In linguistics, a gerundive is a verbal adjective used to indicate that a noun needs or deserves to be the object of an action. For example, if feed-ando were a gerundive form of the verb to feed, then the sentence "The cat is feed-ando" would mean roughly, "The cat needs to be fed." Not all languages have gerundives; Latin and Esperanto are two that do. In English, a passive infinitive (e.g., to be fed) can sometimes be used with the sense of a gerundive, e.g. "The cat is to be fed."

The term gerundive is also used — perhaps due to confusion — to denote the French gérondif and the Spanish gerundio, which are verbal adverbs used to indicate that one action caused or happened at the same time as another. For example, the French adage "C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron" translates to English as "It is by blacksmithing that one becomes a blacksmith."

In Esperanto

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Esperanto has two separate gerundive forms, one (-enda) meaning must be done and one (-inda) meaning deserving to be done. For example, io farinda means something worth doing, a good thing to do, while io farenda means something that absolutely needs to be done.

There is also (-ota), the future passive participle, meaning will be done or to be done depending on context, for example: domo konstruota means a house which will be built, a house to be built (i.e. planned).

In Latin

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• Cato the Elder, a Roman senator, frequently ended his speeches with the statement, "Cetero censeo Carthaginem delendam esse" (lit. "I also mean Carthage to be destroyed," 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 nunquam titillandus" (lit. "dragon sleeping [is never to be teased," i.e. "Never tease a sleeping dragon").
• 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 phrase containing a feminine form of propagandum, the gerundive of propagare, to propagate.

See also Latin grammar.

Linguistics

Gerundivum | Gerundivum