Supine
For other uses, see Supine (disambiguation).In
grammar, a
supine is a form of
verbal noun used in some languages.
In
Latin, a supine ends in
-um (
former supine) or in
-u (
latter supine). It is used much in the same way that English
infinitives are used. The sentence "I call forth the Gladiators
to fight" in Latin becomes "Gladiatores voco
pugnatum" (the use of the infinitive in a construction like "Gladiatores voco
pugnare" is reserved for poetry). Certain idiomatic expressions also include the supine, such as
mirabile dictu "wonderful to relate". The form can only be used in the
accusative and
ablative.
In
Slovene, a supine is used after verbs of movement. It is formed from the infinitive by dropping the final
-i. See
Slovene grammar.
In
Sanskrit, the supine or verbal noun of every verb (often misnamed "infinitive", though it is not such) is formed by adding
-tum to the verb stem, such as
kartum "doing" from the verb
karomi. It is cognate with the Latin supine.
In
Swedish the supine is used with the auxiliary verb
ha for some compound verb forms. See
Swedish grammar.
See also:
gerund
