Latin GrammarPerfect Participles Deponent

(Grammar for 3B, p. 158)

(Perfect Deponent Participles)

(Deponent Perfect Participles)

What is a participle? A participle is an adjective made from a verb. English can make two sorts of participles from

most verbs. From the English verb break we get the

participles breaking and broken.

The broken window.

My breaking heart.

Latin Particples Latin verbs have several participles. We’re about to meet our first:

the perfect deponent participle.

Latin Participles If you remove the sum from the last principal part of

a deponent verb, the result is a deponent perfect participle.

minor, minārī, minātus sum minātus, -a, -um

ingredior, ingredī, ingressus sum ingressus, -a, -um

These words are adjectives and they decline just like multus, -a, -um.

Latin Participles How do we translate these perfect deponent

participles? having Xed

mīnātus, -a, -um = having threatened

ingressus, -a, -um = having entered

These are perfect participles. In Latin, that means that their actions have to be perfect, that is, complete before the time of a clause’s main verb.

A Note on a Latin Obsession Latin is obsessed with distinguishing between

actions that are complete (perfect) or incomplete with respect to the present moment or with respect to other verbs.

English does not share this obsession.

Perfect Deponent ParticiplesMarcus, in aedīs ingressus, fīlium castigāuit.

Marcus, having entered into the house, castigated his son.

We use the having Xed translation to make it clear that the action of the participle in Latin is PERFECT, that is, COMPLETE, with respect to

the main verb castigāuit.

Perfect Deponent ParticiplesMarcus, in aedīs ingressus, fīlium castigāuit.

However, the following translation is also a good English translation.

Marcus, entering into the house, castigated his son.

For the time being, I prefer you to translate these participles as having Xed.

A Side-Note By the way, this Latin obsession with whether

actions are complete (perfect) or incomplete explains why the perfect of deponent verbs uses the present tense of sum.

ingressus sum

The action of ingressus must be complete (perfect) with respect to the conjugated verb sum. So that means that it must be a perfect action.

Perfect Deponent ParticiplesIulia, fīlium cōnspicāta, in aedīs ingressa est.

Julia, having spotted her son, entered into the house.

(OR Julia, spotting her son, entered into the house.)

Caution

ingressus sum ≠ ingressus!

(I entered ≠having entered)

adipīscor, adipīscī, adeptus sum = get, gain, acquire

adeptī sumus≠ adeptī!

(We got ≠having gotten)