Page:A Danish and Dano-Norwegian grammar.djvu/132

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118
ETYMOLOGY.

midt paa Gulvet og glo he remained standing in the middle of the floor, staring.

Colloquially and vulgarly a present participle in -s is sometimes formed without any passive signification. Han kom gaaendes he came walking. Or with signification of what is to be done (cfr. lat. gerundive). Kongen er ventendes the king is to be expected. Sometimes, especially in advertisements, the active participle is used with signification of passive: mit iboende Hus the house I live in; et byggende Skib a ship that is being built (cfr. the Engl. expression: efforts are making.)

Note. Expressions like the following: “Having made the necessary preparations Mr. Jones at once started on his voyage” can not in Dano-Norwegian be rendered by means of a participle: efter at have fuldendt sine Forberedelser tiltraadte han straks sin Reise.

230. The past participle in compound tenses formed by means of the auxiliary have is indeclinable; the past participle in compound tenses formed by means of the auxiliary være follows the gender and number of the subject in so far as it is susceptible to the corresponding inflection: Han er gaaet he is gone; de er (e) gaaede they are gone; jeg erkommen I have come; vi er(e) komme we have come; jeg er bleven (colloquially N. blit) meget syg I have grown very ill; vi er(e) blevne forviste fra vort Fæderland we have been expelled from our native country (colloquially in Norway: vi er blit (or blet) forvist.)

The past participle is often used as an adjective and may in that capacity also be employed as a substantive; the participle of intransitive verbs may then have an active signification: en bortreist Hand a man who has departed; et fortabt Faar a lost sheep.