Compare the principal parts and meanings of these two verbs:
- faciō, facere, fēcī, factus: make, do (transitive sense), make (factitive sense)
- fīō, fiērī, factus: happen, occur (intransitive sense) (stuff happens); become, is made (linking sense) (she becomes (is made) a queen); be made, be done (passive sense) (the work was done)
Observations about fiō:
- It is a composite verb in form (some forms are active, some passive) and usage (occurs in various core patterns).
- Notice that the 1st principal part is active in form, while the 2nd principal part (present infinitive, as expected) is passive in form.
- The third principal part is supplied by perfect passive participle of the verb faciō. There are no perfect active forms of the verb fīō.
- The first two principal parts are used in place of the present system passive forms of the verb faciō. See examples 1.a, 2.a, 3.a below. Hence, generally Latin does not use passive forms of facio in the present, future, and imperfect tenses. Instead, it uses forms of fio, such as fit, fīēbat, fīet, fiat, fieret.
- Forms derived from the third principal part can be not only intransitive or linking in meaning but also—as one would expect with the perfect passive of facio—passive in meaning. See examples 1.b, 2.b, 3.b below.
- You’ll never see an accusative direct object with fio.
Examples:
a. = present tense b. = perfect tense
1. a. Mala fiunt. Bad things happen. Bad things are done.
b. Mala facta sunt. Bad things happened. Bad things were done.
subject, verb in intransitive or passive sense
2. a. Vir malus fit. The man becomes bad. The man is made bad.
b. Vir malus factus est. The man became bad. The man was made bad.
subject, subject complement, verb in linking or passive sense
3. a. Mala ā virō malō fiunt. Bad things are done by a bad man.
b. Mala ā virō malō facta sunt. Bad things were done by a bad man.
subject, ablative of agent, verb in passive sense