Voice describes how a verb presents the relationship between its subject and the event. An active subject typically performs or initiates the action; a passive subject undergoes it. Thus Lūcia epistulam scrībit makes Lucia the subject and writer, while epistula ā Lūciā scrībitur makes the letter the subject and the thing being written.
Latin marks voice inside the verb. English often adds a form of “be,” but Latin can contrast scrībit “writes” with scrībitur “is being written” simply by changing the personal ending. To interpret either form reliably, identify its stem, tense or mood marker, and ending before choosing an English translation.
If the person-number signals themselves are unfamiliar, review Person and Number Endings; this page builds the voice contrast on top of them.
One event, two viewpoints
Changing an active clause to a passive clause reorganizes its participants; it does not create a different event.
| Voice | Subject | Other participant | Verb |
|---|---|---|---|
| active | Lūcia, nominative actor | epistulam, accusative object | scrībit |
| passive | epistula, nominative receiver | ā Lūciā, optional ablative agent | scrībitur |
Lūcia epistulam scrībit.
Lucia is writing a letter.
Epistula ā Lūciā scrībitur.
A letter is being written by Lucia.
This is a minimal contrast: epistulam becomes nominative epistula, while active scrībit becomes passive scrībitur. The personal agent, if expressed, normally uses ā or ab plus the ablative. An inanimate means normally uses the ablative without ā/ab: gladiō vulnerātur “he is wounded with a sword.”
Present-system voice endings
The present, imperfect, and future tenses belong to the present system and use synthetic passive endings. With first-conjugation amō, amāre “love,” the present indicative gives a compact comparison:
| Person | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | amō, I love | amor, I am loved |
| 2nd singular | amās, you love | amāris (also amāre), you are loved |
| 3rd singular | amat, he/she loves | amātur, he/she is loved |
| 1st plural | amāmus, we love | amāmur, we are loved |
| 2nd plural | amātis, you love | amāminī, you are loved |
| 3rd plural | amant, they love | amantur, they are loved |
The productive passive set is -r, -ris/-re, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur. The alternative second-person singular indicative -re is normal Classical Latin, though -ris is often clearer to beginners. A form such as amāre can therefore be a present passive indicative ("you are loved"), a singular passive imperative ("be loved!"), or a present active infinitive ("to love"); syntax resolves the three-way ambiguity. Both indicative variants are neutral in Classical prose, though individual authors and meters differ in preference.
Portae nocte clauduntur, sed parva fenestra aperta manet.
The gates are closed at night, but a small window remains open.
Here clauduntur is a finite present passive, while aperta is an adjective-like perfect passive participle agreeing with fenestra. Similar English translations can conceal different Latin structures.
The imperfect and future preserve the voice contrast after their tense markers: amābat “he was loving” versus amābātur “he was being loved”; amābit “he will love” versus amābitur “he will be loved.”
Dum cēna parābātur, hospitēs in hortō colloquēbantur.
While dinner was being prepared, the guests were talking in the garden.
Nūntius crās mittētur; tum cōnsilium ab omnibus cognōscētur.
A messenger will be sent tomorrow; then the plan will become known to everyone.
The context determines whether a present passive is best rendered “is done,” “is being done,” or sometimes “gets done.” Latin has no obligatory simple-versus-progressive contrast corresponding to English “is written” versus “is being written.”
The perfect-system split
Perfect active forms use the perfect stem, obtained from the third principal part: scrīpsī gives scrīps-; laudāvī gives laudāv-. Perfect passive forms instead use the perfect passive participle, built on the supine stem, plus a form of sum.
| Value | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| perfect | laudāvit, he praised / has praised | laudātus est, he was / has been praised |
| pluperfect | laudāverat, he had praised | laudātus erat, he had been praised |
| future perfect | laudāverit, he will have praised | laudātus erit, he will have been praised |
Mārcus carmen recitāvit et ab omnibus laudātus est.
Marcus recited a poem and was praised by everyone.
Recitāvit uses the perfect active stem recitāv-. Laudātus est uses nominative masculine singular laudātus because it agrees with Marcus; est supplies third-person singular. With a feminine or plural subject, the participle changes.
Litterae missae sunt, sed respōnsum nōndum scrīptum est.
The letters have been sent, but the reply has not yet been written.
The feminine plural subject litterae requires missae sunt; neuter singular respōnsum requires scrīptum est. English leaves “sent” and “written” unchanged, so this agreement needs deliberate attention.
When and why Latin uses the passive
The passive is useful when the receiver is already the topic, when the agent is unknown or unimportant, or when a writer deliberately withholds responsibility. It is common in (formal) historical, legal, technical, and administrative prose, but it is not confined to those registers.
Hic liber in multīs scholīs legitur.
This book is read in many schools.
The schools and book matter; naming every reader would add nothing. Latin can also use an impersonal third-person singular passive of an intransitive verb: pugnātur “there is fighting / people fight.” This is especially common in concise (formal) and (literary) narrative.
Ad portās diū pugnātum est.
There was fighting at the gates for a long time.
Because pugnō has no accusative object, there is no promoted personal subject. The perfect passive appears in the neuter singular pugnātum est. English normally avoids a literal “it was fought.”
Lexical limits and apparent exceptions
Not every passive-looking form has passive meaning. Deponent verbs such as loquor “I speak” use passive morphology with active meaning; learn them from their principal parts. Conversely, some active verbs rarely form a personal passive because their meaning supplies no suitable object. These are lexical facts, not licenses to ignore endings.
Poetry can omit an agent, rearrange clause elements, or exploit an alternative ending, but the underlying voice system remains the same. Later Latin expands some periphrastic patterns, while Classical prose maintains the productive synthetic present passive and participle-plus-sum perfect passive described here.
A reliable diagnostic
- Find the finite ending. Present-system -r, -tur, -mur, -minī, and -ntur strongly signal passive morphology.
- Identify the stem and any tense or mood marker.
- In the perfect system, look for an agreeing perfect passive participle plus sum.
- Check the lexicon for deponent status.
- Only then assign participant roles and translate.
Puerī ā magistrō vocantur.
The boys are being called by the teacher.
The tempting English-first approach starts from “calls” and seeks an active form. The Latin-first analysis starts with -ntur: third-person plural passive. Nominative puerī are therefore the people called, while ā magistrō is the personal agent.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping an accusative object as the passive subject
❌ Epistulam scrībitur.
Incorrect — the passive subject must be nominative, not accusative.
✅ Epistula scrībitur.
A letter is being written.
2. Building a perfect passive from the perfect active stem
❌ Haec epistula scrīpsa est.
Incorrect — the invented participle for ‘this letter’ is built from scrīpsī instead of the supine stem.
✅ Epistula scrīpta est.
The letter was written.
3. Forgetting agreement in a perfect passive
❌ Puella laudātus est.
Incorrect — laudātus is masculine, but puella is feminine.
✅ Puella laudāta est.
The girl was praised.
4. Adding an English-style dummy subject to an impersonal passive
❌ Id ad portās pugnātur.
Incorrect — Latin does not add a nominative ‘it’ as the subject of the impersonal passive.
✅ Ad portās pugnātur.
There is fighting at the gates.
Key Takeaways
Active and passive are alternative organizations of participants. The present system marks the contrast largely through two sets of endings; the perfect active uses the perfect stem, while the perfect passive uses an agreeing participle plus sum. Parse morphology before translating, promote an active object to nominative subject in a personal passive, and treat deponent verbs as a lexical exception explained by their principal parts.
Now practice Latin
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Latin →Related Topics
- Person and Number EndingsA1 — Read Latin verb endings as compact signals of who acts, how many participants act, and whether the subject acts or is acted upon.
- Present, Perfect, and Supine StemsA1 — Map Latin’s three principal stem families to the tense, voice, and non-finite forms each family builds.
- Indicative, Subjunctive, and Imperative MoodsA1 — Distinguish Latin’s three finite moods by their morphology and by the speaker’s way of presenting an action.
- Deponent, Semi-Deponent, and Defective VerbsA1 — Recognize verbs whose principal parts reveal a mismatch of form and meaning or a deliberately incomplete paradigm.
- Ablative of AgentA2 — Identify the deliberate personal agent of a passive action with ā or ab plus the ablative.