Supine
Encyclopedia
In grammar
a supine is a form of verbal noun
used in some languages.
there are two supines, I (first) and II (second). They are originally the accusative
and dative
or ablative
forms of a verbal noun
in the fourth declension, respectively. The first supine ends in -um. It has two uses. The first is with verbs of motion and indicates purpose. For example, "Gladiatores adierunt pugnatum" is Latin for "The gladiators have come to fight", and "Nuntii gratulatum et cubitum venerunt" is Latin for "The messengers came to congratulate and to sleep." The second usage is in the Future Passive Infinitive, for example "amatum iri" means "to be about to be loved". It mostly appears in indirect statements, for example "credidit se necatum iri", meaning "he thought that he was going to be killed".
The second supine can be used with adjectives but it is rarely used and only a small number of verbs traditionally take it. It is derived from the dativus finalis which expresses purpose or the ablativus respectivus which indicates in what respect. It is the same as the first supine minus the final -m and with lengthened "u". "Mirabile dictū", for example, means "amazing to say", where dictū is a supine form.
The English
supine is the bare infinitive
(the verb's plain form) introduced by the particle
to; for this reason it is often called the full infinitive or to-infinitive. E.g. 'To err is human, to forgive divine.'
In Estonian
supine is called "ma-tegevusnimi" (lit. "ma-action name") because all the words in supine have "ma" in the end (as in "tegema", "jooksma", "kõndima") and they act similarly to the Latin example. In Estonian the supine is also the common dictionary form for verbs.
The Romanian
supine generally corresponds to an English construction like for doing; for example, "Această carte este de citit" means "This book is for reading."
The Slovene supine is used after verbs of movement. See Slovenian verbs. The supine was used in Proto-Slavic
but it was replaced in most Slavic languages
by the infinitive
in later periods. In Czech
, the contemporary infinitive ending -t (formerly -ti) originates from the supine.
In Swedish
the supine is used with an auxiliary verb
to produce some compound verb forms (perfect forms). See Swedish grammar.
In some dialects of Lithuanian
the supine is used with verbs of motion to indicate purpose, e. g. Moterys eina miestan duonos pirktų , which means The women are going to the town to buy some bread (more archaic forms are pirktun, pirktum). The standard language uses the infinitive, pirkti in place of the supine. In the past, the supine was a more widespread form that was not restricted to just a few dialects within the language.
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
a supine is a form of verbal noun
Verbal noun
In linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
used in some languages.
In Latin
In LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
there are two supines, I (first) and II (second). They are originally the accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
and dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
or ablative
Ablative case
In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ...
forms of a verbal noun
Verbal noun
In linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
in the fourth declension, respectively. The first supine ends in -um. It has two uses. The first is with verbs of motion and indicates purpose. For example, "Gladiatores adierunt pugnatum" is Latin for "The gladiators have come to fight", and "Nuntii gratulatum et cubitum venerunt" is Latin for "The messengers came to congratulate and to sleep." The second usage is in the Future Passive Infinitive, for example "amatum iri" means "to be about to be loved". It mostly appears in indirect statements, for example "credidit se necatum iri", meaning "he thought that he was going to be killed".
The second supine can be used with adjectives but it is rarely used and only a small number of verbs traditionally take it. It is derived from the dativus finalis which expresses purpose or the ablativus respectivus which indicates in what respect. It is the same as the first supine minus the final -m and with lengthened "u". "Mirabile dictū", for example, means "amazing to say", where dictū is a supine form.
In other languages
Outside of Latin, a supine is a non-finite verb form whose use resembles that of the Latin supine.The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
supine is the bare infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
(the verb's plain form) introduced by the particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
to; for this reason it is often called the full infinitive or to-infinitive. E.g. 'To err is human, to forgive divine.'
In Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
supine is called "ma-tegevusnimi" (lit. "ma-action name") because all the words in supine have "ma" in the end (as in "tegema", "jooksma", "kõndima") and they act similarly to the Latin example. In Estonian the supine is also the common dictionary form for verbs.
The Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
supine generally corresponds to an English construction like for doing; for example, "Această carte este de citit" means "This book is for reading."
The Slovene supine is used after verbs of movement. See Slovenian verbs. The supine was used in Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic language
Proto-Slavic is the proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged. It was spoken before the seventh century AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; the language has been reconstructed by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic...
but it was replaced in most Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
by the infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
in later periods. In Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, the contemporary infinitive ending -t (formerly -ti) originates from the supine.
In Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
the supine is used with an auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
to produce some compound verb forms (perfect forms). See Swedish grammar.
In some dialects of Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
the supine is used with verbs of motion to indicate purpose, e. g. Moterys eina miestan duonos pirktų , which means The women are going to the town to buy some bread (more archaic forms are pirktun, pirktum). The standard language uses the infinitive, pirkti in place of the supine. In the past, the supine was a more widespread form that was not restricted to just a few dialects within the language.