Infinitive

Infinitive(abbreviatedINF) is alinguisticsterm for certainverbforms existing in many languages, most often used asnon-finite verbs.As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The name is derived fromLate Latin[modus] infinitivus,a derivative ofinfinitusmeaning "unlimited".

In traditional descriptions ofEnglish,the infinitive is the basicdictionary formof a verb when used non-finitely, with or without theparticleto.Thusto gois an infinitive, as isgoin a sentence like "I must go there" (but not in "I go there", where it is afinite verb). The form withouttois called thebare infinitive,and the form withtois called thefull infinitiveorto-infinitive.

In many other languages the infinitive is a distinct single word, often with a characteristicinflectiveending, likecantar( "[to] sing" ) inPortuguese,morir( "[to] die" ) inSpanish,manger( "[to] eat" ) inFrench,portare( "[to] carry" ) inLatinandItalian,lieben( "[to] love" ) inGerman,читать(chitat',"[to] read" ) inRussian,etc. However, some languages have no infinitive forms. ManyNative American languages,Arabic,Asian languagessuch asJapanese,and some languages inAfricaandAustraliado not have direct equivalents to infinitives orverbal nouns.Instead, they usefinite verb forms in ordinary clausesor various special constructions.

Being a verb, an infinitive may takeobjectsand other complements and modifiers to form averb phrase(called aninfinitive phrase). Like other non-finite verb forms (likeparticiples,converbs,gerundsandgerundives), infinitives do not generally have an expressedsubject;thus an infinitive verb phrase also constitutes a completenon-finite clause,called aninfinitive (infinitival) clause.Such phrases or clauses may play a variety of roles within sentences, often beingnouns(for example being the subject of a sentence or being a complement of another verb), and sometimes beingadverbsor other types of modifier. Many verb forms known as infinitives differ fromgerunds(verbal nouns) in that they do not inflect forcaseor occur inadpositional phrases.Instead, infinitives often originate in earlier inflectional forms of verbal nouns.Unlike finite verbs, infinitives are not usually inflected fortense,person,etc. either, although some degree of inflection sometimes occurs; for example Latin has distinctactive and passiveinfinitives.

Phrases and clauses

Aninfinitive phraseis averb phraseconstructed with the verb in infinitive form. This consists of the verb together with itsobjectsand othercomplementsandmodifiers.Some examples of infinitive phrases in English are given below – these may be based on either the full infinitive (introduced by theparticleto) or the bare infinitive (without the particleto).

• (to) sleep
• (to) write ten letters
• (to) go to the store for a pound of sugar

Infinitive phrases often have an impliedgrammatical subjectmaking them effectivelyclausesrather than phrases. Suchinfinitive clausesorinfinitival clauses,are one of several kinds ofnon-finite clause.They can play various grammatical roles like aconstituentof a larger clause or sentence; for example it may form anoun phraseoradverb.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 clauseto get marriedis contained within the finitedependent clausethat John Welborn is going to get married to Blair;this in turn is contained within another infinitival clause, which is contained in the finiteindependent clause(the whole sentence).

The grammatical structure of an infinitival clause may differ from that of a corresponding finite clause. For example, inGerman,the infinitive form of the verb usually goes to the end of its clause, whereas a finite verb (in an independent clause) typically comes insecond position.

Clauses with implicit subject in the objective case

Following certain verbs or prepositions, infinitives commonlydohave an implicit subject, e.g.,

• I wantto eat them as dinner.
• Forhim to fail nowwould be a disappointment.

As these examples illustrate, the implicit subject of the infinitive occurs in theobjectivecase (them, him) in contrast to thenominative casethat occurs with a finite verb, e.g., "They ate their dinner." Suchaccusative and infinitiveconstructions are present inLatinandAncient Greek,as well as many modern languages. The atypical case regarding the implicit subject of an infinitive is an example ofexceptional 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 forgrammatical categorieslikevoice,aspect,and to some extenttense.This may be done byinflection,as with the Latin perfect and passive infinitives, or byperiphrasis(with the use ofauxiliary verbs), as with the Latin future infinitives or the English perfect and progressive infinitives.

Latin has present, perfect and future infinitives, with active andpassiveforms of each. For details seeLatin conjugation § Infinitives.

English has infinitive constructions that are marked (periphrastically) for aspect:perfect,progressive(continuous), or a combination of the two (perfect progressive). These can also be marked forpassive voice(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) begoing toeator(to) beabout toeat,which have future meaning. For more examples of the above types of construction, seeUses of English verb forms § Perfect and progressive non-finite constructions.

Perfect infinitives are also found in other European languages that haveperfectforms with auxiliaries similarly to English. For example,avoir mangémeans "(to) have eaten" in French.

English

See also:English verbs

The term "infinitive" is traditionally applied to the unmarked form of the verb (the"plain form") when it forms anon-finite verb,whether or not introduced by theparticleto.Hencesitandto sit,as used in the following sentences, would each be considered an infinitive:

• I cansithere all day.
• I wantto siton the other chair.

The form withouttois called thebare infinitive;the form introduced bytois called thefull infinitiveorto-infinitive.

The other non-finite verb forms in English are thegerundor presentparticiple(the-ingform), and thepast participle– these are not considered infinitives. Moreover, the unmarked form of the verb is not considered an infinitive when it forms afinite verb:like a presentindicative( "Isitevery day "),subjunctive( "I suggest that hesit"), orimperative( "Sitdown! "). (For someirregular verbsthe form of the infinitive coincides additionally with that of the past tense and/or past participle, like in the case ofput.)

Certainauxiliary verbsaremodal verbs(such ascan,must,etc., whichdefectiveverbs lacking an infinitive form or any truly inflected non-finite form) are complemented by a bare infinitive verb.periphrasticitems, such as (1)had betterorought toas substitutes forshould,(2)used toas a substitute fordid,and (3)(to) be able toforcan,are similarly complemented by a bare infinitive verb. Infinitives arenegatedby simply preceding them withnot.Of course the verbdo,when complementing a finite verb, occurs as an infinitive. However, the auxiliary verbshave(used to form theperfect) andbe(used to form thepassive voiceandcontinuous aspect) often occur as an infinitive: "I shouldhavefinished by now ";" It's thoughtto havebeen a burial site ";" Let himbereleased ";" I hopeto beworking tomorrow. "

HuddlestonandPullum'sCambridge 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 theinfinitivalclause,noting that English uses the same form of the verb, theplain form,in infinitival clauses that it uses in imperative and present-subjunctive clauses.

A matter of controversy amongprescriptive grammariansand style writers has been the appropriateness of separating the two words of theto-infinitive (as in "I expecttohappilysithere "). For details of this, seesplit infinitive.Opposinglinguistictheories typically do not consider theto-infinitive a distinctconstituent,instead regarding the scope of the particletoas an entire verb phrase; thus,to buy a caris parsed liketo [buy [a car]],not like[to buy] [a car].

Uses of the infinitive

The bare infinitive and theto-infinitive have a variety of uses in English. The two forms are mostly incomplementary distribution– certain contexts call for one, and certain contexts for the other; they are not normally interchangeable, except in occasional instances like after the verbhelp,where either can be used.

The main uses of infinitives (or infinitive phrases) are varied:

• Complementingthedummy auxiliarydo,e.g., "I dolikecoffee but I don'tcarefor tea. "
• In a bare infinitive form asan object complement,i.e. –

1. to complement amodal auxiliary verb,"I can'tbreathe"or" I canseeclearly now.
2. to complement adirect objectthat –

a. follows a verb of perception such assee,watchorhear,e.g. "We saw itfall"or" I can hear the birdssing."

b. follows a verb of causation such asmake,bid,orhave,e.g. "Make itstopor "We'll have themcallyou. "

c. follows a verb of permission, e.g. "Let measkyou something. "

• As a bare infinitive that comprises a phrase rendered in the vestigialpermissive mood,e.g. "Let itbe."
• As a bare infinitive that comprises a phrase rendered as ahortativeutterance, e.g. "Let'sleave."
• As complements of certainfossil phrasessuch ashad betterandwould rather(with bare infinitive),in order to,as if to,am to/is to/are to.
• As a noun phrase, expressing its action or state in an abstract, general way that functions, e.g. as –

1. thesubjectof a clause: "To erris human "or"To knowme is to love me. "
2. theobjectof apredicative expression:"What you should do ismakea list "or" To know me isto love me".

• Adverbially:

1. to express purpose, intent or result, as theto-infinitive can have the meaning ofin order to,e.g. "I closed the door [in order]to blockout any noise. "
2. to characterize and adjective, e.g., "keento geton "or" niceto listento ".

• Adjectivally,characterizing a noun, e.g. "a requestto seesomeone "or" the methodto use."
• Inellipticalquestions (direct or indirect): "I don't know whereto go."
• Insentence fragmentthat constitutes aninterrogative–

1. the bare infinitive is used afterwhy,e.g., "Whyrevealit? "
2. theto-infinitive is used:

a. afterwhom,e.g., "Whom tobelieve?"

b. afterwhat,e.g., "What todo?"

c. afterwhen,e.g., "When tosurrender?"

d. afterwhere,e.g., "Where togo?"

e. afterhow,e.g., "How toknow?"

The infinitive typically is thedictionary formor citation form of a verb. The form listed in a dictionary entry is the bare infinitive, but theto-infinitive is often used when defining other verbs, e.g.

amble(verb)

abled; ambling

intransitive verb

1. to walk slowly
2. to stroll without a particular aim

For further detail and examples of the uses of infinitives in English, seeBare infinitiveandTo-infinitivein the article on uses of English verb forms.

Other Germanic languages

The originalProto-Germanicendingof the infinitive was-an,with verbs derived from other words ending in-janor-janan.

InGermanit is-en( "sagen" ), with-elnor-ernendings on a few words based on -l or -r roots ( "segeln", "ändern" ). The use ofzuwith infinitives is similar to Englishto,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 Essenmeansthe eating,but alsothe food.

InDutchinfinitives also end in-en(zeggen—to say), sometimes used withtesimilar to Englishto,e.g., "Het is niet moeilijk te begrijpen" → "It is not hard to understand." The few verbs with stems ending in-ahave infinitives in -n (gaan—to go,slaan—to hit).Afrikaanshas 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-nwas lost from the infinitive as early as 500–540 AD, reducing the suffix to-a.Later it has been further reduced to-ein Danish and some Norwegian dialects (including the written majority languagebokmål). In the majority of Eastern Norwegian dialects and a few bordering Western Swedish dialects the reduction to-ewas only partial, leaving some infinitives in-aand 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-ais kept (å laga vs. å kast’). The infinitives of these languages are inflected for passive voice through the addition of-sor-stto the active form. This suffix appeared in Old Norse as a contraction ofmik( “me”, forming-mk) orsik(reflexive pronoun, forming-sk) and originally expressed reflexive actions: (hann)kallar( “[he] calls” ) +-sik( “himself” ) > (hann)kallask( “[he] calls himself” ). The suffixes-mkand-sklater merged into-s,which evolved to-stin the western dialects. The loss or reduction of-ain the 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 theRomance languagesreflects that in their ancestor,Latin,almost all verbs had an infinitive ending with-re(preceded by one of various thematic vowels). For example, inItalianinfinitives end in-are,-ere,-rre(rare), or-ire(which is still identical to the Latin forms), and in-arsi,-ersi,-rsi,-irsifor the reflexive forms. InSpanishandPortuguese,infinitives end in-ar,-er,or-ir(Spanishalso has reflexive forms in-arse,-erse,-irse), while similarly inFrenchthey typically end in-re,-er,oir,and-ir.InRomanian,both short and long-form infinitives exist; the so-called "long infinitives" end in-are, -ere, -ireand in modern speech are used exclusively as verbal nouns, while there are a few verbs that cannot be converted into thenominallong 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 conjunctionsăplus the subjunctive mood. The only verb that is modal in common modern Romanian is the verba putea,to be able to. However, in popular speech the infinitive aftera puteais 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 forvoice(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" ). SeeLatin conjugation § Infinitives.

Romance languages inherited from Latin the possibility of an overt expression of the subject (as in Italianvedo Socrate correre). Moreover, the "inflected infinitive"(or" personal infinitive ") found in Portuguese andGalicianinflects for person and number.These, alongside Sardinian,are the onlyIndo-European languagesthat allow infinitives to take person and number endings. This helps to make infinitive clauses very common in these languages; for example, the English finite clausein order that you/she/we have...would be translated to Portuguese likepara teres/ela ter/termos...(Portuguese is anull-subject language). The Portuguese personal infinitive has no proper tenses, only aspects (imperfect and perfect), but tenses can be expressed usingperiphrasticstructures. 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, Spanishal abriryolos ojos( "when I opened my eyes" ) orsinyosaberlo( "without my knowing about it" ).

Hellenic languages

Ancient Greek

Main article:Infinitive (Ancient Greek)

InAncient Greekthe 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.

tense	active	middle	passive
present	παιδεύειν	παιδεύεσθαι
future	παιδεύσειν	παιδεύσεσθαι	παιδευθήσεσθαι
aorist	παιδεῦσαι	παιδεύσᾰσθαι	παιδευθῆναι
perfect	πεπαιδευκέναι	πεπαιδεῦσθαι

Thematic verbsform present active infinitives by adding to the stem the thematic vowel-ε-and the infinitive ending-εν,and contracts to-ειν,e.g.,παιδεύ-ειν.Athematic verbs, and perfect actives and aorist passives, add the suffix-ναιinstead, e.g.,διδό-ναι.In the middle and passive, the present middle infinitive ending is-σθαι,e.g.,δίδο-σθαιand most tenses of thematic verbs add an additional-ε-between the ending and the stem, e.g.,παιδεύ-ε-σθαι.

Modern Greek

The infinitiveper sedoes not exist in Modern Greek. To see this, consider theancient Greekἐθέλω γράφειν“I want to write”. Inmodern Greekthis becomesθέλωναγράψω“I wantthatI 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 systemγράφειν, γράψειν, γράψαι, γεγραφέναι,Modern Greek uses only the formγράψει,a development of the ancient Greek aorist infinitiveγράψαι.This form is also invariable. The modern Greek infinitive has only two forms according to voice: for example,γράψειfor the active voice andγραφ(τ)είfor the passive voice (coming from the ancient passive aorist infinitiveγραφῆναι).

Balto-Slavic languages

The infinitive inRussianusually ends in-t’(ть) preceded by athematic vowel,or-ti(ти), if not preceded by one; some verbs have a stem ending in a consonant and change thettoč’,like*mogt’ → moč’(*могть → мочь) "can". Some otherBalto-Slavic languageshave the infinitive typically ending in, for example,-ć(sometimes-c) inPolish,-ťinSlovak,-t(formerly-ti) inCzechandLatvian(with a handful ending in -s on the latter),-ty(-ти) inUkrainian,-ць (-ts') inBelarusian.Lithuanian infinitives end in -ti,Serbo-Croatianin -tior -ći,andSlovenianin -tior -či.

Serbianofficially retains infinitives -tior -ći,but is more flexible than the other Slavic languages in breaking the infinitive through a clause. The infinitive nevertheless remains the dictionary form.

BulgarianandMacedonianhave 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 arelisted 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

Hebrewhastwoinfinitives, the infinitive absolute (המקור המוחלט) and the infinitive construct (המקור הנטוי or שם הפועל). The infinitive construct is used after prepositions and is inflected with pronominal endings to indicate its subject or object: בכתוב הסופרbikhtōbh hassōphēr"when the scribe wrote", אחרי לכתוahare lekhtō"after his going". When the infinitive construct is preceded byל‎ (lə-,li-,lā-,lo-) "to", it has a similar meaning to the Englishto-infinitive, and this is its most frequent use in Modern Hebrew. The infinitive absolute is used for verb focus and emphasis, like inמות ימות‎mōth yāmūth(literally "a dying he will die"; figuratively, "he shall indeed/surely die" ).This usage is commonplace in theHebrew Bible.In Modern Hebrew it is restricted to high-register literary works.

Note, however, that the Hebrewto-infinitive is not thedictionary form;instead, verbs are traditionally cited in the third-person masculine singular of the suffix conjugation (Modern Hebrew past tense), which is the least marked form.

Finnish

Main article:Finnish verb conjugation

The Finnish grammatical tradition includes many non-finite forms that are generally labeled as (numbered) infinitives although many of these are functionallyconverbs.To form the so-called first infinitive, the strong form of the root (withoutconsonant gradationor epenthetic 'e') is used, and these changes occur:

1. the root is suffixed with-ta/-täaccording tovowel harmony
2. consonant elision takes place if applicable, e.g.,juoks+ta→juosta
3. assimilation of clusters violating sonority hierarchy if applicable, e.g.,nuol+ta→nuolla,sur+ta→surra
4. 't' weakens to 'd' after diphthongs, e.g.,juo+ta→juoda
5. '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 [do something], e.g.,kirjoittaakseni"in order for me to write [something]".
• The second infinitive is formed by replacing the final-a/-äof the first infinitive withe.It can take the inessive and instructive cases to create forms likekirjoittaessa"while writing".
• The third infinitive is formed by adding-mato the first infinitive, which alone creates an "agent" form:kirjoita-becomeskirjoittama.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 theagent participle,such thatkirjoittamani kirja= "The book that I wrote."
• The fourth infinitive adds-minento the first to form a noun that has the connotation of "the process of [doing something]", e.g.,kirjoittaminen"[the process of] writing". 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 [do something]" and may also imply that the act was cut off or interrupted, e.g.,kirjoittamaisillasi"you were about to write [but something interrupted you]". This form is more commonly replaced by the third infinitive in adessive case, usually also with a possessive suffix (thuskirjoittamallasi).

Note that all of these must change to reflect vowel harmony, so the fifth infinitive (with a third-person suffix) ofhypätä"jump" ishyppäämäisillään"he was about to jump", not*hyppäämaisillaan.

Seri

TheSeri languageof 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: eitheriha-[iʔa-](plus a vowel change of certain vowel-initial stems) if the complement clause istransitive,orica-[ika-](and no vowel change) if the complement clause isintransitive.The infinitive shows agreement in number with the controlling subject. Examples are:icatax ihmiimzo'I want to go', whereicataxis the singular infinitive of the verb 'go' (singular root is-atax), andicalx hamiimcajc'we want to go', whereicalxis the plural infinitive. Examples of the transitive infinitive:ihaho'to see it/him/her/them' (root-aho), andihacta'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 athat-clause or as averbal noun.For example, inLiterary Arabicthe sentence "I want to write a book" is translated as eitherurīdu an aktuba kitāban(lit. "I want that I write a book", with a verb in thesubjunctive mood) orurīdu kitābata kitābin(lit. "I want the writing of a book", with themasdaror verbal noun), and inLevantine Colloquial Arabicbiddi 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 toJe veux que vous veniez(lit. "I want that you come",comebeing in the subjunctive mood). However, "I want to come" is simplyJe 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
• Finite verb
• Gerund
• Non-finite verb
• Split infinitive
• Verbal noun