Gerunds
A gerund is a verbal noun: literally ‘the act of xing’
Running is easy
The art of writing is difficult to master.
I like swimming on holiday.
All for the sake of winning the war.
A gerund can take an accusative, genitive, dative and ablative, but rarely appears in the
nominative. It is active in meaning and can take a direct object.
accusative portandum the act of carrying
genitive portandi of the act of carrying
dative portando to the act of carrying
ablative portando by means of the act carrying
These cases are used in slightly different ways:
The accusative is mostly used with the preposition ad to denote purpose:
ad ludendum - in order to play, to play
ad portandum - (in order to) carry
The genitive is used with gratia or causa (‘for the sake of’), also to denote purpose:
gratia ludendi - for the sake of playing, to play
causa portandi - for the sake of carrying, to carry
The ablative is usually used in one of two ways:
1) with the prepositions ab (from,by), de (concerning), in (in), ex (out of), pro (for):
de scribendo - concerning/about the act of writing
in faciendo hoc - in doing this
2) Ablative of Manner - the gerund is used in its ablative form to indicate how an action
was done:
omnia vinces perseverando - you will conquer all by persevering
Exercises
1) hic modus vivendi est.
2) nullum loquar de necando
3) causa morandi rubs delenda est.
4) puella pulchra avida discendi erat.
5) mercator pecuniam rapuit ad emendum duos equos.
A gerund is a verbal noun: literally ‘the act of xing’
Running is easy
The art of writing is difficult to master.
I like swimming on holiday.
All for the sake of winning the war.
A gerund can take an accusative, genitive, dative and ablative, but rarely appears in the
nominative. It is active in meaning and can take a direct object.
accusative portandum the act of carrying
genitive portandi of the act of carrying
dative portando to the act of carrying
ablative portando by means of the act carrying
These cases are used in slightly different ways:
The accusative is mostly used with the preposition ad to denote purpose:
ad ludendum - in order to play, to play
ad portandum - (in order to) carry
The genitive is used with gratia or causa (‘for the sake of’), also to denote purpose:
gratia ludendi - for the sake of playing, to play
causa portandi - for the sake of carrying, to carry
The ablative is usually used in one of two ways:
1) with the prepositions ab (from,by), de (concerning), in (in), ex (out of), pro (for):
de scribendo - concerning/about the act of writing
in faciendo hoc - in doing this
2) Ablative of Manner - the gerund is used in its ablative form to indicate how an action
was done:
omnia vinces perseverando - you will conquer all by persevering
Exercises
1) hic modus vivendi est.
2) nullum loquar de necando
3) causa morandi rubs delenda est.
4) puella pulchra avida discendi erat.
5) mercator pecuniam rapuit ad emendum duos equos.
