Ecce Romani Chapter 5: Complementary Infinitives

Ecce Romani Chapter 5: Complementary Infinitives

Consider the following sentence

• Sextus wants...

• This does not form a complete thought because we are left wondering what Sextus wants or wants to do.

• We complete the thought as follows

• to climb trees.

• to run through the fields.

• to sit in the garden.

Complementary Infinitive

The verbs to climb, to run, to sit are called complementary infinitives because they complement the main verb. Notice, they always follow the same form i.e. "to ______".

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Sextus wants to climb the tree.

• Sextus

• wants

• to climb

• the tree

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Sextus is afraid to come down.

• Sextus

• is afraid

• to come down

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Davus wants to hit Sextus.

• Davus

• wants

• to hit

• Sextus

In Latin

• Sextus arborēs ascendere vult.

• Sextus dēscendere timet.

• Davus Sextum verberāre vult.

• What do you notice about the complementary infinitives?

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Servus eum repellere nōn potest.

• Servus

• eum

• repellere

• potest

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Puer lupum repellere parat.

• Puer

• lupum

• repellere

• parat

Multiple Choice

Identify the complementary infinitive in the following sentence:

Cūr Marcus arborēs ascendere nōn vult?

• arborēs

• ascendere

• Marcus

• nōn vult