Chapter 311. Gerunds

2. Gerundives

3. The Passive Periphrastic

1. Gerunds

If participles are verbal adjectives, gerunds are verbal nouns.

We have gerunds in English, just like we do participles. In English, gerunds end in –ing so that at a glance one may confuse them with participles.

Lucky for you that Latin has a distinct form for the gerund…

1. Gerunds

Rules for gerunds Always neuter Always singular Will only be seen in four cases

Genitive Dative (rarely used) Accusative Ablative

No nominative form = can never be the subject of a sentence Accusative never used as direct object, only as object of

prepositions

1. Gerunds

Laudō, -āre

Dūco, -ere Sequor, -ī Audiō, -īre

Genitive Laudandī Dūcendī Sequendī Audiendī

Dative Laudandō Dūcendō Sequendō Audiendō

Accusative Laudandum Dūcendum Sequendum Audiendum

Ablative Laudandō Dūcendō Sequendō Audiendō

Present stem + -nd- + 2nd decl. neuter sing. endings = gerund

3rd-io and 4th conjugation verbs use -ie- as part of the stem

1. Gerunds

As a genitive With a noun

Studium vīvendī cum amīcīs habet She has a fondness of

(for) living with friends. With and adjective

Cupidus dīscendī Desirous of learning

With causā or gratiā to show purpose Pugnandī causā

For the sake of fighting; in order to fight

As a dative Generally with adjectives

of suitability Nāvis apta nāvigandō

A ship fit for sailing

As an accusative With ad to show purpose

Ad discendum vēnērunt. They came to learn.

1. Gerunds

As an ablative Of means

Fāma vīrēs acquīrit eundō With prepositions (ā/ab, dē, ex, in)

Multum tempus cōnsūmpsit in currendō. He/She spent much time in running.

Dē bene vīvendō dīxerunt The spoke about living well.

Never as a nominative or a direct object We use subjective infinitives and objective infinitives for those

uses.

2. Gerundives

A gerundive looks like an gerund, but it is, in fact, a verbal adjective. It is another participle; it is also known as the future passive participle.

Because it is a participle, it must agree with some noun. It may appear in any case, unlike a gerund. So it has the following forms…

2. Gerundives

Laudō, -āre Laudandus, -a, -um

Dūco, -ere Dūcendus, -a, -um

Sequor, -ī Sequendus, -a, -um

Audiō, -īre Audiendus, -a, -um

Present stem + -nd- + 1st/2nd decl. m/f/n adjective endings = gerundive

3rd-io and 4th conjugation verbs use -ie- as part of the stem

Keeping gerunds and gerundives separate in your mind:

Remember gerundives are adjectives.

2. Gerundives

Using gerundives Often used to show necessity (more on this later)

Crīmina nōn ferenda Vir laudandus

Often used when a gerund would have taken a direct object; it agrees with the word that would have been a direct object Librīs legendīs discimus – We learn by reading books Librōrum legendōrum causā ōtium petit – She/He seeks

leisure for the purpose of reading books Rōmam vēnit ad aedificia vetera videnda – He/She came to

Rome to see the old buildings.

See the book on possible gerund + direct object constructions, but realize that this is not the construction preferred by most Roman authors

3. Passive Periphrastic

The passive periphrastic is the most common use of the gerundive. It is used to show necessity.

Gerundive + sum, esse = passive periphrastic

The gerundive will agree with the subject of the sentence, the object to which some action must be done. If the sentences mentions the person who must do the action, that person is indicated by a dative of agent.

3. Passive Periphrastic

Most famous passive periphrastic:

Carthago delenda est

It never actually appears in this form in Latin. In Pliny it appears as … cum clāmāret omnī senatū Carthāginem dēlendam (esse)…

And in the late writer Florus it appears as Cato inexpiābilī odiō dēlendam esse Carthāginem, et cum dē aliō consulerētur, prōnuntiābat.