Infinitive

Infinitive

In grammar, the infinitive is the form of a verb that has no inflection to indicate person, number, mood or tense. It is called the "infinitive" because the verb is usually not made "finite", or limited by inflection. In some languages, however, there are inflected forms of the infinitive denoting attributes such as tense.

Table of contents

1 English language
2 Germanic languages
3 Romance languages
4 Slavic languages
5 Hebrew language

English language

To-Infinitive

By far the most common form of an infinitive in English language is with the preposition "to", such as in "to walk", "to cry", "to eat", "to fear". This is known as the to-infinitive. William Shakespeare used a number of infinitives of this form in one of his most famous soliloquies, the "Soliloquy of Hamlet"

To be or not to be ...
To sleep, perchance to dream ...

Verbs that are commonly followed by a to-infinitive include: agree, aim, appear, apply, arrange*, ask*, beg*, choose*, consent, decide, demand, desire, expect*, fail, guarantee, hope, intend*, long, negotiate, plan, plead, pledge, prefer*, pretend, resolve, seek, swear, threaten, undertake, volunteer, want*, wish*.

For example:

I arranged to stay the night.
We intend to go skiing this weekend.
I swear to honour you.
He sought to notify them of this new occurrence.

Those which are followed by an object and a to-infinitive include (in addition to those marked with an asterisk above): advise, allow, challenge, command, compel, condemn, enable, encourage, expect, forbid, force, help, induce, induce, inspire, instruct, invite, oblige, order, permit, persuade, prefer, program, remind, teach, tell, train, urge, warn.

For example:

The heavy advertising on hoardings induced me to purchase this new appliance. (induce (in the preterite) + object (me) + to-infinitive (to purchase))
I was compelled to do my homework.
He helped me (to) perform well at this tournament.
She told her to shut up.

Some verbs are followed by for + object + to-infinitive. These verbs normally express wanting, and cannot be followed by an object and an infinitive alone (though an infinitive alone may work). These verbs include apply, arrange, ask, call, clamour, long, opt, plead, press, vote, wait, wish, yearn.

For example:

I have arranged for the neighbour to water the plants.
I pleaded for him to accompany me to the theatre.

Bare Infinitive

A less common form of the infinitive is with the conditional auxiliary verbs "may" or "might". An example can again be found in the speech by Hamlet referenced above; "What dreams may come ...?". Another example is "we might win".

A third case of infinitive drops the preposition altogether. This is possible when the infinitive form is used in conjunction with a specific set of verbs - these include "feel", "hear", "help", "let", "make" (in the active), "see", and "watch", and dare and need in negative sentences. Examples include:

I felt the earth move. ("move" is the infinitive)
We heard the bell toll. ("toll" is the infinitive)
She helped me (to) understand. ("understand" is the infinitive)
I let him win. ("win" is the infinitive)
I didn't dare (to) say what I really thought. ("dare" is the infinitive)
I dare say you've come home just a moment ago. ("dare" is the infinitive)
Need you be so offensive? ("need" is the infinitive)

The last two cases, where the infinitive appears without to, are called the bare infinitive.

Other Infinitives

In addition to the to-infinitive and the bare infinitive, English also knows other types of infinitive.

Verbs Followed By TO BE

This so called passive infinitive is used after certain verbs, especially reporting verbs, in between which an object stands. Verbs commonly followed by the passive infinitive are: allege, assume, believe, consider, estimate, fail, feel, imagine, instruct, know, prove, reckon, report, rumour, say, think, understand, want.

For example:

The new party failed to be elected in at last Sunday's election.
I once wanted to be a constable, but have ended up as a doctor.
She is said to be a wonderful dancer.
We estimate our expenses to be higher than anticipated.
You are rumoured to be rather difficult at times.

The Perfect Infinitive

With reporting verbs, as well as appear, claim, happen, pretend, prove, seem, tend, and so on, the Perfect infinitive (to + have + past participle) is used to emphasise one action's occurring before another.

For example:

You seem to have lost weight.
He was said to have been granted a scholarship.

This structure can usually be rewritten with a preparatory it + defining relative (that) clause and a perfect tense. For instance: It seems that you have lost weight. It was said that he had been granted a scholarship.

Tenses of the Infinitive

Infinitives in English exist in many tenses. Here is a table showing these different tenses for the verb to cook.

Active Passive

Present Simple (to) cook (to) be cooked

Present Continuous (to) be cooking /

Present Perfect Simple (to) have cooked (to) have been cooked

Present Perfect Continuous (to) have been cooking /

	Active	Passive
Present Simple	(to) cook	(to) be cooked
Present Continuous	(to) be cooking	/
Present Perfect Simple	(to) have cooked	(to) have been cooked
Present Perfect Continuous	(to) have been cooking	/

Germanic languages

The original Germanic suffix of the infinitive was -an, with verbs derived from other words ending in -jan or -janan. In German it is -en ("sagen"), with -eln or -ern endings on a few words based on -l or -r roots ("segeln", "�ndern"); the use of zu with infinitives is less frequent than to in English. They can function as nouns in the -en form with a capitalized beginning later, in which case they are of neuter gender ("das Essen" means the gerund "eating"). In Scandinavian the n has dropped out and it is -e or -a.

Romance languages

Romance infinitives can be used in much the same way at the "to" form of the infinitive is used in English, and they also can sometimes function as masculine nouns. In Spanish, infinitives always end in -ar, -er or -ir. A similar phenomenon exists in French as well: infinitives of regular verbs have the suffixes -er -ir -oir -re. Italian follows the same pattern, with its infinitives ending in -are, -ere, or -ire.

Formation of the infinitive in Romance languages reflects that of their ancestor, Latin, in which a significant majority of verbs had an infinitive ending with -re (with a varying vowel, called the thematical preceding it).

Slavic languages

The infinitive in Russian ends usually in -t' (ть) preceded by a thematic vowel; some verbs have a stem ending in a consonant and change the t to ch, such as *могть -> мочь "can". Some other Slavic languages have the infinitive typically ending in -ć.

Hebrew language

Hebrew has two infinitives, the infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. The infinitive construct is used much as an English infinitive, including being preceded by ל "to"; the infinitive absolute is used to add emphasis or certainty to the verb, as in מות ימות "he shall indeed die".