ars, artis [3/f]: art; skill
Artem ¦ scribendī discō. │ I’m learning to write
[= the art ¦ of writing].
dīcendum: speaking
legendum: reading
pingendum: painting
scrībendum: writing
[i] These four words are known as
gerunds; a gerund is formed from a verb but acts like a noun e.g. Smoking
is not permitted. In English grammar they are sometimes known as verbal
nouns because they describe the performing of the action which the
verb describes.
[ii] They decline like 2nd declension neuter nouns
in -um but they have no nominative case.
Nominative: -
Genitive: legendī
Dative: legendō
Accusative: legendum
Ablative: legendō
[iii] When the idea is expressed in the nominative case, an
infinitive is used:
La: vidēre est crēdere [infinitive]
Fr: voir c’est croire [infinitive]
Eng: seeing is believing
Legere [infinitive] mihi placet = Reading is pleasing
to me = I like reading
[iv] The Latin gerund, however, is used in other cases.
Therefore:
ars ¦ dīcendī / loquendī│ the art of
speaking
ars legendī │ the art of reading
ars pingendī │ the art of painting
ars scrībendī │ the art of writing
No comments:
Post a Comment