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In grammar, a frequentative form of a word is one which indicates repeated action. The frequentative form can be considered a separate, but not completely independent word. English frequentative is no longer productive, but in some languages, such as Finnish, it is.
English
English has -le or geminate-er endings. Frequentative forms surviving in English include:
- batter (bat)
- chatter (chat)
- crackle (crack)
- curdle (curd)
- dribble (drip)
- flitter (flit)
- jiggle (jig)
- muddle (mud)
- patter (pat)
- prattle (prat)
- prickle (prick)
- scribble (scribe)
- slither (slide)
- sniffle (sniff)
- sparkle (spark)
- stubble (stub)
- swaddle (swathe)
- tipple (tip)
- trample (tramp)
- waddle (wade)
- waggle (wag)
Finnish
In Finnish, a frequentative verb signifies repeated action that takes place "around the place" both spatially and temporally. The complete translation would be "go -- around aimlessly". Some forms:
- ampua -- ammuskella "to shoot -- go shooting around"
- juosta -- juoksennella "to run -- to run around (to and fro)"
- kirjoittaa -- kirjoitella "to write -- to write (something short) occasionally"
Loanwords are put into the frequentative form, if the action is such. If the action can be nothing else but frequentative, the "basic form" doesn't even exist, such as with "to go shopping".
- surffata -- surffailla "to surf -- to surf (around in the net)"
- "*shopata" -- shoppailla "*to shop once (impossible) -- to go shopping"
There's also this case with an adjective: iso -- isotella "big -- to talk big".
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