Ebantur

Ebantur is a Latin verb form used as the third-person plural imperfect passive indicative ending for many verbs. In this function, it marks ongoing or customary past action in the passive voice, corresponding to English “they were being …” or “they were …ed.” The form occurs with stems that create an e-grade or with verbs whose present stem commonly yields an ei or ē before the -bantur ending, as in monēbantur (they were being warned) or legēbantur (they were being read or selected, depending on context).

Formation and use

The imperfect passive in Latin is built from a present or imperfect-stem plus the standard passive endings; for the third person plural the ending is typically -bantur. When the stem of the verb provides an e-grade, the resulting forms appear with an -ē if indicated by the orthography, producing forms such as monēbantur or legēbantur. The surrounding context determines the precise meaning, but in every case ebantur signals a past, ongoing action performed upon the subject by some agent.

Context and examples

Ebantur forms are common in classical Latin narrative and legal or religious texts, where continuous past actions were described passively. Example verbs that yield this ending include monēre (to warn) and legere (to read or choose, depending on construction), producing monēbantur and legēbantur respectively. These forms contrast with the active imperfect endings such as -bābant, which indicate ongoing past actions performed by the subject.

Relation to other forms

Ebantur is the plural third-person ending of the imperfect passive. Other persons and numbers use corresponding endings (-bar, -bāris, -bātur, -bamur, -bamini, -bantur) for the imperfect passive, and the corresponding active imperfect endings differ. The ending is part of Latin conjugation patterns that identify voice, tense, mood, number, and person.

See also

Latin verb conjugation, imperfect tense, passive voice.