Laudo: To Praise

Laudō means “praise,” “commend,” “approve,” or “speak well of.” Its principal parts are laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātum. It is a regular first-conjugation verb with a complete active and passive system.

The person, action, or quality praised is normally accusative. The reason for praise can be expressed in several ways, including propter/ob plus accusative or a clause with quod.

Complete Active Indicative

Complete Active Subjunctive

Passive Voice

The shorter second-person singular endings in -re are genuine alternatives, not infinitives: context distinguishes present passive laudāre “you are praised” from present infinitive or passive imperative laudāre.

The completed passive tenses use laudātus, -a, -um plus forms of sum. The table displays masculine forms; substitute feminine singular laudāta, neuter singular laudātum, feminine plural laudātae, or neuter plural laudāta as the subject requires.

Forms built with fuī, fueram, or fuerō also occur, but they are alternatives rather than the default paradigm. The praised person or thing becomes the subject; an expressed personal agent normally uses ā/ab plus ablative. A dative of agent is also attested, particularly beside completed passive forms, but it should not be confused with the dative of the person obliged in a gerundive construction.

The regular laudāv- pattern belongs with other perfect stems in -v- and -u-.

Imperatives and Non-Finite Forms

Present active imperatives are laudā, laudāte; passive laudāre, laudāminī. The future imperative, used especially in statutes, maxims, and instructions with future reference, has active laudātō (second or third singular), laudātōte (second plural), and laudantō (third plural); passive laudātor (second or third singular) and laudantor (third plural). Latin supplies no ordinary second-plural future passive imperative.

Gerundive laudandus often shifts naturally from strict obligation “must be praised” to deservedness “praiseworthy.” It remains grammatically passive.

In the perfect passive and future active infinitives, the participle agrees with the accusative subject of indirect statement: dīxit eam laudātam esse “he said that she had been praised,” but dīxit eam laudātūram esse “he said that she would praise.” The supine in future passive laudātum īrī is invariable.

The Object of Praise

One may praise a person, deed, quality, proposal, or author. All are direct accusative objects in the active. If both person and quality matter, Latin can praise the person with a separate reason phrase or praise the quality itself.

These sentences package the same situation differently. In the first, soldiers are the praised object and courage is the ground; in the second, courage itself is the object.

Grounds for Praise

Propter or ob plus accusative can give a reason. A quod clause can present the praised fact; indicative presents it as the writer’s fact, while subjunctive can reflect reported or attributed reasoning in appropriate contexts.

An ablative can sometimes mark respect or cause in context, but the explicit propter/ob phrase keeps the reason unambiguous for composition.

Aspect and Audience

Imperfect laudābat can describe repeated praise, praise in progress, or a habitual public stance. Perfect laudāvit presents a particular commendation as complete. An adverb or audience phrase can show whether the praise was public, private, reluctant, or excessive.

Praise can also be quoted or reported. If the content becomes a full assertion about the praised person, Latin may use a separate speech verb and accusative-and-infinitive rather than forcing every detail directly under laudō.

Two specialized senses matter when reading. In a funeral setting aliquem laudāre can mean “deliver someone’s eulogy”; in older or learned usage it can mean “name or cite as an authority.” Neither sense is the default in ordinary conversation.

Praise, Approval, and Flattery

Laudō can report sincere praise or merely the public act of commending; truth and motive come from context. Probō means “approve, deem good,” while adūlor means “flatter” and is deponent. Praising words do not necessarily imply actual approval.

Compounds and Lexical Family

Collaudō (also spelled conlaudō) means “praise highly, extol” and is Classical; the prefix intensifies rather than requiring several people to praise together. Latin does not freely build new laudō compounds, so learn attested formations individually. The productive lexical family includes laus, laudātiō, laudābilis, and laudātor.

Parsing Diagnostic

Identify present laudā-, perfect laudāv-, or supine laudāt-. Determine active or passive, then locate the praised object/subject, an agent, and any reason phrase. In the passive perfect, make the participle agree with what was praised, not with the agent.

Common Mistakes

Making the praised person dative

Using the wrong case after propter

Forgetting participial agreement

Treating a passive as transitive active

Key Takeaways

• Memorize laudō, laudāre, laudāvī, laudātum as a regular first-conjugation verb.
• The praised person or quality is accusative in the active and nominative in the passive.
• Use an explicit reason phrase or clause to say why someone is praised.
• Gerundive laudandus often means “deserving praise, praiseworthy.”