Video: To See | Latin Grammar

Videō means “see,” “observe,” “perceive,” or “understand.” Its principal parts are videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsum. It is a regular second-conjugation verb, but its passive videor commonly means “seem” as well as literal “be seen.”

Begin from voice and construction. Eum videō means “I see him”; is vidētur may mean “he is seen” or “he seems”; mihi vidētur means “it seems to me.”

Active Indicative and Subjunctive

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	videō	vidēs	videt	vidēmus	vidētis	vident
Imperfect	vidēbam	vidēbās	vidēbat	vidēbāmus	vidēbātis	vidēbant
Future	vidēbō	vidēbis	vidēbit	vidēbimus	vidēbitis	vidēbunt
Perfect	vīdī	vīdistī	vīdit	vīdimus	vīdistis	vīdērunt / vīdēre
Pluperfect	vīderam	vīderās	vīderat	vīderāmus	vīderātis	vīderant
Future perfect	vīderō	vīderis	vīderit	vīderimus	vīderitis	vīderint

Subjunctive tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	videam	videās	videat	videāmus	videātis	videant
Imperfect	vidērem	vidērēs	vidēret	vidērēmus	vidērētis	vidērent
Perfect	vīderim	vīderīs	vīderit	vīderīmus	vīderītis	vīderint
Pluperfect	vīdissem	vīdissēs	vīdisset	vīdissēmus	vīdissētis	vīdissent

Ex fenestrā mare videō.

I can see the sea from the window.

Puer avem super arborem vidēbat.

The boy was watching a bird above the tree.

Crās novam tabulam vidēbimus.

Tomorrow we shall see the new painting.

In viā amīcum veterem vīdī.

I saw an old friend in the street.

Passive Voice and “Seem”

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Present	videor	vidēris	vidētur	vidēmur	vidēminī	videntur
Imperfect	vidēbar	vidēbāris	vidēbātur	vidēbāmur	vidēbāminī	vidēbantur
Future	vidēbor	vidēberis	vidēbitur	vidēbimur	vidēbiminī	vidēbuntur
Present subjunctive	videar	videāris	videātur	videāmur	videāminī	videantur
Imperfect subjunctive	vidērer	vidērēris	vidērētur	vidērēmur	vidērēminī	vidērentur

Perfect passive uses vīsus, -a, -um plus sum: vīsus est, vīsa erat, vīsī erunt; vīsus sit, vīsa esset. Literal passive remains possible, but the semantic development “be seen as” → “seem” is extremely common. Thus Mārcus fessus vīsus est can mean “Marcus seemed tired,” not only “Marcus was seen while tired.”

Mōns procul vix vidētur.

The mountain is scarcely visible in the distance.

Mārcus mihi fessus vidētur.

Marcus seems tired to me.

Hostēs iam discessisse videntur.

The enemy forces seem already to have departed.

In the last sentence, nominative hostēs is the subject of both videntur and discessisse. The perfect infinitive places the departure earlier than the seeming. The person judging appears in the dative: mihi vidētur. Impersonal neuter vīsum est can also mean “it seemed good” or “it was decided,” especially with a dative naming the decider.

Senātuī vīsum est legātōs mittere.

The senate decided to send envoys.

Commands and Non-Finite Forms

Present active imperatives are vidē, vidēte. The future active has vidētō (second- or third-person singular), vidētōte (second-person plural), and videntō (third-person plural). Passive commands are vidēre, vidēminī in the present and vidētor (second- or third-person singular), videntor (third-person plural) in the future. The future and passive commands are (formal/archaic or contextually rare). Imperative vidē can introduce a warning or instruction: “see to it, consider.”

Vidē nē librum amittās.

Take care not to lose the book.

Category	Active	Passive
Present infinitive	vidēre	vidērī
Perfect infinitive	vīdisse	vīsum esse
Future infinitive	vīsūrum esse	vīsum īrī
Participles	vidēns; vīsūrus	vīsus; videndus
Gerund	videndī, videndō, videndum, videndō	—
Supines	vīsum, vīsū	—

Spectāculum vīsū dignum erat.

The spectacle was worth seeing.

Dīxit sē portum procul vīdisse.

He said that he had seen the harbor from afar.

Perception Complements

A direct object names what is seen: nāvem videō. An object plus participle presents an observed action vividly; accusative-and-infinitive presents a perceived fact.

Puerōs per campum currentēs videō.

I see the boys running across the field.

Videō puerōs ad flūmen currere.

I see that the boys are running to the river.

Both constructions use accusative puerōs. The participle agrees with it and foregrounds the action as observed; the infinitive packages a proposition. English often translates both with “see ... running,” so Latin morphology provides the distinction.

An indirect question instead takes a subjunctive: videāmus quid faciat “let us see what he is doing.” Do not combine a question word with an accusative-and-infinitive when Latin syntax requires a finite indirect question.

For the propositional pattern in full, see accusative-and-infinitive.

Time inside Perception and Seeming

The infinitive expresses time relative to videō/videor. Present infinitive marks a simultaneous situation, perfect infinitive an earlier one, and future infinitive a later or intended one.

Latin	Time relation	Meaning
eum venīre videō	simultaneous	I see that he is coming
eum vēnisse videō	earlier	I see/realize that he came
eum ventūrum esse videō	later	I see that he is going to come

Nunc videō mē graviter errāvisse.

Now I see that I made a serious mistake.

The perfect infinitive errāvisse is earlier than present videō. With videor, the personal construction keeps the logical subject nominative:

Lūcia rem iam intellēxisse vidētur.

Lucia seems already to have understood the matter.

Nominative Lūcia controls both vidētur and the perfect infinitive. Do not change her to accusative merely because an infinitive follows. This personal pattern contrasts with active videō Lūciam rem intellegere, where accusative Lūciam is the infinitive’s subject.

Deliberation and Polite Softening

First-person plural videāmus can be hortatory: “let us see.” Imperfect subjunctive vidērem can soften a wish to examine something or appear in a condition. These are ordinary subjunctive uses, not new lexical meanings.

Videāmus utrum haec via brevior sit.

Let us see whether this road is shorter.

Idioms and Compounds

The passive idiom ut mihi vidētur means “as it seems to me / in my opinion.” Active vidēre can extend to mental recognition: nunc videō quid velīs “now I see what you mean.”

Nunc videō cūr tacueris.

Now I understand why you kept silent.

Common compounds include prōvideō, prōvidēre, prōvīdī, prōvīsum “foresee, provide for” and invideō, invidēre, invīdī, invīsum “envy, grudge.” Invideō governs the dative of the person envied; prōvideō may take a dative when it means “provide for.”

Dūx commeātuī ante hiemem prōvīdit.

The commander provided for the supply before winter.

Parsing Diagnostic

Identify vidē- present, vīd- perfect, or vīs- supine. If the form is passive, test literal “be seen” and semantic “seem.” Then inspect the complement: direct object, agreeing participle, accusative-and-infinitive, or indirect question.

Common Mistakes

Inventing a regular perfect

❌ Herī amīcum viduī.

Incorrect — the perfect is vīdī.

✅ Herī amīcum vīdī.

Yesterday I saw a friend.

Translating every passive literally

❌ Mārcus laetus vidētur, id est Mārcus spectātur.

Incorrect interpretation — with a predicate adjective, vidētur means ‘seems.’

✅ Mārcus laetus vidētur.

Marcus seems happy.

Making the experiencer an agent

❌ Mārcus ā mē fessus vidētur.

Incorrect for ‘Marcus seems tired to me’ — the experiencer is dative.

✅ Lūcia mihi sollicita vidētur.

Lucia seems worried to me.

Failing to agree a perception participle

⚠️ Puellās currēns videō.

This means ‘while running, I see the girls’; for ‘I see the girls running,’ the participle must agree with plural accusative puellās.

✅ Puellās currentēs videō.

I see the girls running.

Key Takeaways

Memorize videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsum.
Passive videor means either “be seen” or “seem”; a dative can mark the experiencer.
Perception can take a direct object, object + participle, or accusative-and-infinitive.
The verb has complete active, passive, and non-finite systems.
Compounds preserve the stems but may introduce dative government.

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