gavisus sum

BadButBit

BadButBit

Member

Location:
Moncton
hi,
some verb entries in my dictionary have three principal parts and the third ones that trouble me are combinations of what looks like a perfect passive participle and the word 'sum' like the example in the heading gaudeo, gaudere, gavisus sum, and I don't know what to do with them.
can someone explain to me why these words are defined this way?
BadButBit
 
N

Nooj

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris
Location:
Sydney, Australia
They're called semi-deponents.

You know how there are deponents in Latin that have passive forms but active meanings? Well there are a few verbs that look like normal verbs in half their conjugations, and deponents in the other half.

Semi-deponent verbs have active forms in the present-stem (present, imperfect and future tenses) and passive forms in the perfect-stem (perfect, pluperfect, future perfect tenses). But note that the passive forms are still like deponents in that they have active meanings.

Gaudeo, gaudebo, gaudebam are active in form and meaning - I rejoice, I will rejoice, I was rejoicing.
Gavisus sum, gavisus eram, gavisus ero are passive in form but active in meaning - I rejoiced, I had rejoiced, I will have rejoiced.
 
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