VerbForm: form of verb or deverbative
Even though the name of the feature seems to suggest that it is used
exclusively with verbs, it is not the case. Some verb
forms in some languages actually form a gray zone between verbs and
other parts of speech (nouns, adjectives
and adverbs). For instance, participles may be either
classified as verbs or as adjectives, depending on language and
context. In both cases VerbForm=Part may be used to separate them
from other verb forms or other types of adjectives.
Fin: finite verb
Rule of thumb: if it has non-empty Mood, it is finite. But beware that some tagsets conflate verb forms and moods into one feature.
Examples
- [en] I do, he does
Inf: infinitive
Infinitive is the citation form of verbs in many languages. Unlike in English, it often has morphological form that is distinct from the finite forms. Infinitives may be used together with auxiliaries to form periphrastic tenses (e.g. future tense [cs] budu sedět v letadle “I will sit in a plane”), they appear as arguments of modal verbs etc. In some languages they behave similarly to nouns and are used as such (similar to the gerund in English).
Examples
- [de] ich muss gehen “I must go”
Sup: supine
Supine is a rare verb form. It survives in some Slavic languages (Slovenian) and is used instead of infinitive as the argument of motion verbs (old [cs] jdu spat lit. I-go sleep).
A form called “supine” also exists in Swedish where it is a special form of the participle, used to form the composite past form of a verb. It is used after the auxiliary verb ha (to have) but not after vara (to be):
- Simple past: I ate (the) dinner = Jag åt maten (using preterite)
- Composite past: I have eaten (the) dinner = Jag har ätit maten (using supine)
- Past participle common: (The) dinner is eaten = Maten är äten (using past participle)
- Past participle neuter: (The) apple is eaten = Äpplet är ätet
- Past participle plural: (The) apples are eaten = Äpplena är ätna
Part: participle
Participle is a non-finite verb form that shares properties of verbs and adjectives. Its usage varies across languages. It may be used to form various periphrastic verb forms such as complex tenses and passives; it may be also used purely adjectively.
Other features may help to distinguish past/present participles (English), active/passive participles (Czech), imperfect/perfect participles (Hindi) etc.
Examples
- [en] he could have been prepared if he had forseen it; I will be driving home.
Trans: transgressive
The transgressive, also called adverbial participle, is a non-finite verb form that shares properties of verbs and adverbs. It appears e.g. in Slavic and Indo-Aryan languages.
Examples
- [cs] zírali na mne, pevně svírajíce své zbraně “they stared at me while gripping their guns firmly”; udělavši večeři, zavolala rodinu ke stolu “having prepared the dinner, she called her family to the table”
Ger: gerund
Gerund is a non-finite verb form that shares properties of verbs and nouns. In English it shares the morphological form with present participle, which may mean that the tagset will not distinguish it from the participle.
Examples
- [en] I look forward to seeing you; he turns a blind eye to my being late
VerbForm in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]