Gerundive

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Not to be confused with gerund.

In linguistics, a gerundive is a kind of verb form in various languages. The term is applied very differently to different languages; depending on the language, gerundives may be verbal adjectives, verbal adverbs, or even finite verbs. Not every language has gerundives; in particular, English does not.

1 In Latin
2 In French and Spanish
3 In Esperanto
4 In Tigrinya
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] In Latin

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Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

In Latin, the gerundive is a verbal adjective used to indicate that a noun needs or deserves to be the object of an action. For example, if English had a Latin-style gerundive, and feed-ando were the gerundive form of the verb to feed, then "The cat is feed-ando" would mean "The cat should be fed." English sometimes uses a passive infinitive to this effect: "The cat is to be fed."

Some examples of the Latin gerundive include:

Cato the Elder, a Roman senator, frequently ended his speeches with the statement, "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse" (lit. "I also think Carthage to be destroyed is," i.e. "I also think Carthage must be destroyed").
In the Harry Potter series of novels, the motto of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is "Draco dormiens numquam titillandus" (lit. "[A] dragon sleeping [is] never to be teased," i.e. "Never tease a sleeping dragon").
The phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" ("which was to be demonstrated"), whose abbreviated form Q.E.D. is often used after the final conclusion of a proof.
The name Amanda is a feminization of amandus, the gerundive of amare, to love. Thus, it means roughly, "worthy of being loved", or "worthy of love". Similarly with the name Miranda; mirare means to admire, so the name means roughly, "worthy of being admired", or "worthy of admiration".
A number of English words come directly from Latin gerundives; for example, addendum comes from the gerundive of addere, to add, and agenda comes from a plural of agendum, the gerundive of agere, to do. Additionally, some words come from Latin gerundives by an indirect route; propaganda, for example, comes from a New Latin phrase containing a feminine form of propagandum, the gerundive of propagare, to propagate.

[edit] In French and Spanish

The French and Spanish gerundives are verbal adverbs used to indicate that one action caused or happened at the same time as another. For example, there is a French adage, C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron, which means It is by blacksmithing that one becomes a blacksmith.

One major use of the Spanish gerundive is to form the continuous aspect, much as the present participle does in English; Miguel está estudiando means Miguel is studying.

[edit] In Esperanto

The Esperanto gerundive is a verbal adverb used to indicate that one action took place before another. For example, the sentence aǔdinte lin sxi venis means having heard him, she came. The gerundive is more commonly called the past active adverbial participle, by analogy with Esperanto's other adverbial participles.

[edit] In Tigrinya

The Tigrinya gerundive is a finite verb form, not a verbal adjective or adverb. Generally speaking, it denotes completed action which is still relevant. A verb in the gerundive can be used alone, or serially with another gerundive verb; in the latter case it may sometimes be translated with an adverbial clause: bitri hidju kheydu (literally, a-stick he-took-hold-of he-began-walking) means while holding a stick, he is walking, i.e. he is carrying a stick. See Tigrinya verbs.