In active voice, the subject performs an action. In passive voice the subject receives an action. It's hard to imagine what could possibly lie in the middle! If we take a quick review of a few things, middle voice might be easier.

• Grammatical voice is the relationship of a subject and its verb.

• Passive voice essentially turns a sentence around, making the direct object (accusative) the subject (nominative).

• The basic idea behind the dative case is to show someone with an interest in an action.

• When an action is reflexive, the subject is performing an action on itself.

Pull all these ideas together and you have a grammatical voice in which a subject performs an action in his own interest, on himself, or is otherwise personally involved. Here are some examples using the verb lavī , lavā re, lā vī,lautum to illustrate the sense of middle voice:

The active and reflexive examples are easy enough. The passive is rather simple as well. “He” is getting cleaner, but at someone else's hands. The example for middle voice might be a little harder to see because the distinction is so subtle. Setting our canine friend aside, the last three examples all bring us to the same result in the end. Of those three examples, only the reflexive and the middle have the same person doing the scrubbing. Now think very carefully about the subtle difference between washing yourself and bathing. “Bathing” is more personally involved, more intimate even, don't you think? The difference in meaning between active and middle voice is quite delicate and usually lost entirely in translation.

Look at the examples again and you'll see that middle voice and passive voice forms are the same. This is a problem, especially since the thought behind middle voice is far more akin to active voice than to passive voice.

Deponent Verbs

The solution to the middle voice conundrum is simpler than you might expect. There is a group of verbs that were used so often in middle voice and so rarely in active or passive voice that they abandoned their active forms and passive uses, keeping only their middle voice forms and middle voice sense. These verbs are called deponents.

When you learn your vocabulary, or run across deponents in your dictionary, they will be immediately obvious. Their principal parts all appear passive in form, but they still give you all the information you need to be able to conjugate them fully. For example:

The first principal part, morior, is the first person present tense. It tells you if the verb is an -iī verb, which mor ior is. The second principal part, morī, is the present infinitive. It tells you the conjugation of the verb. In this case, the ending -īsuggests third conjugation. The third principal part of a deponent verb does the work of the third and fourth principal parts of regular verbs. It is the first person singular perfect tense. Being a passive form, it includes the perfect passive participle.

The only trouble deponent verbs are likely to give you is if you forget that they are deponent. Their passive-looking forms and active-sounding meanings can be quite deceiving.

Semideponent Verbs

In addition to fully deponent verbs, there is a small group of semideponent verbs. As their name suggests, they are only half deponent. Their present system is regular, but their perfect system is deponent. sum to dare They, too, can be recognized by their principal parts. For example:

The most common deponent and semideponent verbs are included in the vocabulary list in TABLE 14-9.

Table 14-9 Vocabulary

audeō , audē re, ausus sum	to dare
coepī, coepisse, coeptum*	to begin
debeō, -ē re, -uī, -itum	to owe, ought, should, must
gaudeō , gaudē re, gā vī sus sum	to be happy, rejoice
gens, gentis, f.	family (as in clan)
gradior, gradī , grassus sum	to walk, step, go
familia, ae, f.	family (as in household, including slaves)
fiō , fierī,factus sum	to be made, be done, happen, become, be
inquam**	I say
irascor, irascī , irā tus sum	to become angry
iubeō, -ē re, iussī, iussum	to order
loquor, loquī , locū tus sum	to speak, talk
mī ror, mī rā rī , mī rā tus sum	to wonder, be amazed, stare at
morior, morī , mortuus sum	to die
nascor, nascī , nā tus sum	to be born
nā tus,-ī, m.	child, offspring
oculus, -ī, m.	eye
orior, orī rī , ortus sum	to rise, attack
parens, parentis, c.	parent
patior, patī , passus sum	to suffer, endure
pectus, pectoris, n.	chest, breast, heart
potis, -e	able, powerful
proprius, -a, -um	one's own, peculiar
sequor, sequī , secū tus sum	to follow
sō l, -is, m.	sun
soleō , solē re, solitus sum***	to be in the habit of, to be accustomed
studium, -ī, n.	eagerness, enthusiasm
usque, adv.	thoroughly, continuously, all the way
ū tor, ū tī, ū sus sum****	to use (takes an ablative object)

* Coepī is a defective verb. (A defective verb is one that is lacking forms.) Coepīonly has perfect system forms.

** Inquam is also a defective verb with only scattered, third conjugation forms. It is used to introduce direct quotations.

*** Soleō is most often seen with a complementary infinitive. It is best translated “usually” with its person, number, tense, mood, and voice transferred to its accompanying infinitive: Rus aestā te ī re solitī sumus. (“We usually went to the country in the summer.”)

**** ū ator actually means “to benefit oneself.” The ablative that it uses as its object is an ablative of means.

The Irregular Verb fiō , fiē rī , factus sum

The only irregular verb left for you to learn is fiī. It was saved for this chapter because it serves as the passive of faciī , facere, fē cī , factum. It is also somewhat semideponent in appearance. Like most other irregular verbs, fiī has irregular forms in the present tense, then its imperfect and future tense forms are the same as those of a third conjugation -iī verb.

Table 14-10 Present, Imperfect, and Future Tense of fiō, fiē rī , factus sum

The perfect system has entirely regular passive forms (e.g., factus sum, et cetera).

What is even more distinctive about fiī than its forms is its meaning. In addition to serving as the passive for faciī , fiī can be used as a verb meaning “to be.” The sense of being that fiī conveys is not the same as that of sum, esse. Sum points to being in terms of existence. Fiī refers more to coming into being, becoming, or being temporarily. The best example of fi ī in action is from the Bible: fiat lux, “let there be light.” (The form fiat is present subjunctive, which we haven't covered yet.)

Latin-to-English Translations

Translate these Latin sentences into English.

• Cum gens Iuliī Caesaris pauper esset, ille tamen nō tus dī vesque factus est.

• Familia propria cuique cara esse debet.

• Omnia quae mihi monstrā bās mī rā bar nam tibi nōn credidī .

• Tam irā tus est ut tō tum exercitum oppidum orī rī iubē ret.

• Deinde nova quae tam diū exspectā bantur Athē nīs lā ta sunt et gā vī sī sunt.

English-to-Latin Translations

Translate these English sentences into Latin.

• If you (plural) follow us, you (plural) will be safe. (tū tus, -a, -um — safe)

• You (singular) will always be loved by me with all my heart.

• We were amazed at the carnage of the first day. (caedē s, caedis, f. — carnage)

• Your brother used my advice.

• The old men of this town dared to speak with great enthusiasm in the senate at Rome. (Cū ria, -ae, f. — Senate)