Desiderative mood

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In linguistics, a desiderative form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X". Desiderative forms are often verbs, derived from a more basic verb through a process of morphological derivation . In Sanskrit, the desiderative is formed through the suffixing of /sa/ and the prefixing of a reduplicative syllable, consisting of the first consonant of the root (sometimes modified) and a vowel, usually /i/ but /u/ if the root has an /u/ in it. Changes to the root vowel sometimes happen, as well.

For example:

Base Form Meaning Desiderative Meaning
nayati "he leads" nínīṣati "he wants to lead"
pibāti "he drinks" pípāsati "he wants to drink"
jīvati "he lives" jíjīviṣati "he wants to live"

The future tense of the daughter Proto-Indo-European languages may stem from a combination of the desiderative form with the subjunctive mood.


Languages