Questions tagged [impersonal]

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Usage of passive in Summa Theologiae

This may be a simple question or may be answered elsewhere already, but I’m curious about the usage of the passive in the following simple sentence from Aquinas: “Ad secundum sic proceditur” He re-...
Chris Loonam's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
441 views

What is the subject of "venit" in this sentence from Naufragium?

Reading Naufragium by Erasmus (1523), I came across this sentence. I include the whole sentence for context, but I'm only asking about the part in bold: Circumspicienti tandem venit in mentem de ima ...
Ben Kovitz's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
704 views

Quidquid veto non licet, certe non oportet

I'm trying to translate this sentence, but I'm not sure how. It looks like either veto is the dative (substantive?) meaning 'old', or it's the verb veto, 'I stop from happening'. With 'non licet', I ...
Sam Gallagher's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
169 views

How to translate "The chapters must be studied well to pass the test."?

I want to know how such sentences are translated into latin when there is no subject.
Tobey's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
255 views

Impersonal Verbs: Are Active Transitives Possible?

Latin utilizes some verbs that pretty much only occur impersonally, like oportet. One can also regularly form impersonal actives from intransitive verbs like placeo and impersonal passives from ...
C Monsour's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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What is the grammatical "logic" of impersonal constructions like "Me non solum piget stultitiae meae sed etiam pudet" (Cic. De Dom. 29)?

What is the grammatical "logic" of the impersonal construction with psychological verbs like pudet, piget, paenitet, taedet, miseret? (here is a short descriptive characterization of so-...
Mitomino's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
365 views

Null expletive objects in Latin? "Cariotae cum ficis certandum habent" (Plin. Ep. 1,8)

How is the gerundive construction to be analyzed in the following example? Cariotae cum ficis certandum habent. (Plin. Ep. 1,8) 'Dates have to fight with figs'. Could you please provide me ...
Mitomino's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
395 views

On the absence of impersonal passives of deponent verbs

In a previous post there's a discussion on an intriguing example of a passive construction of a transitive (allegedly) deponent verb: Ab amīcīs hortārētur (Did Latin have any ergative verbs? ). The ...
Mitomino's user avatar
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