Kilo Lingo

#574 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

to be away, be absent; to be distant; to be lacking

Examples

.

The king is away.

passuum .

The town was ten miles distant.

.

I cannot be away for long.

.

Let no offence be taken at these words.

timeam.

So far am I from being afraid.

Absum, abesse, afui, afuturus is a compound of sum and inherits every irregularity it has. Note the perfect: afui, not abfui, because b drops before f.

Three uses beyond the plain "be absent". Of distance it takes a measure in the accusative, oppidum milia passuum decem aberat. Of lacking it is close to desum. And tantum abest ut is a standing rhetorical formula, "so far is it from being the case that". The present subjunctive absit is a fixed expression of recoil - absit iniuria verbis, and the scholastic quod absit, "God forbid" - which is why you meet it far more often than the frequency of the verb would suggest. English absent and absence come from the participle absens.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Latin · Free printables

absum: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "absum" (to be away, be absent; to be distant; to be lacking): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 12.