Gerundive Uses - Passive Periphrastic

Gerundives are rarely used as a normal participle or adjective. The gerundive is used to express obligation in the nominative case and to express purpose in the genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative cases. Let's look at some examples of how we use it in each of the various cases.

The Passive Periphrastic - expressing obligation

One of the main ways that future active participles are used is called the Active Periphrastic. The future active participle is used with a form of sum to express some incomplete action: Caesar is going to attack (Caesar oppugnaturus est.). Recall that the gerundive is actually a future passive participle. So, when a gerundive is paired with a form of sum, we call it the Passive Periphrastic.

Active Periphrastic: future active participle + form of sum
Passive Periphrastic: future passive participle (gerundive) + form of sum

Unlike the active periphrastic, which states a simple future event, the passive periphrastic is used to express obligation or necessity. The gerundive will agree with the subject in case, number, and gender. Examples:

Active Periphrastic
- Caesar bellum inlaturus est. = Caesar is going to wage war.
Passive Periphrastic
- Bellum Caesari inferendum est. = War must be waged by Caesar.
  - Alternative Translation: Caesar must wage war.

The translation (must) implies obligation or necessity. The gerundive is used with a form of sum (in this example: est). The agent or doer of the obligation (Caesari) is written in the dative case , and so is called the the dative of agent.

The tense of the verb sum can change in this construction. The present tense is most common, but you will also occasionally see the imperfect:

Bellum Caesari inferendum erat.
- Translation 1: The war had to be waged by Caesar.
- Translation 2: Caesar had to wage war.

When there is no dative of agent, there can only be one effective translation:

Bellum inferendum est.
- War must be waged.

Practice Activity

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