Diū pugnātum est. │ The battle went on for a long time.
[i] A transitive verb can be followed by a direct object, for example:
Rēx epistulam scrībit │ The king writes / is writing a letter.
Imperātor epistulam legēbat │ The commander was reading a letter.
Magister epistulam mīsit / mīserat │ The teacher (has) sent / had sent a letter.
Fēmina epistulam accipiet │ The lady will receive a letter.
[ii] Those transitive verbs can be changed into passive forms, epistula becoming the subject of the sentence:
Epistula (ā rēge) scrībitur │ A letter is (being) written (by the king).
Epistula (ab imperātōre) legēbatur│ The letter was being read (by the commander).
Epistula (ā magistrō) missa est / erat│ The letter was (has been) / had been sent by the teacher.
Epistula (ā fēminā) accipiētur │ A letter will be received by the lady.
[iii] Intransitive verbs cannot be followed by a direct object, for example:
currō, -ere: run
dormiō, -īre: sleep
eō, īre: go
pugnō, -āre: fight
veniō, -īre: come
[iv] Intransitive verbs cannot have passive forms with a subject e.g. *he has been slept*, *they were being run*. However, passive forms of intransitive verbs without a subject are used to convey impersonal ideas; in English, that may be expressed by, for example:
“There was shouting going on outside / people were shouting” i.e. the focus is on an action rather than anybody specific performing it.
Diū pugnātum est.
Literally: It was fought for a long time
- There was fighting / people fought for a long time, or (an impersonal) ‘they’ fought for a long time
A noun related to the verb may also work:
- There was a battle for a long time / the battle went on for a long time.
Translations can vary but, in the examples below from the authors, you can see that the impersonal nature of the verb is retained:
Pugnātum est ab utrīsque ācriter (Caesar)
- There was fierce fighting on both sides [ literally: ‘it’ was fought bitterly …]
Ea mē spectātum tulerat per Dionȳsia. postquam illō ventum est, iam, ut mē collocāverat, exorītur ventus turbō (Plautus)
- She had taken me to see (the show) at the Dionysiac festival. After we’d arrived there, just as she had settled me, a storm wind arose.
Ergō ex omnibus locīs urbis in forum curritur (Livy)
- Therefore, from all parts of the city people are running into the forum.
Macte novā virtūte, puer: Sīc ītur ad astra (Vergil)
- Be blessed in your new courage, boy; this is the way to the stars / one goes to … [literally: In this way it is being gone …]
Ad arma conclāmātum est (Livy)
- The cry ‘to arms!’ was raised.
Et Rōmam inde frequenter migrātum est, ā parentibus maximē ac propinquīs raptārum (Livy)
- And from there, there was frequent migration to Rome, especially by the parents and relatives of those / the women who had been abducted.
Magnīs opibus dormītur in urbe (Juvenal)
- Only with great wealth is it possible to sleep / do people sleep in the city.
However, Martial’s dormouse doesn’t quite obey the ‘rule’:
(1) Tōta mihi (2) dormītur (1) hiems et pinguior illō tempore sum, quō mē nihil nisi somnus alit.
- Literally: (1) the whole winter for me (2) is slept [ = I sleep the whole winter] and I am fatter during that time (season), when nothing but sleep feeds me.
