If I say something can be changed, for example, how would I say that in Latin? Would I say id X potest, or is there some other construction for this? The context doesn't really matter, but it's for my Commentarium Latinum entry about drawing people.
asked Apr 13, 2017 at 21:26
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1 Answer
Yes, there is a passive infinitive. If something can be loved, seen, pulled, or heard, you can say amari/videri/trahi/audiri potest. In the first, second, and third conjugation you just replace the final -e of the active infinitive with -ī. In the third conjugation you replace -ere with -ī.
I interpreted your question to mean that you wanted a present passive infinitive. The active and passive infinitives also have past and future forms. Some of these forms require an auxiliary verb (esse or iri). If you want to know more about different infinitives, please consult a Latin grammar and ask a new question if something is unclear.
answered Apr 13, 2017 at 21:31
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On your last sentence: sort of. There's a perfect active, and esse has the lonesome honor of a future active (fore), but all the other infinitives are periphrastic.– AnonymCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 4:32
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1@Anonym True, many of the infinitives are periphrastic (visurum esse, videre, vidisse, visum iri, videri, visum esse and similarly for other verbs), but they are there nevertheless. They are indeed morphologically different, but it has little effect on their use (gender and number for the ones with esse).– Joonas Ilmavirta ♦Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 4:56
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@JoonasIlmavirta I think one could take exception to the use of the word forms.– cmw ♦Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 5:53
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@C.M.Weimer I expanded a little. I wanted to keep the mention of other infinitives shallow; the details are beside the point here but I thought the OP should be aware of their existence.– Joonas Ilmavirta ♦Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 5:59