Good afternoon friends! Today I will tell you about what the infinitive form of a verb is in English. What do you remember when you hear the phrase “infinitive verb”? Exactly! The initial form of the word, answering the question “what to do?”, “what to do?”.
By and large, this general characteristic is also true for the British language. But, here it should be noted that different sources identify in the English language several varieties of the indefinite form of the word expressing action, namely:
- The initial one, from which actions are subsequently formed at all times.
- A participle is a verbal adjective.
- Gerund is a verbal noun.
And yet, based on the meaning of the term itself, it is more correct to consider the first of the proposed options to be “an indefinite form of the verb” (Infinitive). Such “initial action words” are called infinitives, which translates as Infinitive. We observe a complete coincidence of translations of these grammatical terms. Our conversation today will be about the infinitive.
When do we use it?
Most often you can find an infinitive as part of a complex predicate, translated in such a way that it answers the questions “what to do?”, “What to do?”:
Robert likes to collect coins. Robert loves collecting coins.
Ann wanted to catch a taxi. Anna wanted to catch a taxi.
Sometimes you can find the initial form of a verb in another role in a sentence, for example:
Did you notice that in the highlighted words there is an unchangeable “to” part? This is a particle that indicates the infinitive. When you encounter it in a statement before a word denoting an action, be sure that it answers one of the questions above.
We miss, but we don’t forget
But in a number of cases we omit this particle in sentences. Review the table below. It contains words that oblige us to use the “shortened infinitive” or bare infinitive, and example sentences.
| to particles are not required: | Example: | Translation: |
| Modal verbs: can (could) - be able, must - must, may (might) - possible, shall (should) - should, will (would) - should | My mother can sing as a singer.You should stay in bed | My mom can sing like a singer. You should stay in bed. |
| Make - force, let - allow | She makes me tidy my room.Let me see . | She makes me take away your room. Allow me take a look . |
| Words of perception, for example see (see), feel (feel) as part of a Complex object, so the translation of the sentences is somewhat different from other examples. | She saw him knock the door.I felt he look at me. | She saw him knocked at the door. I felt that he looks on me. |
| Help (help), dare (dare) | Children always help their mother clean the house. | Children always help their mother take away house. |
It's all simple, isn't it? Then let's go a little deeper into the grammatical varieties of infinitive.
Modified indeterminate?
Unlike Russian, in British the initial form of the verb has several varieties. Their number for each individual word depends on whether it can have a passive voice or whether it can be continuous. Their maximum number is six. The table of types of infinitive will help you understand them.
As can be seen from the diagram, there are only two types of indefinite verb in the passive voice.
I hope my story helped you understand what an indefinite form of a verb is in English.
Practice English with your friends and you will be able to use any type of infinitive in your speech easily and naturally.
You can read even more interesting and useful information about foreign languages in our blog, subscribe and learn a foreign language effortlessly. Don't forget to tell your friends what you learned today.
I was with you, Natalya Glukhova, I wish you a good day!
Let's talk about the initial form of the verb (it is also often called the infinitive, or infinitive). It is necessary to know about it because in the huge structure of human knowledge, the initial form of the verb is one of the main, supporting elements.
What is a verb
For those who graduated from school a long time ago and have forgotten a lot, it is worth reminding: a verb is a part of speech that describes an action. Read, go, do, write, draw, dream - all these words are verbs, differing only in their characteristics.
About the verb
In Russian grammar, verbs have 7 features: tense, aspect, person, mood, gender, number, voice; Conjugation is often considered as a feature. It is not in every case right to talk about a single feature or all of them at once. In particular, it is characterized by the absence of a person, and the present tense, like the future, makes conversation about the gender of the verb pointless.
It is pointless to study these features, their differences from each other, as well as the possibility of conjugation, without establishing the main thing: what is the initial form of the verb. A synonym for this definition is the concept of an indefinite form and the term “infinitive”.
The infinitive expresses the verb in the dictionary. It is no coincidence that this form is called initial - it really is the start for further study of these parts of speech. Questions of the initial form of the verb - “What to do?” and “What should I do?” Examples of the infinitive: lie down and forgive, cut and run, leave and return, stop by and consider. Well, now we can talk about verbs in more detail, looking in more detail at their distinctive features.
About face and time
It’s easy to deal with (there are 3 of them) by determining who exactly reports the action being described. The face reflects the attitude of the reporter to the ongoing process. The first singular number is the actions of the speaker himself: I do, I walk. The same thing in the plural - the actions of the group represented by the speaker: we do, we walk. Second-person verbs characterize the actions of the interlocutor reporting or the group he represents: you do, you walk, you do, you walk. A third person, regardless of the number, is the actions of strangers not participating in the dialogue: doing, walking, doing, walking. The corresponding noun or pronoun will help you understand which person to refer to the verb.
Verb tenses characterize the attitude towards the moment when the described action is performed. There are 3 verb forms representing present, past and future tense. I go around and do examples. For the past and future tenses there are similar options: walked, did, will walk, will do.
Important to remember! The initial form of the verb is impersonal. The concepts of person, number, and tense are also not applicable to the infinitive.
Verb gender and mood
Verbs change not only according to numbers, persons or tenses, but also according to gender, like nouns. There are three genders: feminine, masculine, neuter; a pronoun or noun used with it can also help determine whether a verb belongs to them. The gender indicator of the verb appears exclusively in the past tense and is determined by the ending: walked, walked, did. The concept of gender is not applicable to the infinitive of a verb.
An important characteristic of a verb is its mood, which can be indicative, imperative or conditional. Using describe actions that have either happened, are currently happening, or will happen later. Examples of the indicative walked, walks, will walk, did, are doing, will do. The conditional mood reports actions that are desired or that are possible under certain conditions. When forming the conditional mood, the initial form of the verb without ending, the suffix “l”, as well as the particle “would” are taken as the basis. Examples of the conditional mood: would go, would do. Verbs represent a command, an order, an invitation to action. Examples: do it, go, bring it! Often the particle “-ka” is added to such verbs, which partly softens this order: do it, go!
About types of verb
In their own way they can be classified as perfect and imperfect. Imperfects characterize an action without any indication of its completion, and in the form of an infinitive the question “What to do?” will be applied to them. Examples: walk, draw. In perfect form, these same examples will look different: go, draw, because here the verbs describe a completed action. The question that can be posed to their infinitive is “What to do?”
Most verbs have both types: draw-draw, burn-burn, eat-eat. However, there are verbs without a paired form. These, in particular, include “belong” - here only an imperfect form is possible. Or “to find yourself” - this word, on the contrary, can only exist in its perfect form. There are also two-type verbs (such as “execute”) - they combine the meanings of both types. Often in the case of two-aspect verbs, the ending of verbs in the initial form looks like “-ate” (“emigrate”).
Transitivity and voice of the verb
Properties such as transitivity and voice of a verb indicate its relationship with other objects. The concept of transitivity indicates the presence of an action object. Examples of transitive verbs: eat (soup), read (magazine) - here soup and magazine are the objects of action. The intransitivity of the verb implies the absence of an object of application. Examples of an intransitive verb are work, live (there is no specific object to which this action is attached). A special case of intransitive verbs is reflexive; here the one who performs the action is at the same time the one towards whom it is directed. In these cases, the initial form of the verb ends in “-sya”: swim, laugh, worry. 
The voice of a verb considers the relationship between the subjects and objects of an action. The active voice characterizes the active construction. For example: the cat ate fish. The cat (subject) performed an active action on the object (fish), the voice of the verb “ate” is active. The same idea, formulated differently: the fish was eaten by a cat. This construction, unlike the previous one, is passive, and therefore the voice of the verb in it is passive.
And again about the infinitive
Knowing the characteristic features of verbs, it is worth talking about the infinitive in more detail. How to determine the initial form of a verb? It's very simple - ask a question. If in relation to the action being performed one can ask: “What should I do?” or “What to do?”, which means that the form of the verb describing this action is indefinite. Of all the considered features, the infinitive has only aspect, as well as such properties as transitivity and reflexivity.
The formation of the infinitive occurs by adding a formative suffix to the root of the word. The characteristic suffix in the initial form of the verb is “-ti”, “-t”, “-ch”. Examples of the infinitive: climb, carry, bake.
About verb conjugations
The conjugation of a verb is its change depending on persons and numbers: I write, he writes, we write, etc. Each verb can be classified as the first or second conjugation; It is necessary to know about this accessory in order to achieve the correct spelling for any specific case. Errors in the conjugation process occur especially often in the case of unstressed verb endings.
To correctly determine conjugations, you need to know what the initial form of the verb is. The first conjugation is represented by all the mentioned parts of speech with the ending “-ovat” - to train, to inform. A number of verbs ending in “-et”, “-at”, “-yat” belong to the same conjugation, as well as “lay” and “shave” (the ending “-it”). The second conjugation is represented by all verbs ending in “-it”, with the exception of those already mentioned. This also includes individual verbs with the endings “-at” and “-yat” if the emphasis falls on them (lie, stand). The second conjugation also includes some verbs (look, hate, etc.) that cannot be adjusted to any standards - you just need to remember them. Knowing the rules of verb conjugation is the key to correct spelling, and simply a requirement of literacy. By the way, the infinitive itself is not conjugated and does not change depending on persons and numbers.
Verbs in a sentence
The roles of these parts of speech in a sentence can be different. Most often, the verb acts as an ordinary (simple) predicate: “Tolya bought bread.” There are frequent cases of a complex verbal predicate: “Vanya decided to run to the store.” In the present case, the predicate is the whole construction (decided to run away), and the second verb in it is represented by the infinitive. Sometimes a verb can act as an inconsistent modifier: “I didn't like the idea of going there” (going there is an inconsistent modifier).
The Russian language is unique in its own way in that it allows for more complex, truly fantastic constructions. “We decided to send to go find buy a drink” - a sentence of 6 verbs, 5 of which represent an infinitive with a complete meaning and compliance with the rules of grammar. Foreigners are crying! 
Conclusion
Most linguists are unanimous in their opinion that the first word uttered by ancient man was a verb. It is unlikely that our distant ancestor in those harsh times needed adjectives in his vocabulary to describe the beauty of the night sky, and most nouns could well have been replaced by a pointing gesture in their direction. But the command “Run!” given to a fellow tribesman could well have saved his life; the word “I want” and the corresponding movement towards the mammoth’s carcass also left no doubt about what was said. In case of urgent need, just one verb could well replace all other parts of speech.
By the way, modern approaches to the study of foreign languages also involve the primary study of verbs as the main means of expressing human needs. Naturally, native speakers also need a good knowledge of these parts of speech, their signs and properties. And the infinitive plays a special role in the study of verbs.
Verbs in the indefinite form and in the third person singular and plural are pronounced the same. How to determine which of these words is a verb in the indefinite form? And it is important to do this in order to write the word without a spelling error. This nfr;t is necessary to correctly perform syntactic and morphological parsing of the word.
Sponsored by P&G Articles on the topic "How to determine the indefinite form of a verb" How to find the indefinite form of a verb Why are participles needed in Russian What is the imperative mood
Instructions
You can determine the infinitive by the question. Find a verb and ask a question about it. If this is a verb in an indefinite form, then it will answer the question “what to do?”, “what to do?”. For example, throw, grow, bake, flood, dilute, lie down.
A soft sign is always written at the end of such verbs. It is necessary to distinguish the infinitive from verbs in the personal form, especially if there is a reflexive suffix “-sya”, “-sya”. To do this, ask a question to the word. If the verb answers the question “what to do?”, “What to do?”, then it is an indefinite form. And if the question “what does it do?”, “what will it do?” - third person singular.
This problem (what does it do?) can be solved simply. - It’s not easy to decide on this action (what to do?).
Look at the spelling of this word. If a word is written with a soft sign (-tsya), then it is an infinitive. And if without a soft sign, then it is a verb in the third person singular or plural. It is difficult to distinguish the infinitive from the personal form if the word is written in transcription. The recording of the finals of these forms is the same: [uchitka] (studying) - [uchitka] (studying). In this case, pay attention to the stress, the vowel before [-tsa] or the context where you can ask the question. If this work is not feasible, then both forms are appropriate. The indefinite form of the verb is included in the compound nominal predicate. In this case, the sentence contains two heterogeneous verbs. To determine which one is an infinitive, you need to identify the grammatical basis. The predicate will consist of two verbs. The one that contains the lexical meaning is the infinitive; a soft sign must be written in it. So, in the sentence “Students will be able to study extra,” the predicate “will be able to study.” And the indefinite form is “to work out.” The infinitive form of a verb can act as a secondary member of a sentence. It can be determined in such cases by following the logic of reasoning. Ask an indirect case question from the predicate to the infinitive. If this is possible, then in this case it is an addition. For example, in the sentence “The coach told us to do some warm-up,” the word “to do” will be an object (ordered what?). In this case, think like this: the action indicated in the verb “commanded” is performed by the trainer, and others will perform it. This means that this is not a predicate, because the sentence is simple.
Circumstances expressed in the indefinite form of the verb most often answer the questions “for what purpose?”, “for what reason?”. In the sentence “I came to the gym to train,” we ask the infinitive the question “I came for what purpose?”
For the definition, ask a question from the noun. In the sentence “I am fluent in playing the guitar,” the infinitive is the definition: the ability (what?) to play.
Other news on the topic:
When schoolchildren in Russian language lessons begin to parse a sentence syntactically, they must characterize it by the presence and number of the main members of the sentence. In the event that there is only a subject or predicate, they will also need to name the type of one-part sentence.
“Infinitivus” means “indefinite” in Latin. In dictionaries published before the 70s of the 20th century, “infinitive” was defined as “the indefinite mood of the verb.” What does mood have to do with it, and what is the correct definition of the infinitive? Does it even exist? Sponsor of P&G placement Related articles
Children often make mistakes in writing unstressed personal endings of verbs. The reason for these errors is sometimes that children have not learned to find the initial form of the verb. See how this can be done. Sponsored by P&G Articles on the topic "How to find the initial form of a verb" How
Schoolchildren begin studying verbs, including their indefinite form, in the elementary grades. If the material is poorly understood, errors in the spelling of “tsya” and “tsya” are possible. Therefore, the teacher needs to draw their attention to the identifying features of the infinitive. Placement Sponsor P&G
In Russian language lessons, schoolchildren must master not only the skills of competent writing, but also the ability to see the structure of a sentence and identify its members. To do this, you need to learn to identify the main and minor members. How to find the subject in a sentence? What are its main features? Sponsor
The Latin word “infinitivus” translates as indefinite. The term “infinitive” derived from it denotes a special form of the verb, which is initial. Like the nominative case of nouns, the infinitive is the original form of the verb, which is given in dictionaries. Sponsor