Existimo: To Judge

Exīstimō means “judge,” “assess,” “consider,” “suppose,” or “think.” Its principal parts are exīstimō, exīstimāre, exīstimāvī, exīstimātum. It is a regular first-conjugation verb, but its complements require attention: a proposition normally takes accusative-and-infinitive, while an assessment of someone can use an object with an agreeing predicate.

Compared with putō, exīstimō often suggests a considered assessment, reputation, or judgment formed from evidence. The verbs nevertheless overlap substantially in prose.

Some early and deliberately archaizing texts spell the present stem exīstum- (exīstumō, exīstumāre). This is a reading variant of the same verb, not a form of sum and not a separate conjugation; use the standard exīstim- spelling in composition.

Complete Active Paradigm

Passive Voice

Perfect passive forms use exīstimātus, -a, -um plus sum: exīstimātus est, exīstimāta erat, exīstimātī erunt; exīstimātus sit, exīstimāta esset. The personal passive readily supports an agreeing predicate or infinitive. Classical prose can also leave the verb impersonal and retain an accusative-and-infinitive, especially with measurements or estimates. Keep the two patterns distinct: personal lēgātī ... exīstimantur has nominative agreement, while impersonal exīstimātur lēgātōs ... keeps the verb singular and the infinitive’s subject accusative.

In this sentence plural lēgātī controls plural exīstimābantur and petītūrī, so it is the personal nominative-and-infinitive pattern. The existence of a separate impersonal pattern does not license mixing its accusatives with a plural passive verb.

Imperatives and Non-Finite Forms

Present commands are exīstimā, exīstimāte. Future imperatives exīstimātō, exīstimātōte, exīstimantō and passive commands are (formal/archaic).

Propositions and Predicate Complements

A complete proposition follows as accusative-and-infinitive. The infinitive expresses time relative to the act of judging: venīre simultaneous, vēnisse earlier, ventūrum esse later.

See accusative-and-infinitive for agreement and relative tense across the full construction.

If the object is not an asserted proposition but an open question, an interrogative word introduces the subjunctive: exīstimā quid verba significent “assess what the words mean.” The earlier example quid valuerint exīstimābunt follows this pattern; the perfect subjunctive presents the deeds’ value as something later generations will determine.

With “consider X Y,” the object and its predicate are accusative. The predicate adjective or noun agrees where agreement is possible: eam fidēlem exīstimō; eam bonam ducem exīstimō. An omitted esse can often be supplied mentally.

In the passive, both become nominative: haec pāx perīculōsa exīstimāta est. English learners who identify the agreement before translating avoid mistaking perīculōsam for a second unrelated object.

Assessment, Reputation, and Evidence

Exīstimō can evaluate character, policy, worth, probability, or public standing. Its noun exīstimātiō means “judgment, reputation, esteem,” which helps explain why the verb often has a social or evaluative coloring. A genitive of value gives the rating: magnī exīstimāre “value highly,” parvī exīstimāre “value little.” With people or topics, dē plus ablative is also idiomatic: bene dē aliquō exīstimāre means “have a good opinion of someone.”

Evidence may be introduced by ex plus ablative. This marks the basis of judgment, not an agent. Negative nōn exīstimō eum venīre denies holding a belief; exīstimō eum nōn venīre asserts a negative belief.

Reputation and the Viewpoint of the Judge

An assessment always belongs to some evaluator, even when Latin leaves that evaluator implicit. A phrase such as apud cīvēs can mark the community in whose eyes someone has a reputation; ab omnibus with a passive can name the people making the judgment.

The verb reports an evaluation, not its truth. Therefore exīstimātur should not be translated as “is known to be.” Latin can explicitly contrast reputation and evidence, as the second example does. Adverbs such as rectē, falsō, and vulgō specify whether or how widely a judgment is held.

Exīstimō and Putō

Both can translate “think.” Putō is broad and can suggest reckoning or an immediate opinion. Exīstimō often sounds more evaluative: “assess, form a judgment, regard.” There is no rigid rule assigning one to formal prose and the other to conversation; author, collocation, and desired nuance matter.

The verb is historically related to aestimō “appraise,” but Classical learners should treat exīstimō as its own lexical item. It has no large productive system of further compounds. Forms such as exīstimāvī are regular and should not be remodeled after sum merely because the word begins exis-.

Parsing Diagnostic

Identify exīstimā-, exīstimāv-, or exīstimāt-. Then locate an accusative-and-infinitive or an object with an agreeing predicate. In passive clauses, look for nominative agreement and a possible nominative-and-infinitive construction. Finally decide whether the context emphasizes belief, evaluation, reputation, or appraisal from evidence.

Common Mistakes

Inventing an irregular perfect

Using ut for a judgment

Leaving the predicate nominative

Mixing personal and impersonal passive patterns

Key Takeaways

• Memorize exīstimō, exīstimāre, exīstimāvī, exīstimātum.
• Propositions use accusative-and-infinitive; object predicates agree in the accusative.
• Personal passive constructions shift that agreement to the nominative.
• Exīstimō often emphasizes considered assessment, but overlaps with putō.