What do we call an adjective made of a verb?
What do we call adjectives formed from verbs? For example:
- Lost is an adjective made from lose,
- Forgotten is an adjective made from forget,
- Broken is an adjective made from break.
What is the technical term for such adjectives? Do they have a name at all?
Solution 1:
The word you're looking for is participle. Wikipedia has a good summary, including the following discussion of English participles:
English verbs have two participles:
called variously the present, active, imperfect, or progressive participle, it is identical in form to the gerund; the term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund. The term gerund-participle is also used.
called variously the past, passive, or perfect participle, it is usually identical to the verb's preterite (past tense) form, though in irregular verbs the two usually differ.
Your examples are all of the past participle. The present participle is formed with -ing.
Solution 2:
It's a modifier, which is a word that is used attributively to restrict or add sense to the noun that follows it.
For example, the past participle in the following phrases is used as modifier for the noun that follows it.
- lost property
- forgotten worlds
- unforgiven sinner
- given name
The other term is, how I have already said in the previous sentence, past participle.