| Verbs |
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The voice of a verb refers to the relationship between verb and subject; whether it is the subject of the verb creating the action or the agent. There are two voices in English and in Latin: active and passive.
The subject of the verb creates or does an action or with the verb to be shows what is or was or will be.
Exempli Gratia:
Hercules was strong.
Hercules had a bad temper.
Hercules went to Hades to find Cerberus.
The subject of the verb is the receiver of the action. There can be no direct object in a passive voice sentence. The object of the preposition by indicates who or what is creating the action.
Exempli Gratia:
Cerberus was brought up from Hades by Hercules. (Cerberus is the subject, receiving the action of being brought. Who is doing the action? Hercules.)
The race was won by Hippolyta.
Daphne is turned into a tree by her father.
To Be:
The verb to be is used as an auxiliary verb for the active and passive forms of both the perfect and pluperfect tenses in English:
is bringing: active; is brought: passive
was bringing: active; was brought: passive
will be seeing: active; will be seen: passive
has been seeking: active; has been sought: passive
had been carrying: active; had been carried: passive
will have been doing: active; will have been done: passive
It can be confusing at first determining whether a verb is active or passive in meaning, in English and Latin. An easy way to determine voice is to imagine the phrase "by me" after the verb. If it makes sense then it is passive, if not then it is active:
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