Dictionary formpeto, petere, petivi, petitum
Translation
to seek, make for; to ask for, request; to attack
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Examples
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He asked the king for help.
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The soldiers are making for the camp quickly.
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He was attacking the enemy with his sword.
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We ought to sue for peace.
?
What are you asking of me?
Peto, petere, petivi (or the shorter petii), petitum, third conjugation. Three senses pull in different directions: physically "make for" (Romam petere), verbally "ask for", and militarily "aim at, attack". Only the second one matches the polite English "petition", so a sentence about petere hostem is not a request.
When it means "ask", the thing wanted goes in the accusative and the person asked in ab with the ablative: auxilium a rege petere. Do not put the person in the accusative, however natural that feels in English. Two spellings to expect in the corpus: petiit and petit are both third-person perfect forms, and medieval scribes routinely write peciit, since ti before a vowel had already come to sound like ci.
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peto: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "peto" (to seek, make for; to ask for, request; to attack): 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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Start your free weekThis word is taught in chapter 4, lesson 3: peto, iuvenis, patria and 7 more words.