English

Adjective

jussive ‎(not comparable)

1. (grammar) Of or in the jussive mood (see below)

Translations

Noun

jussive ‎(usually uncountable, plural jussives)

1. (grammar, uncountable and countable) The jussive mood, a verb inflection used to indicate a command, permission or agreement with a request; an instance of a verb so inflected.
   • 1990, Bruce K. Waltke, Michael Patrick O′Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, page 566,

     For example, in the Aaronide blessing, only two of the six verbs are formally jussives, yet all have the same volitional sense.

   • 2003, Robert E. Longacre, Joseph: A Story of Divine Providence: A Text Theoretical and Textlinguistic Analysis of Genesis 37 and 39-48, 2nd edition, footnote, page 121,

     As far as the jussive goes — ignoring the very few occurrences of this in first person — it can be noted that most of the second-person jussives are in negative commands.

   • 2003, Sharon Rose, The formation of Ethiopian Semitic internal reduplication, Joseph Shimron (editor), Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology, page 90,

     If, on the other hand, reference is made purely to the root, we would expect all frequentative jussives to appear with a front element, producing *mɨt′ət′ɨs instead of mɨt′ət′ɨs (19d).

   • 2006, Robert Ray Ellis, Learning to Read Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar, page 174,

     The jussive and cohortative usually convey more indirect, or more subtle, expressions of volition than the imperative does.

2. (Arabic grammar) A verbal mood of vague or miscellaneous senses, occurring after some particles and in conditional clauses.

Usage notes

The jussive mood is similar to the cohortative mood, except that it also applies to verbs in the second and third person. Although the jussive mood is absent from English, it is present in Hebrew, Arabic, and Esperanto.

Synonyms

• (in Arabic grammar) apocopate

Translations