Сөздің есімдік түрі: Супин

Form of verbal noun used in some languages

In grammar, a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages. The term is most often used for Latin, where it is one of the four principal parts of a verb. The word refers to a position of lying on one's back (as opposed to 'prone', lying face downward), but there exists no widely accepted etymology that explains why or how the term came to be used to also describe this form of a verb.

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.

In English grammar, the term "supine" is sometimes used to refer to the to infinitive. The to infinitive is seen in sentences like "To err is human; to forgive divine." In Swedish grammar, the supine is used with an auxiliary verb to produce some compound verb forms that closely resemble perfect forms. Inspired by the tradition in Swedish grammar, some linguists identify a similar form in the Danish language. In Icelandic grammar, sagnbót (usually translated as "supine") is a verbal form identical to the neuter participle, used to form certain verb tenses.

In Estonian, the supine is called "ma tegevusnimi" (lit. "ma infinitive") because all the words in supine have "ma" in the end (as in "tegema", "jooksma", "kõndima"), and they act similarly to the Latin example. The supine is also the common dictionary form for verbs. The Finnish equivalent of the Estonian supine in " ma" is called "kolmannen infinitiivin illatiivi" (lit. "the illative of the third infinitive"), which is " maan" or " mään" according to vowel harmony (as in "tekemään", "juoksemaan", "kävelemään"), these, too, act similarly to the Latin as they are complements of verbs of motion.

In Romanian, the supine generally corresponds to an English construction like for [gerund]: "Această carte este de citit" means "This book is for reading". Additionally, the supine in Romanian can be used to express English constructions such as “I have things to do,” which would be translated as “Eu am niște lucruri de făcut.”

The Slovene and the Lower Sorbian 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 some dialects of Lithuanian, the supine is used with verbs of motion to indicate purpose: Moterys eina miestan duonos pirktų, which means "The women are going to the town to buy some bread". The standard language uses the infinitive, pirkti, instead of the supine. In Old Lithuanian, the supine was a much more widespread form than in Modern Lithuanian.