(1) We’ll begin with a quick review of the gerundive:
02.06.25: Level 3; the gerundive [1]
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/03/020625-level-3-gerundive-1.html
The basic meaning of the gerundive is to express that something needs to be done [X needs to be Yed] and may be translated in several ways:
Hoc faciendum est. │ This must be / has to be / needs to be / is to be done.
Hoc faciendum erat. │ This had to be / needed to be done.
Hoc faciendum erit. │ This will have to be done.
Hic liber legendus est.
Literally: This book is to be / ought to be / should be / worthy of being / read
This book is worth reading.
Carthāgō dēlenda est.
Carthage must / should be destroyed.
Mīles laudandus erat.
The soldier was to be praised [= the soldier was praiseworthy].
If the action that needs to be done includes who needs to do it i.e. the agent, then the dative is used to express it. The gerundive conveys a sense of obligation, and it is given that grammatical term: the gerundive of obligation.
Carthāgō nōbīs dēlenda est. │ Carthage is to be destroyed by us i.e. even though the translation is ‘by us’ (which would suggest an ablative), it is the dative that expresses the idea in this construction.
It would be perfectly possible to rework the sentence from a passive to an active meaning:
Carthāgō nōbīs dēlenda est. │ Carthage is to be destroyed by us > We must destroy Carthage.
English can convey a similar idea:
Hic liber tibi legendus est │ literally: this book is to be read by you > this book is for you to read > you need to read this book.
(2) However, the neuter singular of the gerundive + esse can express an impersonal idea: there is no noun naming what must be done; the gerundive itself functions as the grammatical subject.
Mihi currendum est │ I need to run; the gerundive here indicates the agent must perform that action.
Sometimes, no agent is indicated i.e. there is simply a neuter gerundive with esse; context will determine how that is best translated, for example:
Pugnandum est │ (I, you, we etc.) need to fight i.e. there is need for fighting; even though no agent is indicated, it is usually best to include a subject.
Examples; note that translations will not necessarily convey the original impersonal idea:
Quid igitur nōbīs faciendum est? (Cicero)
What then must be done ¦ by us? / What then are we to do?
In the examples that follow note that:
[i] the impersonal construction may not be rendered in English
[ii] the person to whom the impersonal construction refers may not be specifically stated but understood from context
[iii] a literal translation can frequently sound clumsy
(1) Nam id maximē cavendum est (Cato)
- For this is especially to be avoided.
(2) Quotiēns dīcendum est tibi? (Plautus)
- How many times do you need to be told [literally: does it need to be said to you?]
(3) Ab domō abeundum est mihi (Plautus)
- I have to leave the house.
(4) Clam illūc redeundum est mihi (Plautus)
- I must return there secretly.
(5) Nōn pol mīrandum est (Plautus)
- By Pollux, it’s no wonder [literally: it is not to be wondered at]
(6) Ita nōn verbōrum tantum grātiā legendum vel audiendum est (Quintilian)
Literally: Thus it not must be read or heard merely for the sake of words.
- Then one / you should not read or listen merely for the sake of words.
(7) Poscit, dandum est; vocat, veniendum est; ēicit, abeundum; minātur, extimēscendum (Cicero)
Note in the example that est is not used with all the gerundives; the sense of obligation is already clear from the first two; Cicero then quickens the pace of the Latin statement by using the gerundive alone:
- He demands — it must be given; he calls — one must come; he drives out — one must go away; he threatens — one must be afraid.
In these last three examples, note the appropriate though highly idiomatic rendering of the construction in translation:
(8)
Haud somnīculōsē hoc agendum est (Plautus)
- We can't go to sleep doing it [literally: This is not to be done sleepily].
(9) Male cubandum est (Plautus)
- I’m in for a bad night [literally: It is to be slept badly].
(10) Inambulandum est (Plautus)
- Now for some wandering around / It’s time to wander around.
