Puto: To Think

Putō means “think,” “suppose,” “consider,” “reckon,” or “calculate.” Its principal parts are putō, putāre, putāvī, putātum. Morphologically it is a regular first-conjugation verb; its real difficulty lies in choosing the structure that follows it.

A proposition thought true normally appears as accusative-and-infinitive. A judgment about a person or thing can instead use object plus agreeing predicate: eum sapientem putō “I consider him wise.”

Complete Active Paradigm

Parenthetic putō comments on the whole assertion and is common in prose. It need not occupy first position and does not alter the syntax of the surrounding clause.

Classical authors also omit -v- in many perfect-system forms: beside putāvistī, putāvisse, and putāveram stand putāstī, putāsse, and putāram. These are ordinary contractions of the same regular perfect, not separate stems.

Passive Voice

Perfect-system passives use putātus, -a, -um plus sum: perfect putātus est, pluperfect putāta erat, future perfect putātī erunt; perfect subjunctive putātus sit, pluperfect subjunctive putāta esset. The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number. The passive is common with an agreeing predicate or infinitive.

English “the commander was thought to…” closely resembles this nominative-and-infinitive pattern. Latin nominative dux is the subject of passive putābātur, while future participle adventūrus agrees with it.

Commands and Non-Finite Forms

Present active imperatives are putā, putāte. The future imperative has putātō for the second- or third-person singular, putātōte for the second-person plural, and putantō for the third-person plural; it is especially characteristic of laws and precepts. Rare passive imperatives are present putāre, putāminī and future putātor (second- or third-person singular), putantor (third-person plural). A command putā can mean “consider, suppose for argument’s sake,” especially in reasoning.

In perfect passive putātum esse, the participle changes with the infinitive's understood subject. Rare future passive putātum īrī instead contains the invariant accusative supine putātum, regardless of that subject's gender or number.

Accusative-and-Infinitive

When putō introduces a full statement, the statement’s subject becomes accusative and its verb infinitive. Relative tense belongs to the infinitive: present for simultaneous action, perfect for prior action, future for later action.

Do not insert ut as a translation of English “that.” Ut with a subjunctive creates a different clause type. See accusative-and-infinitive.

Object and Predicate

With “consider X to be Y,” both object and predicate are accusative. A predicate adjective agrees with the object in case, number, and gender. A predicate noun must match the object's case, but it keeps its own lexical gender: Cicerōnem lūmen cīvitātis putō can call the masculine Cicero a neuter “light of the state.”

The same thought can often be expanded into accusative-and-infinitive: iūdicem iūstum esse putant. The shorter double-accusative pattern omits esse without changing the agreement.

Reckoning, Valuation, and the Older Meaning

The older literal sense is “clean, prune,” especially vītem putāre “prune a vine” (agricultural/technical). From removing what was unnecessary came “clear up or settle an account,” then “reckon” and “form a judgment.” Genitives of value occur in expressions such as magnī putāre “value highly” and nihilī putāre “consider worthless.”

This genitive is not a direct object: hanc rem is accusative object, while magnī states the value assigned.

Compounds

Compounds retain the regular first-conjugation pattern but acquire specialized meanings: computō “calculate together, compute,” dēputō “reckon, assign,” disputō “examine, discuss, debate,” imputō “charge to an account,” and reputō “reckon over, consider.” Some are more at home in accounting, administration, or philosophical argument (formal/technical) than in everyday narrative.

Do not translate compounds by simply adding the English meaning of the prefix; learn each verb’s established sense and government.

Putō, Crēdō, and Existimō

Putō offers a judgment or calculation. Crēdō emphasizes belief or trust and gives a trusted person the dative. Existimō often means “judge, assess, form an opinion,” especially in evaluative prose. The borders overlap, but their syntactic frames remain important.

Parsing Diagnostic

Identify putā-, putāv-, or putāt-. Next find an accusative subject plus infinitive, or an object plus agreeing accusative predicate. In the passive, test a nominative subject with predicate or infinitive. Finally ask whether context means opinion, valuation, calculation, or literal pruning.

Common Mistakes

Using ut for a thought

Leaving the reported subject nominative

Failing to make a predicate adjective agree

Treating the impersonal passive as the only pattern

Key Takeaways

• Memorize putō, putāre, putāvī, putātum; its morphology is regular.
• A thought normally takes accusative-and-infinitive, not ut.
• Object and predicate are both accusative; in the passive they become nominative.
• Compounds preserve the conjugation but develop lexicalized meanings.