Infinitive (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) is a
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
term for certain
verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
forms existing in many languages, most often used as
non-finite verb
A nonfinite verb is a derivative form of a verb unlike finite verbs. Accordingly, nonfinite verb forms are inflected for neither number nor person, and they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. In English, nonfinite verbs in ...
s. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is derived from
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
''
odus Odus may refer to:
* ''Odus'' (fly), a genus of flies
* Odus Creamer Horney (1866–1957), U.S. Army brigadier general
* Odus Mitchell (1899–1989), American football player and coach
*Odus, a fictional owl in '' Candy Crush Saga''
See also
* ...
infinitivus'', a derivative of ''infinitus'' meaning "unlimited".
In traditional descriptions of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the infinitive is the basic
dictionary form
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
of a verb when used non-finitely, with or without the
particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''to''. Thus ''to go'' is an infinitive, as is ''go'' in a sentence like "I must go there" (but not in "I go there", where it is a
finite verb
Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
). The form without ''to'' is called the bare infinitive, and the form with ''to'' is called the full infinitive or to-infinitive.
In many other languages the infinitive is a distinct single word, often with a characteristic
inflective ending, like ''morir'' ("
odie") in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, ''manger'' ("
oeat") in
French, ''portare'' ("
ocarry") in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, ''lieben'' ("
olove") in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, ' (''chitat, "
oread") in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, etc. However, some languages have no infinitive forms. Many
Native American languages
Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large numbe ...
,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Asian languages
A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...
such as
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, and some languages in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
do not have direct equivalents to infinitives or
verbal noun
A verbal noun or gerundial noun is a verb form that functions as a noun. An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (''sacking'' is a noun formed from the verb ''sack'').
...
s. Instead, they use
finite verb forms in ordinary clauses or various special constructions.
Being a verb, an infinitive may take
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ...
s and other complements and modifiers to form a
verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''q ...
(called an infinitive phrase). Like other non-finite verb forms (like
participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s,
converb
In theoretical linguistics, a converb (abbreviated ) is a nonfinite verb form that serves to express adverbial subordination: notions like 'when', 'because', 'after' and 'while'. Other terms that have been used to refer to converbs include ''adver ...
s,
gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
s and
gerundive
In Latin grammar, a gerundive () is a verb form that functions as a verbal adjective.
In Classical Latin, the gerundive is distinct in form and function from the gerund and the present active participle. In Late Latin, the differences were large ...
s), infinitives do not generally have an expressed
subject; thus an infinitive verb phrase also constitutes a complete
non-finite clause, called an infinitive (infinitival) clause. Such phrases or clauses may play a variety of roles within sentences, often being
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s (for example being the subject of a sentence or being a complement of another verb), and sometimes being
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s or other types of modifier. Many verb forms known as infinitives differ from
gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
s (verbal nouns) in that they do not inflect for
case or occur in
adpositional phrase
An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
s. Instead, infinitives often originate in earlier inflectional forms of verbal nouns. Unlike finite verbs, infinitives are not usually inflected for
tense,
person
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...
, etc. either, although some degree of inflection sometimes occurs; for example Latin has distinct
active and passive infinitives.
Phrases and clauses
An ''infinitive phrase'' is a
verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''q ...
constructed with the verb in infinitive form. This consists of the verb together with its
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ...
s and other
complement
A complement is something that completes something else.
Complement may refer specifically to:
The arts
* Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave
** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...
s and
modifier
Modifier may refer to:
* Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning
** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun
** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...
s. Some examples of infinitive phrases in English are given below – these may be based on either the full infinitive (introduced by the
particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''to'') or the bare infinitive (without the particle ''to'').
*(to) sleep
*(to) write ten letters
*(to) go to the store for a pound of sugar
Infinitive phrases often have an implied
grammatical subject
The subject in a simple English sentence such as ''John runs'', ''John is a teacher'', or ''John drives a car'', is the person or thing about whom the statement is made, in this case ''John''. Traditionally the subject is the word or phrase whi ...
making them effectively
clauses rather than phrases. Such ''infinitive clauses'' or ''infinitival clauses'', are one of several kinds of
non-finite clause. They can play various grammatical roles like a
constituent
Constituent or constituency may refer to:
Politics
* An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization
* Advocacy group or constituency
* Constituent assembly
* Constituencies of Namibia
Other meanings
* Const ...
of a larger clause or sentence; for example it may form a
noun phrase
In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
or
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
. Infinitival clauses may be embedded within each other in complex ways, like in the sentence:
*I want to tell you that John Welborn is going to get married to Blair.
Here the infinitival clause ''to get married'' is contained within the finite
dependent clause
A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
''that John Welborn is going to get married to Blair''; this in turn is contained within another infinitival clause, which is contained in the finite
independent clause
An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself.
Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
(the whole sentence).
The grammatical structure of an infinitival clause may differ from that of a corresponding finite clause. For example, in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, the infinitive form of the verb usually goes to the end of its clause, whereas a finite verb (in an independent clause) typically comes in
second position.
Clauses with implicit subject in the objective case
Following certain verbs or prepositions, infinitives commonly ''do'' have an implicit subject, e.g.,
*I want to eat them as dinner.
*For him to fail now would be a disappointment.
As these examples illustrate, the implicit subject of the infinitive occurs in the
objective
Objective may refer to:
* Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
* ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film
* Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object
* Objective Productions, a Brit ...
case (them, him) in contrast to the
nominative case
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
that occurs with a finite verb, e.g., "They ate their dinner."
Such
accusative and infinitive In grammar, accusative and infinitive is the name for a syntactic construction of Latin and Greek, also found in various forms in other languages such as English and Spanish. In this construction, the subject of a subordinate clause is put in the ...
constructions are present in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, as well as many modern languages. The atypical case regarding the implicit subject of an infinitive is an example of
exceptional case-marking. As shown in the above examples, the object of the transitive verb "want" and the preposition "for" allude to their respective pronouns' subjective role within the clauses.
Marking for tense, aspect and voice
In some languages, infinitives may be marked for
grammatical categories
In linguistics, a grammatical category or grammatical feature is a property of items within the grammar of a language. Within each category there are two or more possible values (sometimes called grammemes), which are normally mutually exclusiv ...
like
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
,
aspect
Aspect or Aspects may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art
* Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company
* Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England
* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
, and to some extent
tense. This may be done by
inflection
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...
, as with the Latin perfect and passive infinitives, or by
periphrasis
In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one i ...
(with the use of
auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb ( abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a ...
s), as with the Latin future infinitives or the English perfect and progressive infinitives.
Latin has present, perfect and future infinitives, with active and
passive
Passive may refer to:
* Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive
* Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works
* Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of o ...
forms of each. For details see .
English has infinitive constructions that are marked (periphrastically) for aspect:
perfect,
progressive (continuous), or a combination of the two (
perfect progressive
This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes:
* Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went''
* Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone''
* Combinations of s ...
). These can also be marked for
passive voice
A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...
(as can the plain infinitive):
*''(to) eat'' (plain infinitive, active)
*''(to) be eaten'' (passive)
*''(to) have eaten'' (perfect active)
*''(to) have been eaten'' (perfect passive)
*''(to) be eating'' (progressive active)
*''(to) be being eaten'' (progressive passive)
*''(to) have been eating'' (perfect progressive active)
*''(to) have been being eaten'' (perfect progressive passive, not often used)
Further constructions can be made with other auxiliary-like expressions, like ''(to) be
going to
The ''going-to'' future is a grammatical construction used in English to refer to various types of future occurrences. It is made using appropriate forms of the expression ''to be going to''.Fleischman, Suzanne, ''The Future in Thought and Langua ...
eat'' or ''(to) be
about to
The ''going-to'' future is a grammatical construction used in English to refer to various types of future occurrences. It is made using appropriate forms of the expression ''to be going to''.Fleischman, Suzanne, ''The Future in Thought and Langua ...
eat'', which have future meaning. For more examples of the above types of construction, see .
Perfect infinitives are also found in other European languages that have
perfect forms with auxiliaries similarly to English. For example, ''avoir mangé'' means "(to) have eaten" in French.
English
Regarding
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the term "infinitive" is traditionally applied to the unmarked form of the verb (the
"plain form") when it forms a
non-finite verb
A nonfinite verb is a derivative form of a verb unlike finite verbs. Accordingly, nonfinite verb forms are inflected for neither number nor person, and they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. In English, nonfinite verbs in ...
, whether or not introduced by the
particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from ...
''to''. Hence ''sit'' and ''to sit'', as used in the following sentences, would each be considered an infinitive:
* I can sit here all day.
* I want to sit on the other chair.
The form without ''to'' is called the ''bare infinitive''; the form introduced by ''to'' is called the ''full infinitive'' or ''to-infinitive''.
The other non-finite verb forms in English are the
gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
or present
participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
(the ''-ing'' form), and the
past participle
In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
– these are not considered infinitives. Moreover, the unmarked form of the verb is not considered an infinitive when it forms a
finite verb
Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
: like a present
indicative
A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
("I ''sit'' every day"),
subjunctive ("I suggest that he ''sit''"), or
imperative ("''Sit'' down!"). (For some
irregular verbs
A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. This is one instance ...
the form of the infinitive coincides additionally with that of the past tense and/or past participle, like in the case of ''put''.)
Certain
auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb ( abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a ...
s are
defective
Defective may refer to::
*Defective matrix, in algebra
*Defective verb, in linguistics
*Defective, or ''haser'', in Hebrew orthography, a spelling variant that does not include mater lectionis
*Something presenting an anomaly, such as a product de ...
in that they do not have infinitives (or any other non-finite forms). This applies to the
modal verbs
A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
(''can'', ''must'', etc.), as well as certain related auxiliaries like the ''had'' of ''
had better
The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
'' and the ''used'' of ''
used to
The habitual aspect is a form of expression connoting repetition or continuous existence of a state of affairs. In standard English, for the present time there is no special grammatical marker for the habitual; the simple present is used, as in ' ...
''. (
Periphrases can be employed instead in some cases, like ''(to) be able to'' for ''can'', and ''(to) have to'' for ''must''.) It also applies to the auxiliary ''do'', like used in questions, negatives and emphasis like described under
''do''-support. (Infinitives are
negated by simply preceding them with ''not''. Of course the verb ''do'' when forming a main verb can appear in the infinitive.) However, the auxiliary verbs ''have'' (used to form the
perfect) and ''be'' (used to form the
passive voice
A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...
and
continuous aspect
The continuous and progressive aspects (abbreviated and ) are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action ("to do") or state ("to be") in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects.
In the grammars of many ...
) both commonly appear in the infinitive: "I should have finished by now"; "It's thought to have been a burial site"; "Let him be released"; "I hope to be working tomorrow."
Huddleston and
Pullum's ''Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (2002) does not use the notion of the "infinitive" ("there is no form in the English verb paradigm called 'the infinitive'"), only that of the ''infinitival
clause'', noting that English uses the same form of the verb, the ''plain form'', in infinitival clauses that it uses in imperative and present-subjunctive clauses.
A matter of controversy among
prescriptive grammar
Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes info ...
ians and style writers has been the appropriateness of separating the two words of the ''to''-infinitive (as in "I expect ''to'' happily ''sit'' here"). For details of this, see
split infinitive
A split infinitive is a grammatical construction in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and "infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the full infinitive, but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as the ...
. Opposing
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
theories typically do not consider the ''to''-infinitive a distinct
constituent
Constituent or constituency may refer to:
Politics
* An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization
* Advocacy group or constituency
* Constituent assembly
* Constituencies of Namibia
Other meanings
* Const ...
, instead regarding the scope of the particle ''to'' as an entire verb phrase; thus, ''to buy a car'' is parsed like ''
to uy_[a_car'',_not_like_''
uy_[a_car'',_not_like_''
[to_buy">_car.html"_;"title="uy_[a_car">uy_[a_car'',_not_like_''
[to_buy[a_car.html" ;"title="o_buy.html" ;"title="_car.html" ;"title="uy [a car">uy [a car'', not like ''
[to buy">_car.html" ;"title="uy [a car">uy [a car'', not like ''
[to buy[a car">o_buy.html" ;"title="_car.html" ;"title="uy [a car">uy [a car'', not like ''
[to buy">_car.html" ;"title="uy [a car">uy [a car'', not like ''
[to buy[a car/nowiki>''.
Uses of the infinitive
The bare infinitive and the ''to''-infinitive have a variety of uses in English. The two forms are mostly in complementary distribution – certain contexts call for one, and certain contexts for the other; they are not normally interchangeable, except in occasional instances like after the verb ''help'', where either can be used.
The main uses of infinitives (or infinitive phrases) are as follows:
*As complement
A complement is something that completes something else.
Complement may refer specifically to:
The arts
* Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave
** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...
s of other verbs. The bare infinitive form is a complement of the dummy auxiliary ''do'', most modal auxiliary verbs, verbs of perception like ''see'', ''watch'' and ''hear'' (after a direct object), and the verbs of permission or causation ''make'', ''bid'', ''let'', and ''have'' (also after a direct object). The ''to''-infinitive is used after many transitive verbs like ''want'', ''aim'', ''like'', ''fail'', etc., and as an object complement of a direct object regarding verbs like ''want'', ''convince'', ''aim'', etc.
*In various particular expressions, like ''had better
The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
'' and ''would rather
This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes:
* Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went''
* Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone''
* Combinations of s ...
'' (with bare infinitive), ''in order to'', ''as if to'', ''am to
The ''going-to'' future is a grammar, grammatical construction used in English grammar, English to refer to various types of future occurrences. It is made using appropriate forms of the expression ''to be going to''.Fleischman, Suzanne, ''The Fu ...
/is to/are to''.
*As a noun phrase, expressing its action or state in an abstract, general way, forming the subject of a clause or a predicative expression
A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula (or linking verb), e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement of a certain type of v ...
: "To err is human"; "To know me is to love me". The bare infinitive can be used in such sentences like "What you should do is make a list." A common construction with the ''to''-infinitive involves a dummy pronoun
A dummy pronoun is a deictic pronoun that fulfills a syntactical requirement without providing a contextually explicit meaning of its referent. As such, it is an example of exophora.
Dummy pronouns are used in many Germanic languages, includ ...
subject (''it''), with the infinitive phrase placed after the predicate: "It was nice to meet you."
*Adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
ially, to express purpose, intent or result, as the ''to''-infinitive can have the meaning of ''in order to'', e.g. "I closed the door ''in order'' to block out any noise."
*As a modifier of a noun or adjective. This may relate to the meaning of the noun or adjective ("a request to see someone"; "keen to get on"), or it may form a type of non-finite relative clause, like in "the man to save us"; "the method to use"; "nice to listen to".
*In elliptical
Elliptical may mean:
* having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape
** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape
** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform
* characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by conc ...
questions (direct or indirect): "I don't know where to go." After ''why'' the bare infinitive is used: "Why reveal it?"
The infinitive is also the usual dictionary form
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
or citation form of a verb. The form listed in dictionaries is the bare infinitive, although the ''to''-infinitive is often used in referring to verbs or in defining other verbs: "The word 'amble' means 'to walk slowly'"; "How do we conjugate the verb ''to go''?"
For further detail and examples of the uses of infinitives in English, see Bare infinitive
Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
and ''To''-infinitive in the article on uses of English verb forms.
Other Germanic languages
The original Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
ending of the infinitive was ''-an'', with verbs derived from other words ending in ''-jan'' or ''-janan''.
In German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
it is ''-en'' ("sagen"), with ''-eln'' or ''-ern'' endings on a few words based on -l or -r roots ("segeln", "ändern"). The use of '' zu'' with infinitives is similar to English ''to'', but is less frequent than in English. German infinitives can form nouns, often expressing abstractions of the action, in which case they are of neuter gender: ''das Essen'' means ''the eating'', but also ''the food''.
In Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
infinitives also end in ''-en'' (''zeggen'' — ''to say''), sometimes used with ''te'' similar to English ''to'', e.g., "Het is niet moeilijk te begrijpen" → "It is not hard to understand." The few verbs with stems ending in ''-a'' have infinitives in -n (''gaan'' — ''to go'', ''slaan'' — ''to hit''). Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
has lost the distinction between the infinitive and present forms of verbs, with the exception of the verbs "wees" (to be), which admits the present form "is", and the verb "hê" (to have), whose present form is "het".
In North Germanic languages the final ''-n'' was lost from the infinitive as early as 500–540 AD, reducing the suffix to ''-a''. Later it has been further reduced to ''-e'' in Danish and some Norwegian dialects (including the written majority language bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
). In the majority of Eastern Norwegian dialects and a few bordering Western Swedish dialects the reduction to ''-e'' was only partial, leaving some infinitives in ''-a'' and others in ''-e'' (å laga vs. å kaste). In northern parts of Norway the infinitive suffix is completely lost (å lag’ vs. å kast’) or only the ''-a'' is kept (å laga vs. å kast’). The infinitives of these languages are inflected for passive voice through the addition of ''-s'' or ''-st'' to the active form. This suffix appearance in Old Norse was a contraction of ''mik'' (“me”, forming ''-mk'') or ''sik'' (reflexive pronoun, forming ''-sk'') and was originally expressing reflexive actions: (hann) ''kallar'' (“ ecalls”) + ''-sik'' (“himself”) > (hann) ''kallask'' (“ ecalls himself”). The suffixes ''-mk'' and ''-sk'' later merged to ''-s'', which evolved to ''-st'' in the western dialects. The loss or reduction of ''-a'' in active voice in Norwegian did not occur in the passive forms (''-ast'', ''-as''), except for some dialects that have ''-es''. The other North Germanic languages have the same vowel in both forms.
Latin and Romance languages
The formation of the infinitive in the Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
reflects that in their ancestor, Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, almost all verbs had an infinitive ending with ''-re'' (preceded by one of various thematic vowels). For example, in Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
infinitives end in ''-are'', ''-ere'', ''-rre'' (rare), or ''-ire'' (which is still identical to the Latin forms), and in ''-arsi'', ''-ersi'', ''-rsi'', ''-irsi'' for the reflexive forms. In Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, infinitives end in ''-ar'', ''-er'', or ''-ir'' (Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
also has reflexive forms in ''-arse'', ''-erse'', ''-irse''), while similarly in French they typically end in ''-re'', ''-er'', ''oir'', and ''-ir''. In Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
, both short and long-form infinitives exist; the so-called "long infinitives" end in ''-are, -ere, -ire'' and in modern speech are used exclusively as verbal nouns, while there are a few verbs that cannot be converted into the nominal
Nominal may refer to:
Linguistics and grammar
* Nominal (linguistics), one of the parts of speech
* Nominal, the adjectival form of "noun", as in "nominal agreement" (= "noun agreement")
* Nominal sentence, a sentence without a finite verb
* Nou ...
long infinitive. The "short infinitives" used in verbal contexts (e.g., after an auxiliary verb) have the endings ''-a'',''-ea'', ''-e'', and ''-i'' (basically removing the ending in "-re"). In Romanian, the infinitive is usually replaced by a clause containing the conjunction ''să'' plus the subjunctive mood. The only verb that is modal in common modern Romanian is the verb ''a putea'', to be able to. However, in popular speech the infinitive after ''a putea'' is also increasingly replaced by the subjunctive.
In all Romance languages, infinitives can also form nouns.
Latin infinitives challenged several of the generalizations about infinitives. They did inflect for voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
(''amare'', "to love", ''amari'', to be loved) and for tense (''amare'', "to love", ''amavisse'', "to have loved"), and allowed for an overt expression of the subject (''video Socratem currere'', "I see Socrates running"). See .
Romance languages inherited from Latin the possibility of an overt expression of the subject (as in Italian ''vedo Socrate correre''). Moreover, the "inflected infinitive" (or "personal infinitive") found in Portuguese and Galician inflects for person and number. These, alongside Sardinian, are the only Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
that allow infinitives to take person and number endings. This helps to make infinitive clauses very common in these languages; for example, the English finite clause ''in order that you/she/we have...'' would be translated to Portuguese like ''para teres/ela ter/termos...'' (Portuguese is a null-subject language
In linguistic typology, a null-subject language is a language whose grammar permits an independent clause to lack an explicit subject; such a clause is then said to have a null subject.
In the principles and parameters framework, the null subj ...
). The Portuguese personal infinitive has no proper tenses, only aspects (imperfect and perfect), but tenses can be expressed using periphrastic
In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one in ...
structures. For instance, ''"even though you sing/have sung/are going to sing"'' could be translated to ''"apesar de cantares/teres cantado/ires cantar"''.
Other Romance languages (including Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, and some Italian dialects) allow uninflected infinitives to combine with overt nominative subjects. For example, Spanish ''al abrir yo los ojos'' ("when I opened my eyes") or ''sin yo saberlo'' ("without my knowing about it").
Hellenic languages
Ancient Greek
In Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
the infinitive has four tenses (present, future, aorist, perfect) and three voices (active, middle, passive). Present and perfect have the same infinitive for both middle and passive, while future and aorist have separate middle and passive forms.
Thematic verbs form present active infinitives by adding to the stem the thematic vowel and the infinitive ending , and contracts to , e.g., . Athematic verbs, and perfect actives and aorist passives, add the suffix instead, e.g., . In the middle and passive, the present middle infinitive ending is , e.g., and most tenses of thematic verbs add an additional between the ending and the stem, e.g., .
Modern Greek
The infinitive ''per se'' does not exist in Modern Greek. To see this, consider the ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''ἐθέλω γράφειν'' “I want to write”. In modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
this becomes ''θέλω να γράψω'' “I want that I write”. In modern Greek, the infinitive has thus changed form and function and is used mainly in the formation of periphrastic tense forms and not with an article or alone. Instead of the Ancient Greek infinitive system ''γράφειν, γράψειν, γράψαι, γεγραφέναι'', Modern Greek uses only the form ''γράψει'', a development of the ancient Greek aorist infinitive ''γράψαι''. This form is also invariable. The modern Greek infinitive has only two forms according to voice: for example, ''γράψει'' for the active voice and ''γραφ(τ)εί'' for the passive voice (coming from the ancient passive aorist infinitive ''γραφῆναι'').
Balto-Slavic languages
The infinitive in Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
usually ends in ''-t’'' (ть) preceded by a thematic vowel
In Indo-European studies, a thematic vowel or theme vowel is the vowel or from ablaut placed before the ending of a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the Indo-European languages with this vowel are thematic, and tho ...
, or ''-ti'' (ти), if not preceded by one; some verbs have a stem ending in a consonant and change the ''t'' to ''č’'', like ''*mogt’ → moč’'' (*могть → мочь) "can". Some other Balto-Slavic languages
The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...
have the infinitive typically ending in, for example, ''-ć'' (sometimes ''-c'') in Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
, ''-t’'' in Slovak, ''-t'' (formerly ''-ti'') in Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
and Latvian (with a handful ending in -s on the latter), ''-ty'' (-ти) in Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
, -ць (''-ts) in Belarusian. Lithuanian infinitives end in -''ti'', Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
in -''ti'' or -''ći,'' and Slovenian
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia
* Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...
in -''ti'' or -''či.''
Serbian officially retains infinitives -''ti'' or -''ći'', but is more flexible than the other slavic languages in breaking the infinitive through a clause. The infinitive nevertheless remains the dictionary form.
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
and Macedonian have lost the infinitive altogether except in a handful of frozen expressions where it is the same as the 3rd person singular aorist form. Almost all expressions where an infinitive may be used in Bulgarian are listed here; neverthess in all cases a subordinate clause is the more usual form. For that reason, the present first-person singular conjugation is the dictionary form in Bulgarian, while Macedonian uses the third person singular form of the verb in present tense.
Hebrew
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
has ''two'' infinitives, the infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. The infinitive construct is used after prepositions and is inflected with pronominal endings to indicate its subject or object: ''bikhtōbh hassōphēr'' "when the scribe wrote", ''ahare lekhtō'' "after his going". When the infinitive construct is preceded by (''lə-'', ''li-'', ''lā-'', ''lo-'') "to", it has a similar meaning to the English ''to''-infinitive, and this is its most frequent use in Modern Hebrew. The infinitive absolute is used for verb focus and emphasis, like in ''mōth yāmūth'' (literally "a dying he will die"; figuratively, "he shall indeed/surely die"). This usage is commonplace in the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. In Modern Hebrew it is restricted to high-register literary works.
Note, however, that the ''to''-infinitive of Hebrew is not the dictionary form
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
; that is the third person singular past form.
Finnish
The Finnish grammatical tradition includes many non-finite forms that are generally labeled as (numbered) infinitives although many of these are functionally converb
In theoretical linguistics, a converb (abbreviated ) is a nonfinite verb form that serves to express adverbial subordination: notions like 'when', 'because', 'after' and 'while'. Other terms that have been used to refer to converbs include ''adver ...
s. To form the so-called? first infinitive, the strong form of the root (without consonant gradation
Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation betw ...
or epenthetic 'e') is used, and these changes occur:
# the root is suffixed with ''-ta/-tä'' according to vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an Assimilation (linguistics), assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is t ...
# consonant elision takes place if applicable, e.g., ''juoks+ta'' → ''juosta''
# assimilation of clusters violating sonority hierarchy if applicable, e.g., ''nuol+ta'' → ''nuolla'', ''sur+ta'' → ''surra''
# 't' weakens to 'd' after diphthongs, e.g., ''juo+ta'' → ''juoda''
# 't' elides if intervocalic, e.g., ''kirjoitta+ta'' → ''kirjoittaa''
As such, it is inconvenient for dictionary use, because the imperative would be closer to the root word. Nevertheless, dictionaries use the first infinitive.
There are also four other infinitives, plus a "long" form of the first:
* The long first infinitive is ''-kse-'' and must have a personal suffix appended to it. It has the general meaning of "in order to o something
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
e.g., ''kirjoittaakseni'' "in order for me to write omething.
* The second infinitive is formed by replacing the final ''-a/-ä'' of the first infinitive with ''e''. It can take the inessive and instructive cases to create forms like ''kirjoittaessa'' "while writing".
* The third infinitive is formed by adding ''-ma'' to the first infinitive, which alone creates an "agent" form: ''kirjoita-'' becomes ''kirjoittama''. The third infinitive is technically a noun (denoting the act of performing some verb), so case suffixes identical to those attached to ordinary Finnish nouns allow for other expressions using the third infinitive, e.g., ''kirjoittamalla'' "by writing".
** A personal suffix can then be added to this form to indicate the ''agent participle'', such that ''kirjoittamani kirja'' = "The book that I wrote."
* The fourth infinitive adds ''-minen'' to the first to form a noun that has the connotation of "the process of oing something, e.g., ''kirjoittaminen'' " he process ofwriting". It, too, can be inflected like other Finnish nouns that end in ''-nen''.
* The fifth infinitive adds ''-maisilla-'' to the first, and like the long first infinitive, must take a possessive suffix. It has to do with being "about to o something
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
and may also imply that the act was cut off or interrupted, e.g., ''kirjoittamaisillasi'' "you were about to write ut something interrupted you. This form is more commonly replaced by the third infinitive in adessive case, usually also with a possessive suffix (thus ''kirjoittamallasi'').
Note that all of these must change to reflect vowel harmony, so the fifth infinitive (with a third-person suffix) of ''hypätä'' "jump" is ''hyppäämäisillään'' "he was about to jump", not ''*hyppäämaisillaan''.
Seri
The Seri language
Seri ( sei, cmiique iitom, link=no) is an indigenous language spoken by between 716La situación sociolingüística de la lengua seri en 2006. and 900 Seri people in Punta Chueca and El Desemboque, two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico. ...
of northwestern Mexico has infinitival forms used in two constructions (with the verb meaning 'want' and with the verb meaning 'be able'). The infinitive is formed by adding a prefix to the stem: either ''iha-'' (plus a vowel change of certain vowel-initial stems) if the complement clause is transitive, or ''ica-'' (and no vowel change) if the complement clause is intransitive
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb whose context does not entail a direct object. That lack of transitivity distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Additionally, intransitive verbs ar ...
. The infinitive shows agreement in number with the controlling subject. Examples are: ''icatax ihmiimzo'' 'I want to go', where ''icatax'' is the singular infinitive of the verb 'go' (singular root is ''-atax''), and ''icalx hamiimcajc'' 'we want to go', where ''icalx'' is the plural infinitive. Examples of the transitive infinitive: ''ihaho'' 'to see it/him/her/them' (root ''-aho''), and ''ihacta'' 'to look at it/him/her/them' (root ''-oocta'').
Translation to languages without an infinitive
In languages without an infinitive, the infinitive is translated either as a ''that''-clause or as a verbal noun
A verbal noun or gerundial noun is a verb form that functions as a noun. An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (''sacking'' is a noun formed from the verb ''sack'').
...
. For example, in Literary Arabic the sentence "I want to write a book" is translated as either ''urīdu an aktuba kitāban'' (lit. "I want that I write a book", with a verb in the subjunctive mood) or ''urīdu kitābata kitābin'' (lit. "I want the writing of a book", with the ''masdar'' or verbal noun), and in Levantine Colloquial Arabic ''biddi aktub kitāb'' (subordinate clause with verb in subjunctive).
Even in languages that have infinitives, similar constructions are sometimes necessary where English would allow the infinitive. For example, in French the sentence "I want you to come" translates to ''Je veux que vous veniez'' (lit. "I want that you come", ''come'' being in the subjunctive mood). However, "I want to come" is simply ''Je veux venir'', using the infinitive, just as in English. In Russian, sentences such as "I want you to leave" do not use an infinitive. Rather, they use the conjunction чтобы "in order to/so that" with the past tense form (most probably remnant of subjunctive) of the verb: ''Я хочу, чтобы вы ушли'' (literally, "I want so that you left").
See also
*Auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb ( abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a ...
*Finite verb
Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
*Gerund
In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
*Non-finite verb
A nonfinite verb is a derivative form of a verb unlike finite verbs. Accordingly, nonfinite verb forms are inflected for neither number nor person, and they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. In English, nonfinite verbs in ...
*Split infinitive
A split infinitive is a grammatical construction in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and "infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the full infinitive, but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as the ...
*Verbal noun
A verbal noun or gerundial noun is a verb form that functions as a noun. An example of a verbal noun in English is 'sacking' as in the sentence "The sacking of the city was an epochal event" (''sacking'' is a noun formed from the verb ''sack'').
...
Notes
{{Authority control
Parts of speech
Syntactic entities
Verb types