Participles
§158.
The Participles are used as follows:--
The Present Participle (ending in
-ns)
-
commonly has the same meaning and use as the English participle in -ing;
o
as,
vocāns,
calling
o
legentźs, reading.
The Future Participle (ending in
-ūrus)
-
oftenest used to express what is likely or about to happen:
o
as,
rźctūrus,
about to rule
o
audītūrus,
about to hear.
NOTE.--With the tenses of
esse,
to be, it forms the First Periphrastic Conjugation (see § 195): as,
-
urbs
est
cāsūra,
the city is about to fall
-
mānsūrus
eram, I
was going to stay.
The Perfect Participle (ending in
-tus,
-sus
) has two uses:--
-
sometimes equivalent to
the English perfect passive participle
o
as,
tźctus, sheltered
o
acceptus,
accepted
ictus,
having been struck
o
and often has simply an
adjective meaning: as,
acceptus, acceptable.
-
used with the verb to be
(esse) to form certain tenses of the passive
o
as,
vocātus est, he was (has been) called.
NOTE.--There is no
Perfect Active or Present Passive Participle in Latin.
The Gerundive
(ending in
-ndus), has two uses:--
-
often used as an
adjective implying
o
obligation,
o
necessity,
o
or propriety (ought or
must):
o
as,
audiendus est, he must be heard.
NOTE.--When thus used
with the tenses of the verb to be (esse) it forms the Second
Periphrastic Conjugation:
dźligendus erat, he ought to have been chosen (§ 196).
In the oblique cases the
Gerundive commonly has the same meaning as the Gerund (cf. § 159. a), though its
construction is different. (For examples, see § 503 ff.)
[p. 75]
§159.
The Gerund and Supine are used as follows:--
The Gerund is a verbal noun, corresponding in meaning to the English verbal noun
in -ing (§ 502): as,
loquendī causā, for the sake of speaking.
NOTE.--The Gerund is
found only in the oblique cases. A corresponding nominative is supplied by the
Infinitive:
thus,
scrībere est ūtile, writing (to write) is useful;
but,
ars scrībendī, the art of writing.
The Supine is in form a noun of the fourth declension (§ 94. b), found only in
the accusative ending in
-tum,
-sum, and the dative or ablative ending in
-tū,
-sū.
The Supine in
-um is used after verbs and the Supine in
-ū after adjectives
(§§ 509, 510):--
NOTE.--The participle in
-dus, commonly called the Gerundive, has two distinct uses:--
(1) Its predicate and
attribute use as Participle or Adjective (§ 500).
(2) Its use with the
meaning of the Gerund (§ 503). This may be called its gerundive use.
§500.
The Gerundive when used as a Participle or an Adjective is always passive,
denoting
1.necessity,
2. obligation,
3. or propriety.
In this use of the
Gerundive the following points are to be observed:--
1. The gerundive is
sometimes used, like the present and perfect participles, in simple agreement
with a noun:--
2. The most frequent use
of the gerundive is with the forms of
esse in the Second (or passive) Periphrastic Conjugation
(see § 196):--
3. The neuter gerundive
of both transitive and intransitive verbs may be used impersonally in the second
periphrastic conjugation.
With verbs that take the
dative or ablative, an object may be expressed in the appropriate case; with
transitive verbs, an object in the accusative is sometimes found:--
4. After verbs signifying
to give, deliver, agree for, have, receive, undertake,
demand, 3 a gerundive in agreement with the object is used to
express purpose:--
§501.
The Gerund is the neuter of the Gerundive, used substantively in the Genitive,
Dative, Accusative, and Ablative.
§502.
The Gerund expresses an action of the verb in the form of a verbal noun.
As a noun the
gerund is itself governed by other words; as a verb it may take an object
in the proper case:--
NOTE.--The Nominative of
the gerund is supplied by the Infinitive. Thus in the example above, the verbal
nouns discoursing and distinguishing, if used in the nominative,
would be expressed by the infinitives
disserere and dīiūdicāre.
The Gerund is the neuter
of the gerundive used impersonally, but retaining the verbal idea sufficiently
to govern an object. It may therefore be regarded as a noun (cf.
mātūrātō opus est, § 497. a) with a verbal force (cf.
istanc tāctiō, p. 240, footnote).