PASSIVE VERBS
Passive verbs provide another challenge, and are often (and understandably) less known and studied that active verbs.
A passive verb is one by which the subject has some action done to them, in contrast to an active verb, which denotes an action done by the subject. So laudatur, she is praised, is passive. laudat, she praises, is active. It’s that simple.
To make up for being so easy to grasp, the passive gives you a lot of new endings to learn. At a minimum, try to be familiar with the basic passive endings (-r, -ris, -tur, -mur, -mini, -ntur) so that you can recognise a passive when you see one. The most common forms are the 3rd person singular and plural, laudatur, she is praised, and laudantur, they are praised. Lastly, note that the word a (or ab before a vowel) is used with the ablative to tell you the agent of a passive verb, that is, the person responsible for the action: Caesar laudatur ab illa, Caesar is praised by that woman.