Deponent Verbs
A deponent verb wears passive clothing but acts in the active voice. Sequor looks exactly like the passive of sequō ("I am followed"), but it means "I follow." The passive endings are real — Latin just "deposited" (laid aside) the active forms long before the classical period, and what survived has active sense.
You meet them on every page of Caesar — secūtus, locūtus, pollicitus, hortātus, profectus, passus, ūsus.
Three principal parts, not four (no separate active perfect), and a trio of stubbornly active forms that refuse to play passive: the present participle (sequēns — "following"), the future participle (secūtūrus — "about to follow"), and the gerund (sequendī — "of following").
The gerundive alone keeps a passive sense (sequendus — "to be followed"). A handful of semi-deponents split the difference: audeō, soleō, gaudeō, fīdō are active in the present system but deponent in the perfect (ausus sum, "I dared").
Learnings0 core · 1 AP claim
AP framework claims (1)— verbatim from AP CED
A verb that lost its active forms and now wears passive endings to do active work — sequor ("I follow") looks passive but is not.
Semi-deponents (audeō, soleō, gaudeō, fīdō) are active in the present system, deponent in the perfect (ausus sum).
| Case | Form | Latin |
|---|---|---|
| Pres. Indic. 1sg | sequor | I follow |
| Pres. Indic. 3sg | sequitur | he/she follows |
| Impf. Indic. | sequēbar | I was following |
| Fut. Indic. | sequar | I will follow |
| Perf. Indic. | secūtus sum | I followed / have followed |
| Plup. Indic. | secūtus eram | I had followed |
| Pres. Subj. | sequar | — |
| Impf. Subj. | sequerer | — |
| Pres. Imper. 2sg | sequere | follow! |
| Pres. Infin. | sequī | to follow |
| Perf. Infin. | secūtus esse | to have followed |
| Fut. Infin. | secūtūrus esse | about to follow |
| Pres. Ptcp. | sequēns | following |
| Fut. Ptcp. | secūtūrus | about to follow |
| Perf. Ptcp. | secūtus | having followed |
| Gerund | sequendī, -ō | of following, by following |
| Gerundive | sequendus | to be followed |
| Supine | secūtum, -tū | to follow / to be followed |
See It In Action
— B. G. i. 26
Secūtus looks like a passive participle ("having been followed"), but sequor is deponent: the form is passive, the meaning is active. Helvētiōs is the direct object — a deponent can still take the accusative.
— B. G. ii. 21
Hortātus is one of Caesar's most-used deponents — it parses as passive in form ("having been urged") but is active in meaning. The direct object suōs sits in the accusative, just as for any transitive verb.
— B. G. ii. 15
Polliceor ("I promise") is 2nd-conjugation deponent. The compound perfect polliciti sunt uses sunt — same shape as the true passive capti sunt ("they were captured") — but the meaning is active: they DID the promising.
— B. G. ii. 12
Profectus is the perfect participle of proficīscor ("set out") — passive in form, active in meaning. Caesar uses this construction constantly to mark the next leg of a campaign: subject + profectus + main verb.
Sequitur and capitur end in the same -tur. The form alone won't tell you whether the subject is acting or being acted upon — only the lemma does.
Passive form AND passive meaning — subject is acted upon
hostis capitur
the enemy IS CAPTURED (by someone else)
Passive form, ACTIVE meaning — subject is the actor
hostem sequitur
he FOLLOWS the enemy
Tip: Ask: is the lemma deponent (no active forms exist)? Look it up. Capiō has capit (active) → capitur is true passive. Sequor has no sequit → sequitur is deponent, active in meaning. The presence of an accusative direct object is also a strong tell — true passives don't take an accusative object.
In Caesar suōs hortātus proelium commīsit, what is the form and meaning of hortātus?
Study Tips
- •When parsing a passive-looking verb, ask first: is the lemma deponent? Sequitur parses as 3rd sg. present passive in form, but the lemma sequor makes it active in meaning — "he follows."
- •Memorize the high-frequency Caesar deponents as a single chunk: sequor, loquor, hortor, polliceor, vereor, patior, ūtor, morior, nāscor, oblīvīscor, proficīscor. Most are 3rd-conjugation; vereor is 2nd; hortor and cōnor are 1st.
- •Three forms stay active even though the verb is deponent: present participle, future participle, and gerund. The gerundive alone is passive in sense — moriendum est omnibus, "all must die."
- •Semi-deponents are easy if you remember the rule: active in the present system, deponent in the perfect. Audeō → ausus sum; soleō → solitus sum; gaudeō → gāvīsus sum.