| Verbs |
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The English word deponent is derived from 'de' and 'ponere', meaning to put aside. In Latin it 'puts aside' the active form and in English, it 'puts aside' the passive form.
This verb form is peculiar to Latin but one which is easy to recognize when learning principal parts.
Remember that these verbs look like passive voice verbs but are translated into English in the Active Voice.
One can recognize a deponent verb because the first principal part ends in -or rather than -o. The infinitive, the 2nd principal part, is always a passive infinitive. Since the Latin verb has no active form there is no perfect active form which we usually recognize as the third principal part. Instead, the last principal part is the perfect passive participle, often seen in dictionaries with 'sum'.
| Present 1st person sg. |
Infinitve Present Stem Root |
Perfect 1st person sg. |
Conjugation |
|---|---|---|---|
| cônor - I try | cônârî - to try | cônâtus sum - I have tried | 1st |
| moror - I delay, stay | morârî- to delay, stay | morâtus sum - I have delayed, stayed | 1st |
| vereor - I am afraid | verêrî- to be afraid | veritus sum - I have afraid | 2nd |
| loquor - I speak | loquî - to speak | locûtus sum - I have spoken | 3rd |
| sequor - I follow | sequî - to follow | secutus sum - I have followed | 3rd |
| gradior - I walk | gradî - to walk | gressus sum - I have walked | 3rd io |
| experior - I test | experîrî- to test | expertis sum - I have tested | 4th |
Compund verb forms (verbs with a prefix):
(Note the spelling change of gradior to -gredior when a prefix is added.
Many deponent verbs have synonyms in the traditional verb format such as:
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