By this stage you should now be comfortable with the active forms of the subjunctive and you have seen them being used in several different ways. Before we continue with the dependent uses of the subjunctive, we will bring in passive forms of the subjunctive in contexts that you have already seen.
In this post we deal with the present passive subjunctive: remember wE fEAr A lIAr
Note the poetic alternative / archaic 2nd person singular forms ending in -re which look like infinitives.
1st conjugation
Active > Passive
portEm > portEr
portēs > portēris; or: portēre
portet > portētur
portēmus > portēmur
portētis > portēminī
portent > portentur
2nd conjugation
Active > Passive
monEAm > monEAr
moneās > moneāris; or moneāre
moneat > moneātur
moneāmus > moneāmur
moneātis > moneāminī
moneant > moneantur
3rd conjugation
Active > Passive
dūcAm > dūcAr
dūcās > dūcāris; or: dūcāre
dūcat > dūcātur
dūcāmus > dūcāmur
dūcātis > dūcāminī
dūcant > dūcantur
3rd-iō conjugation
Active > Passive
capIAm > capIAr
capiās > capiāris; or: capiāre
capiat > capiātur
capiāmus > capiāmur
capiātis > capiāminī
capiant > capiantur
4th conjugation
Active > Passive
audIAm > audIAr
audiās > audiāris; or: audiāre
audiat > audiātur
audiāmus > audiāmur
audiātis > audiāminī
audiant > audiantur
Notes
[i] I used a personal ‘short-hand’ way of remembering the changes. The passive personal endings for all conjugations are added to the stems i.e. it isn’t a question of learning all the conjugations separately
Active > passive
-m > -r
-s > -ris (-re)
-V̌t > -V̄tur (the short Vowel of the active becomes long in the 3rd person singular passive e.g. -Et > -Ētur; -eAt > eĀtur)
-mus > -mur
-tis > -minī
-nt > -ntur
[ii] Don’t try to amass all the information at one time; at this Level 4, the purpose is to recognise and understand usage of the subjunctive forms in the literature. Bear in mind that a considerable amount of literature is narrative about somebody else and, therefore, focus initially on 3rd person singular and plural forms.
Librum scrībit ¦ ut ab omnibus legātur. │ He is writing the book ¦ so that it may be read by everyone.
Tam dīligenter labōrat ¦ ut ab omnibus laudētur. │ He works so diligently ¦ that he is praised by everyone.
Omnēs mīlitēs fugiunt ¦ nē sagittīs vulnerentur. │ All the soldiers flee ¦ so that they may not be wounded by arrows.
Tantus est clāmor ¦ ut verba senātōris vix audiantur. │ The shouting is so great ¦ that the senator’s words are scarcely heard.
[iii] Examples of other forms are rarer, but here are a few from the authors:
(1) Nunc prius praecaveō sciēns sumque ōrnāta ita ut aegra videar, quasi puerperiō cubem (Plautus) │ Now, first, I take precautions deliberately, and I am made up in such a way that I may appear ill, as though I were lying in bed from childbirth.
(2) Numquid accidere tibi, sī damnāris, potest dūrius quam ut mittāris in exilium, ut dūcāris in carcerem? (Seneca) │ Can anything harsher happen to you, if you were to be condemned, than that you be sent into exile, than that you be led into prison?
(3) Finge aliquid saltem commodē ut nē plānē videāris id facere quod apertē facis (Cicero) │ At least invent something suitable so that you may not obviously be seen doing what you are openly doing.
(4) Quō mihi ācrius adnītundum est, utī neque vōs capiāminī et illī frūstrā sint (Sallust) │ For which reason I must strive the more vigorously, so that neither you may be deceived nor they may be disappointed.
(5) Further quotations from Cicero: note that Cicero, although talking about himself alone, frequently uses the 1st person plural. If you are moving into the literature, then it is useful – gradually – to become familiar with the styles of different authors.
Effice ¦ ut ab omnibus laudēmur et amēmur (Cicero) │ See to it ¦ that we are praised and loved by everyone. [ = that I am praised and loved]
Sed, nē ingrātī … videāmur, hoc omittō (Cicero) │ But about that I will say no more, so that we may not appear / be seen as ungrateful [= that I may not appear / be seen as]
Libente mē vērō, ut aliquid aliquandō dē doctrīnae studiīs admoneāmur (Cicero) │ Indeed, I gladly welcome being occasionally reminded about the studies of learning [literally: Indeed, gladly on my part, in order that we may at some point be reminded [= Cicero: I may …]
