Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #174: Some final passive practice

The focus for today's lesson is the last round of practice with the passive verbs... and then next week, something very cool: deponent verbs, which have only passive forms. But that's for next week: for now, one more round of verbs that have both active and passive forms. Just like in the previous lesson, the passive Latin verbs in today's sayings are best translated with English active verbs.

To start, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Ex terra in terram vertitur omnis homo.
From earth into earth every person turns.
ex terra in terram VER-titur omnis homo.

The verb vertitur is the passive form of vertit, and it's best translated here with an English active verbs: "turns."

The noun terra in the phrase ex terra is in the ablative case, while terram in the phrase in terram is in the accusative case, expressing motion towards: "into earth."

Compare the "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" from the funeral service in the Book of Common Prayer.

2. Tempus praeteritum numquam revertitur.
Past time never returns.
tempus prae-TE-ritum numquam revertitur.

The verb revertitur is the passive form of revertit, and it is also best translated with an English active verb here: "returns."

Remember that the noun tempus is a neuter noun, so it takes a neuter adjective: praeteritum. That is a compound word: praeter-itum, "by-gone." You could even translate the Latin phrase as "Bygone time never returns."

3. Maiorque videtur et melior vicina seges.
(The) neighboring crop looks both bigger and better.
mai-OR-que vi-DE-tur et ME-lior vi-CI-na seges.

The verb videtur is the passive form of videt. There is a special use of this passive verb: Latin videtur works like English "seems" or "looks."

The subject of the verb, seges, is a feminine noun, so it takes a feminine adjective: vicina. You haven't seen this form before, but you have seen the masculine form: vicinus.

The adjectives maior and melior are also feminine nouns.

Remember that -que is a word that goes on the end of a word, and it means et, so maiorque is the same as et maior.

So you have an "and... and..." in Latin, et maior and et melior, which is equivalent to "both... and..." in English.

Compare the English saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

4. Mons monti non miscetur, at vero homo homini.
Mountain cannot mingle with-mountain, but a-person truly (can) with-a-person.
mons monti non mis-CE-tur, at vero homo HO-mini.

The verb miscetur, "is mixed, mingles" is the passive form of miscet. You can see this Latin root in English "miscellaneous," abbreviated misc.

It takes a dative complement: monti is the dative form of mons, and homini is the dative from of homo.

You haven't seen mons before, but it's easy to recognize; that's where we get English "mount" and "mountain."

Compare the English saying, "Two mountains can never meet, but two men can."

5. Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol, nam stultus sicut luna mutatur.
(A) holy person abides in wisdom like (the) sun, while (a) fool changes like (the) moon.
homo sanctus in sapi-EN-tia manet sicut sol, nam stultus sicut luna mu-TA-tur.

You saw the second statement already, the fool who changes like the moon, stultus sicut luna mutatur. Now you get the flip side! This paired saying comes from the Biblical book of Sirach; here's the King James version: "The discourse of a godly man is always with wisdom; but a fool changeth as the moon."

The noun homo is masculine, so it takes a masculine adjective, sanctus, "holy," which gives us English "saint." You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen a verb formed from this word: sanctificat, which is sancti-ficat, "holy-makes, makes holy."

The word sapientia is the ablative form of sapientia used with the preposition in.
The word nam is a conjunction, connecting the first statement with the second.

Here's a recap: