward.
The leader left. Discessit is singular; milites is the object of vocavit and cannot be its subject.
Look for these in your work
- Parses the second verb
- Tracks the subject
- Rejects the nearby plural noun
Explain why “profectus est” in a sentence about a male traveller should not automatically be translated “was set out”.
Give me a hint
Check whether proficiscor is deponent.
Compare my reasoning
- Recognise the passive-looking perfect form.
- Recall that proficiscor is deponent.
- Translate its active meaning in context.
It means “he set out” or “he departed”. Proficiscor is deponent: its forms look passive but its meaning is active.
Look for these in your work
- Recognises the deponent pattern
- Gives an active translation
- Explains the form/meaning distinction
Common mistakes
- Using the nearest noun as the subject without checking the ending
- Translating a deponent verb as passive
- Treating a tense label as a complete English translation
What can you explain now?
What is unusual about a deponent verb?
Compare with the explanation
It has passive forms but an active meaning
Its form and meaning do not follow the ordinary active/passive pairing.
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Make it stick
What is unusual about a deponent verb?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.