Found this among my old school work
☺ from gerĕre - specifically, from its gerundive form gerendum, which had the variation gerundum.
Huh?
☺ Gerunds are verbal nouns. [1] Gerundives are verbal adjectives.
☺ Gerunds are always declined in the singular neuter second declension, so declining them is as easy as:
Nom.
periculum
Gen.
periculī
Dat.
periculō
Acc.
periculum
Abl.
periculō
☺ The only voice in which gerunds are used is the ACTIVE voice. No passive! No subjunctive! Easy(ish).
But How?
Well, forming gerunds isn’t any big deal. [2] It's just a matter of figuring out the present stem, then adding 'nd' to the root, and then adding your inflected ending. Of course, 3rd conj. i-stems and also 4th conj. verbs are a little bit different; you add “-end” instead. Huh? Ok, here's a table:
INFINITIVE
So our present stem is...?
Super-Duper
Formula
It’s alive!
It’s alive!
1st conj.
memorāre
“to remind”
memorā-
memorā + nd + inflected ending
memorandus, -a, -um
“reminding”
2nd conj.
implēre
“to fill”
implē-
implē + nd + inflected ending
implendus, -a, -um
“filling”
3rd conj.
adolescere
"to mature"
adolesce-
adolesce + nd + inflected ending
adolescendus, -a, -um
“maturing”
3rd conj.
(i-stems)
recipere
“to receive/
recapture”
recipi-
recipi + end + inflected ending
recipiendus, -a, -um
“receiving/
recapturing”
4th conj.
punīre
“to punish”
punī-
punī + end + inflected ending
puniendus, -a, -um
“punishing”
Then What?
Then, we figure out how we want to use the tricksy gerund. There are many different uses of a gerund, including (but of course not limited to) purpose, complements, cause, means and manner. It all depends how you want to use it.
☺ Remember; it’s declined just like a singular neuter second-declension noun. The declined gerund looks like this (we’ll use the same verbs as with the previous table):
1st CONJ.
2nd CONJ.
3rd CONJ.
3rd i-stems
4th CONJ.
Nom.
---
---
---
---
---
Gen.
memorandī
implendī
adolescendī
recipiendī
puniendī
Dat.
memorandō
implendō
adolescendō
recipiendō
puniendō
Acc.
memorandum
implendum
adolescendum
recipiendum
puniendum
Abl.
memorandō
implendō
adolescendō
recipiendō
puniendō
No Nominative For You!
Whining accomplishes nothing. Obvagīre nihil aget.
A Latin gerund is never, ever, ever used in the nominative case. The infinitive is used instead, so the literal meaning of our sentence is, “To whine accomplishes nothing,” but doesn’t it sound nicer to say “whining” instead of “to whine”? [3] It’s spiffy to be able to use our own English gerund, “whining,” something the Romans could not grammatically use in the nominative, but that we can. [4]
Genitive
May often be as a COMPLEMENT.
The art of whining. Ars obvagiendī.
Dative
The dative gerund is often paired with certain adjectives:
Bonus, utilis & idoneus.
Water is good for drinking. Aqua bibendō bona est. [5]
Accusative
Often used to show PURPOSE when paired with the correct preposion.
Some common prepositions used with accusative gerunds: ad, in, ob & inter.
Also used are adverbs such as bene.
[For the purpose of] whining well. Ad bene obvagiendum.
Ablative
Often used to show MEANS, CAUSE or MANNER.
Sometimes the ablative gerund is paired with gratia or causa.
Nothing is accomplished by [means of] whining. Nihil aget obvagiendō.
Taking Objects
This phrase, “taking objects,” in Latin would be “objects to be taken,” literally, though in English we would translate it as “taking objects” for sake of smoothness. Why? Because when we add an object, that creates the linguistic possibility of switching it to a participle (namely, the gerundive), and the Greco-Roman t-shirt of linguistic patterns would say “I ♥ PARTICIPLES.”
So, because it changes from a noun to an adjective, it would take on the number, gender and case of the object which it now modifies.
“Death by falling rocks” - NOT mors cadendō saxa but mors saxīs cadendō. ß now a gerundive!
Suzanne Musin
Sources:
FR pp.58-59
NLG, assorted pages
[1] Once upon a time, there was Verb. Verb was very, very sad, for Verb didn’t want to show action; Verb wanted to be something! And so Verb wished upon the Star of Morphology, and a miracle occurred: Verb became an idea of action instead of being the action itself, and (as ideas are things) that meant Verb had become a noun! Oh Happy Day! And so Verb was given a new name: Verbal Noun. And Verbal Noun was happy forevermore, being able to control objects and doing other very fun things which nouns may do. The End.
[2] This sentence, were it in Latin, would take the gerundive, meaning, literally, “Gerunds to be formed aren’t any big deal.” Why? Because the English gerund, ‘forming,’ takes an object, “gerunds,” and those Romans were nuts about their participles, using them whenever they could. See other side for more on this subject.
[3] You are supposed to agree.
[4] This is likely due to our having a non-inflected language at our disposal. It’s a trade-off; we get to use gerunds as a subject, and they got to wear togas every day (if they were good enough). Those skeptics who point out that we have Toga Parties (and that we get to use forks at them, too) just don't get it; they could have Toga Parties with Cicero.
[5] I couldn’t think of a whining example…er, sorry.
Sometimes I miss Latin.
Huh?
☺ Gerunds are verbal nouns. [1] Gerundives are verbal adjectives.
☺ Gerunds are always declined in the singular neuter second declension, so declining them is as easy as:
Nom.
periculum
Gen.
periculī
Dat.
periculō
Acc.
periculum
Abl.
periculō
☺ The only voice in which gerunds are used is the ACTIVE voice. No passive! No subjunctive! Easy(ish).
But How?
Well, forming gerunds isn’t any big deal. [2] It's just a matter of figuring out the present stem, then adding 'nd' to the root, and then adding your inflected ending. Of course, 3rd conj. i-stems and also 4th conj. verbs are a little bit different; you add “-end” instead. Huh? Ok, here's a table:
INFINITIVE
So our present stem is...?
Super-Duper
Formula
It’s alive!
It’s alive!
1st conj.
memorāre
“to remind”
memorā-
memorā + nd + inflected ending
memorandus, -a, -um
“reminding”
2nd conj.
implēre
“to fill”
implē-
implē + nd + inflected ending
implendus, -a, -um
“filling”
3rd conj.
adolescere
"to mature"
adolesce-
adolesce + nd + inflected ending
adolescendus, -a, -um
“maturing”
3rd conj.
(i-stems)
recipere
“to receive/
recapture”
recipi-
recipi + end + inflected ending
recipiendus, -a, -um
“receiving/
recapturing”
4th conj.
punīre
“to punish”
punī-
punī + end + inflected ending
puniendus, -a, -um
“punishing”
Then What?
Then, we figure out how we want to use the tricksy gerund. There are many different uses of a gerund, including (but of course not limited to) purpose, complements, cause, means and manner. It all depends how you want to use it.
☺ Remember; it’s declined just like a singular neuter second-declension noun. The declined gerund looks like this (we’ll use the same verbs as with the previous table):
1st CONJ.
2nd CONJ.
3rd CONJ.
3rd i-stems
4th CONJ.
Nom.
---
---
---
---
---
Gen.
memorandī
implendī
adolescendī
recipiendī
puniendī
Dat.
memorandō
implendō
adolescendō
recipiendō
puniendō
Acc.
memorandum
implendum
adolescendum
recipiendum
puniendum
Abl.
memorandō
implendō
adolescendō
recipiendō
puniendō
No Nominative For You!
Whining accomplishes nothing. Obvagīre nihil aget.
A Latin gerund is never, ever, ever used in the nominative case. The infinitive is used instead, so the literal meaning of our sentence is, “To whine accomplishes nothing,” but doesn’t it sound nicer to say “whining” instead of “to whine”? [3] It’s spiffy to be able to use our own English gerund, “whining,” something the Romans could not grammatically use in the nominative, but that we can. [4]
Genitive
May often be as a COMPLEMENT.
The art of whining. Ars obvagiendī.
Dative
The dative gerund is often paired with certain adjectives:
Bonus, utilis & idoneus.
Water is good for drinking. Aqua bibendō bona est. [5]
Accusative
Often used to show PURPOSE when paired with the correct preposion.
Some common prepositions used with accusative gerunds: ad, in, ob & inter.
Also used are adverbs such as bene.
[For the purpose of] whining well. Ad bene obvagiendum.
Ablative
Often used to show MEANS, CAUSE or MANNER.
Sometimes the ablative gerund is paired with gratia or causa.
Nothing is accomplished by [means of] whining. Nihil aget obvagiendō.
Taking Objects
This phrase, “taking objects,” in Latin would be “objects to be taken,” literally, though in English we would translate it as “taking objects” for sake of smoothness. Why? Because when we add an object, that creates the linguistic possibility of switching it to a participle (namely, the gerundive), and the Greco-Roman t-shirt of linguistic patterns would say “I ♥ PARTICIPLES.”
So, because it changes from a noun to an adjective, it would take on the number, gender and case of the object which it now modifies.
“Death by falling rocks” - NOT mors cadendō saxa but mors saxīs cadendō. ß now a gerundive!
Suzanne Musin
Sources:
FR pp.58-59
NLG, assorted pages
[1] Once upon a time, there was Verb. Verb was very, very sad, for Verb didn’t want to show action; Verb wanted to be something! And so Verb wished upon the Star of Morphology, and a miracle occurred: Verb became an idea of action instead of being the action itself, and (as ideas are things) that meant Verb had become a noun! Oh Happy Day! And so Verb was given a new name: Verbal Noun. And Verbal Noun was happy forevermore, being able to control objects and doing other very fun things which nouns may do. The End.
[2] This sentence, were it in Latin, would take the gerundive, meaning, literally, “Gerunds to be formed aren’t any big deal.” Why? Because the English gerund, ‘forming,’ takes an object, “gerunds,” and those Romans were nuts about their participles, using them whenever they could. See other side for more on this subject.
[3] You are supposed to agree.
[4] This is likely due to our having a non-inflected language at our disposal. It’s a trade-off; we get to use gerunds as a subject, and they got to wear togas every day (if they were good enough). Those skeptics who point out that we have Toga Parties (and that we get to use forks at them, too) just don't get it; they could have Toga Parties with Cicero.
[5] I couldn’t think of a whining example…er, sorry.
Sometimes I miss Latin.