Perfect Passive Participle
The perfect passive participle is a verb's fourth principal part — amātus, -a, -um ("having been loved"), captus, -a, -um ("having been captured"). It declines like a 1st/2nd-declension adjective and agrees with its noun in case, number, and gender.
It carries PASSIVE voice and PRIOR time — the action was done TO the noun, BEFORE the main verb fires.
Paired with esse it builds every passive perfect tense (captus est = "he has been captured"), and it anchors most ablative absolutes Caesar writes (urbe captā).
The trap: a deponent verb's perfect participle has the same form but is ACTIVE in meaning — locūtus = "having spoken," not "having been spoken."
"having been ed" — passive voice, action PRIOR to the main verb
Deponent verbs use this same form but with ACTIVE meaning: locūtus = "having spoken," not "having been spoken."
| Case | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. sg. | capt-us | capt-a | capt-um |
| Gen. sg. | capt-ī | capt-ae | capt-ī |
| Dat. sg. | capt-ō | capt-ae | capt-ō |
| Acc. sg. | capt-um | capt-am | capt-um |
| Abl. sg. | capt-ō | capt-ā | capt-ō |
| Nom. pl. | capt-ī | capt-ae | capt-a |
| Gen. pl. | capt-ōrum | capt-ārum | capt-ōrum |
| Dat./Abl. pl. | capt-īs | capt-īs | capt-īs |
| Acc. pl. | capt-ōs | capt-ās | capt-a |
See It In Action
— B. G. v. 11
Cognitīs is the perfect passive participle of cognōscō ("learn"). It agrees with rēbus in case (abl.), number (pl.), and gender (neut.) — and the action of learning happens BEFORE Caesar gives the order.
— B. G. i. 1
Caesar's most famous opening sentence. Dīvīsa est = perfect passive participle + est = the perfect passive of dīvidō ("divide"). Form: 3rd sg. perfect passive indicative. The participle agrees with Gallia (nom. sg. fem.).
— B. G. iv. 23
Two perfect participles in one sentence — same form, opposite voice. Cōnstitūtīs is true passive ("having been arranged"); nactus is deponent, so it's ACTIVE ("having obtained"). The form alone doesn't tell you which; you have to know whether the verb is deponent.
— Verg. Aen. i. 1-3
Iactātus ("having been tossed") modifies ille — it's a circumstantial participle, not an ablative absolute, because ille IS the subject of vēnit. Same perfect passive form, different syntactic job from the ablative-absolute cognitīs above.
The -tus, -ta, -tum form looks identical for both — but a deponent's perfect participle is ACTIVE in meaning, not passive. The verb's deponency decides the voice.
subject was acted upon — "having been ed"
urbe captā (from capiō)
with the city HAVING BEEN CAPTURED
subject did the acting — "having ed"
hortātō Caesare (from dep. hortor)
with Caesar HAVING URGED (others on)
Tip: Ask yourself: is the verb deponent? Check the principal parts. Capiō, capere, cēpī, captum = normal verb → passive ppl. Hortor, hortārī, hortātus sum = deponent → ACTIVE ppl. Memorize the AP shortlist of deponents (loquor, sequor, hortor, ūtor, patior, morior, nāscor, oblīvīscor, polliceor) and you'll catch most on sight.
In Caesar, hīs rēbus cognitīs, lēgiōnēs revocāvit — what voice and time does cognitīs express, and why?
Study Tips
- •Drill the four principal parts together — amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum. The fourth is the supine, but it's also the stem for the perfect passive participle (amāt-us, -a, -um) AND the future active participle (amāt-ūrus).
- •When you spot a -tus, -ta, -tum (or -sus, -ssus) ending, identify the agreeing noun first. Case, number, and gender all have to match — that's how you tell captā (fem. sg. abl.) from captī (masc. pl. nom.) at a glance.
- •Remember the time relationship: the participle's action happened BEFORE the main verb. Caesar, urbe captā, redībat — the city was captured first, THEN Caesar was returning.
- •For deponents, flip the meaning to active: hortātus is "having urged," not "having been urged." The form looks passive; the meaning is active. This is the most common gotcha on the AP.