[i] The imperfect and future tense of the deponent verbs are formed in exactly the same way as the passive verbs.
[ii] The deponent verbs are passive in form but active in meaning. Therefore, sequebar means ‘I was following’ and sequar ‘I shall follow’; below are examples of deponent verbs in the imperfect and future tenses.
[iii] Look for the signs!
Although it’s been mentioned many times before, it is worth remembering that, when staring directly in the face of Latin declension and, here, conjugations, they can look intimidating. Take them apart to see what they are telling you:
image #1: three pieces of information are given
[1] from the infinitive comes the stem to which other endings are added
[2] a tense marker; here you have the imperfect and the future tenses for the 1st and 2nd conjugations
[3] finally, the personal endings
image #2: the personal endings for all deponent / passive verbs in the imperfect and future tenses are the same:
-r
-ris
-tur
-mur
-minī
-ntur
image #3 (i): imperfect: all conjugations; -ba- / -bā- are the tense markers which are added to the stem of the verb in this example:
cōnor, cōnā¦rī, cōnātus sum [1/dep]: try
cōnā- = stem
cōnā¦ba¦r: I was trying
cōnābāris: you (sg.) were trying
cōnābātur: he/she/it was trying
cōnābāmur: we were trying
cōnābāminī: you (pl.) were trying
cōnābantur: they were trying
image# 3 (ii): future; 1st / 2nd conjugations; -bo- / -bi- / -bu-; note the difference in the 2nd person singular*
cōnā¦bo¦r: I shall try
*cōnāberis: you (sg.) will try
cōnābitur: he/she/it will try
cōnābimur: we will try
cōnābiminī: you (pl.) will try
cōnābuntur: they will try
Images #4 and #5 show the exact same forms for the 2nd conjugation deponent verb: pollicēor, pollicē¦rī, pollicitus sum [2/dep]: promise, the only difference being the stem vowel -ē-:
