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Deponent verb


In linguistics, a deponent verb is a verb that is active in meaning but takes its form from a different voice, most commonly the middle or passive. A deponent verb has no active forms.

This list may not be exhaustive.

Greek has middle-voice deponents (some of which are very common) and some passive-voice deponents. An example in Greek is ἔρχομαι (erchomai, I come or I go), middle/passive in form but active in translation.

Koine Greek has a few verbs which have very different meanings in the active and middle/passive forms. For example, ('hapto') means "I set fire to," whereas its middle form ἁπτομαι ('haptomai') means "I touch." Because ἁπτομαι is much more common in usage, beginners often learn this form first and are tempted to assume that it is a deponent.

Latin has passive-voice deponents, such as hortārī ('to exhort'), verērī ('to fear'), loquī ('to speak'), blandīrī ('to flatter'), and many more. (Deponent verbs are passive in form and active in meaning.) The forms regularly follow those of the passive of normal verbs:

Deponents have all the participles normal verbs do, although those of the perfect carry an active meaning, rather than a passive meaning as in the case of normal verbs. Some deponent verbs, such as sequī (to follow), use the corresponding forms of other verbs to express a genuine passive meaning. They do not have their own passive forms, nor is it possible to resurrect the "active" forms of the deponent verbs to use for the passive voice (like attempting to use *hortō for "I am exhorted").

Additionally, four Latin verbs (audēre, to dare; gaudēre, to rejoice; solēre, to be accustomed; and fīdere, to trust) are called semi-deponent, because though they look passive in their perfect forms, they are semantically active in all forms.

Conversely, Latin also has some verbs that are active in form but passive in meaning. fit (it is made, done) was used as the passive of facit (to do, to make). In the perfect forms (perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect), this was a compound verb just like the passive voice of regular verbs (factum est, it has been done).


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