Dictionary formdoceo, docere, docui, doctum

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#547 of 1,000Core 1000

Translation

to teach, instruct; to show

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Examples

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The teacher teaches the boys their letters.

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My father taught me to pray.

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Many teach, few know.

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History teaches us.

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Learned men were teaching in the church.

Doceo, docere, docui, doctum is second conjugation, and its defining feature is that it takes two accusatives: one for the person taught, one for the subject taught. Magister pueros grammaticam docet. Turn it passive and the person becomes the subject while the subject taught stays accusative: pueri grammaticam docentur, which looks impossible until you have seen it a few times.

The trap is doctus. The perfect participle hardened into an adjective meaning "learned, expert" centuries before the classical period, so doctus vir is a scholar, not "a man who has been taught". Doceo shares a root with disco, "to learn", and with decet; the English descendants are doctor, doctrine, document, docile and docent, all with the same double-edged idea of showing and being shown.

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doceo: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "doceo" (to teach, instruct; to show): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is taught in chapter 6, lesson 6: doceo, laetus, vallis and 7 more words.