Present and Imperfect Passive Subjunctive

The present and imperfect passive subjunctive combine two independent pieces of grammar: a subjunctive tense stem and the passive personal endings. For the present, form the ordinary present subjunctive stem and add -r, -ris/-re, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur. For the imperfect, take the present active infinitive and add the same passive endings: amāre + -tur → amārētur.

These forms are passive because their grammatical subject receives the action: laudētur means “may he or she be praised,” not “may he or she praise.” They are subjunctive because the surrounding clause or the speaker’s stance selects that mood. English often hides both categories behind “be,” “was,” or an infinitive, so Latin morphology must be parsed before translation.

Present passive subjunctive

The present subjunctive uses ē in the first conjugation and ā in the others. Third-conjugation -iō and fourth-conjugation verbs have iā. Add passive endings to that stem:

The complete present passive subjunctive of laudō, laudāre is:

The alternative second-person singular ending -re is Classical and register-neutral, not a late corruption. Context distinguishes laudēre “may you be praised” from forms that happen to resemble infinitives or imperatives.

Laudēmur is first-person plural present passive subjunctive. The first-conjugation mood vowel ē precedes passive -mur.

The plural subject portae agrees with third-person plural claudantur. The agent is unstated because the instruction concerns the gates and the action, not who closes them.

The indirect question selects subjunctive custōdiātur. Present tense can describe an ongoing passive action, which English naturally renders “is being guarded.”

Imperfect passive subjunctive

For the imperfect, use the full present active infinitive and add passive endings. The resulting paradigm visibly contains -rē- plus the passive marker:

Other conjugations follow their actual infinitives: monērētur, regerētur, caperētur, audīrētur. The vowel before -re- is not chosen from an English translation; it is already present in the second principal part.

In both examples, a past governing verb leads to an imperfect subjunctive in ordinary past sequence. English “might be” is convenient, but it does not itself tell you whether Latin needs present or imperfect.

Līberārentur is third-person plural because captīvī is plural. English “would be released” leaves number invisible and must not be used as the form-building template.

Tense value and clause function

The present passive subjunctive usually represents action simultaneous with or later than a present/future reference point in primary sequence. The imperfect normally does so relative to a past reference point in secondary sequence:

English uses the same passive infinitive in both translations. Latin distinguishes aperiātur after present imperat from aperīrētur after perfect imperāvit. This minimal pair shows why translating prematurely is dangerous.

The imperfect can also express a present contrary-to-fact passive situation:

Although the situation concerns the present, Latin uses imperfect subjunctive adiuvārer to mark present unreality. “Imperfect” and English “past” are not identical categories.

Person, number, and the agent phrase

Passive endings still identify the subject: lauder “I may be praised,” laudēminī “you all may be praised,” laudentur “they may be praised.” An expressed personal agent normally uses ā/ab plus ablative; an instrument normally uses the bare ablative.

Haec epistula is the nominative subject of legātur; ā patre meō is the agent. The same roles remain if English prefers “I hope my father reads this letter.” Latin is still passive.

Ignī is an ablative of means, not a personal agent, so no ab appears.

Deponents and apparent passives

Deponent verbs use passive morphology with active lexical meaning. Thus sequātur is morphologically present subjunctive in the passive series but means “may he follow,” not “may he be followed”; sequerētur means “he might follow / was following” in context. This is a lexical property of sequor, sequī, not a new ending. Because a deponent has no present active infinitive, do not try to add endings directly to lexical sequī. Instead, identify its conjugation from that infinitive and use the corresponding imperfect passive pattern: third-conjugation sequor, sequī patterns with regor, regī and therefore gives sequerer, sequerētur.

The imperfect form sequerētur looks like a passive, but deponent sequor has active meaning. The dedicated Deponent, Semi-Deponent, and Defective Verbs page treats that system in full.

Register and variants

Both tenses are basic Classical morphology across registers. Purpose clauses, indirect questions, fears, and commands can occur in ordinary prose; (formal) legal and administrative Latin often favors passive wording because the required act matters more than the actor. (Literary) poetry may omit agents, move subjects far from verbs, or use the shorter second-singular -re, but it does not change the paradigm. Later Latin extends some subjunctive choices, yet those developments should not be retrojected into productive Classical rules.

Common Mistakes

1. Adding active endings to a passive meaning.

2. Using the present subjunctive after a past governing verb by copying English.

3. Forming the third-conjugation imperfect from a guessed vowel.

4. Translating every passive-looking deponent as passive.

Key Takeaways

• Present: form the present subjunctive stem and add passive endings.
• Imperfect: add passive endings to the full present active infinitive.
• Read -r, -ris/-re, -tur, -mur, -minī, -ntur for person and number before translating.
• Let clause sequence determine tense and the dictionary entry determine whether passive morphology has passive or deponent meaning.