Caedo: To Cut or Kill | Latin Grammar

Caedō means “cut,” “strike,” “fell,” “slaughter,” or “kill violently.” Its principal parts are caedō, caedere, cecīdī, caesum. The present retains the diphthong ae, the perfect is reduplicated and has long ī in its root syllable, and the supine system uses caes-.

Unlike intransitive cadō “fall,” caedō is transitive: an agent cuts or strikes an accusative patient. It therefore has a full personal passive. The contrast cadit “falls” versus caedit “cuts” is fundamental.

Active Indicative

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	caedō	caedis	caedit	caedimus	caeditis	caedunt
Imperfect	caedēbam	caedēbās	caedēbat	caedēbāmus	caedēbātis	caedēbant
Future	caedam	caedēs	caedet	caedēmus	caedētis	caedent
Perfect	cecīdī	cecīdistī	cecīdit	cecīdimus	cecīdistis	cecīdērunt
Pluperfect	cecīderam	cecīderās	cecīderat	cecīderāmus	cecīderātis	cecīderant
Future perfect	cecīderō	cecīderis	cecīderit	cecīderimus	cecīderitis	cecīderint

Agricola arborem securī caedit.

The farmer is cutting down the tree with an axe.

Carnifex damnātum virgīs caedēbat.

The executioner was beating the condemned man with rods.

Mīlitēs hostēs fugientēs caedent.

The soldiers will cut down the fleeing enemy.

Latronēs duōs viātōrēs cecīdērunt.

The robbers killed two travelers.

Imperfect caedēbat presents repeated blows or an action in progress. Perfect cecīdit presents a completed cutting or killing. The verb itself can be violent, but only the object and context determine whether “cut,” “strike,” “fell,” or “kill” is the right translation.

Active Subjunctive

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	caedam	caedās	caedat	caedāmus	caedātis	caedant
Imperfect	caederem	caederēs	caederet	caederēmus	caederētis	caederent
Perfect	cecīderim	cecīderīs	cecīderit	cecīderīmus	cecīderītis	cecīderint
Pluperfect	cecīdissem	cecīdissēs	cecīdisset	cecīdissēmus	cecīdissētis	cecīdissent

Imperātor vetuit nē captīvōs caederent.

The commander forbade them to kill the prisoners.

Present caedam is formally either future indicative or present subjunctive. A main-clause prediction gives “I shall cut,” while a purpose, fear, command, or prohibition clause requires the subjunctive.

Present-System Passive

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	caedor	caederis	caeditur	caedimur	caediminī	caeduntur
Imperfect	caedēbar	caedēbāris	caedēbātur	caedēbāmur	caedēbāminī	caedēbantur
Future	caedar	caedēris	caedētur	caedēmur	caedēminī	caedentur
Present subjunctive	caedar	caedāris	caedātur	caedāmur	caedāminī	caedantur
Imperfect subjunctive	caederer	caederēris	caederētur	caederēmur	caederēminī	caederentur

Silva ab agricolīs caeditur.

The woodland is being cut down by the farmers.

Captīvī sine misericordiā caedēbantur.

The prisoners were being slaughtered without mercy.

Perfect-System Passive

The perfect passive combines caesus, -a, -um with forms of sum. The participle agrees with the patient; the auxiliary supplies person, number, tense, and mood.

Form	Parsing	Meaning
caesus est	perfect indicative	he was / has been cut down
caesus erat	pluperfect indicative	he had been cut down
caesus erit	future perfect indicative	he will have been cut down
caesus sit	perfect subjunctive	he may have been cut down
caesus esset	pluperfect subjunctive	he would have been cut down

Arbor vetus tempestāte caesa est.

The old tree was brought down by the storm.

With a personal agent, Latin normally uses ā/ab plus ablative; an instrument or impersonal cause is a bare ablative. Thus ab agricolā is “by the farmer,” but securī is “with an axe.” See the ablative of agent and the ablative of means.

💡

In arbor securī caesa est, the axe is not an agent capable of intention. The bare ablative marks means; do not add ā merely because English uses “by.”

Commands and Non-Finite Forms

Present imperatives are caede, caedite; passive caedere, caediminī. Future imperatives are (formal/archaic).

Category	Active	Passive
Present infinitive	caedere	caedī
Perfect infinitive	cecīdisse	caesum esse
Future infinitive	caesūrum esse	caesum īrī (rare)
Participles	caedēns; caesūrus	caesus; caedendus
Gerund	caedendī, caedendō, caedendum, caedendō	—
Supines	caesum, caesū	—

Audīvimus silvam ā mīlitibus caedī.

We heard that the woodland was being cut down by the soldiers.

Dux negat captīvōs caesōs esse.

The commander denies that the prisoners were killed.

Haec arbor ante hiemem caedenda est.

This tree must be cut down before winter.

The gerundive makes the patient nominative and marks the responsible person with a dative: nōbīs arbor caedenda est “we must cut down the tree.” Future active caesūrus instead describes an intending or imminent cutter.

Cutting, Striking, and Killing

With wood or vegetation, caedō commonly means cut or fell. With a person and an instrument such as virgīs, it can mean beat. In battle or massacre contexts, it means cut down or slaughter. English “kill” is broader and often less vivid than Latin caedō.

Servī ligna ad ignem caedunt.

The workers are cutting wood for the fire.

Magistrātus scelestum virgīs caedī iussit.

The magistrate ordered the criminal to be beaten with rods.

For neutral “kill,” Latin can use interficiō; necō can mean kill or put to death; occīdō emphasizes cutting down. These overlap but are not interchangeable in tone. Caedō readily evokes blows, weapons, or collective slaughter.

Compounds and the cadō Trap

Frequent compounds include concīdō “cut to pieces,” incīdō “cut into, engrave,” occīdō “kill,” praecīdō “cut off,” and recīdō “cut back.” They usually lose the simple verb’s reduplication and use perfects in -cīdī and supines in -cīsum.

Artifex litterās in marmore incīdit.

The craftsman cuts letters into the marble.

Macrons distinguish these from compounds of cadō: incīdō “cut into” versus incidō “fall into,” and occīdō “kill” versus occidō “fall, perish.” Unmacronized texts require you to use the object, case frame, and context.

💡

If a form has an accusative patient being cut or killed, suspect caedō. If its nominative subject itself falls, suspect cadō. Vowel quantity confirms the analysis in teaching text.

Parsing Diagnostic

Identify caed-, cecīd-, or caes-. Determine voice and locate the accusative patient or nominative passive subject. Separate a personal agent with ā/ab from a bare ablative instrument. Finally check whether a prefixed form belongs to caedō “cut” or cadō “fall” before translating.

Common Mistakes

Inventing a regular perfect

❌ Agricola arborem caedīvit.

Incorrect — the perfect is reduplicated cecīdit.

✅ Agricola arborem cecīdit.

The farmer cut down the tree.

Inventing the perfect participle

❌ Arbor caedita est.

Incorrect — the perfect participle is caesa.

✅ Arbor caesa est.

The tree was cut down.

Confusing “fall” and “fell”

❌ Ventus arborem cadit.

Incorrect for ‘the wind fells the tree’ — cadit is intransitive ‘falls.’

✅ Ventus arborem caedit.

The wind brings down the tree.

Treating an instrument as a personal agent

❌ Arbor ā securī caesa est.

Incorrect — an axe is the means, so the ablative has no preposition.

✅ Arbor securī caesa est.

The tree was cut down with an axe.

Key Takeaways

Memorize caedō, caedere, cecīdī, caesum.
Caedō is transitive and supports a full personal passive; cadō “fall” does not.
The accusative names what is cut or struck, while a weapon is ablative of means.
Compounds lose reduplication and may differ from cadō compounds only in vowel quantity.

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