Infinitive in English (Infinitive): infinitive forms, infinitive constructions in English, full & bare infinitive. The infinitive in English: a complete analysis of the initial form of the verb

That smoke is harmful. Smoking is harmful.
That obey the laws is everyone's duty.
Obeying the law is everyone's responsibility.
to save money now is practically impossible.
It is almost impossible to save (postpone) money now.

I shall go to the Crimea. I will go to the Crimea.
I didn't see the new production of our drama theatre.
I did not see new production our drama theatre.

3. Part of the compound verbal predicate.

Not can dance twist.
He can dance the twist.

b) in combination with verbs that, without an infinitive, do not give a complete semantic meaning: to begin- start off, to continue - continue, to decide- decide, to want - want, to hope- hope, to try- try, try, to end - finish, to stop - stay and etc.:

He decided to rest in Sochi. He decided to rest in Sochi.
She hoped to get tickets for the concert. She hoped to get tickets for the concert.

4. The nominal part of the compound predicate.

Our plan is to work during our summer vacation and then buy a tape player and some cassettes.
Our plan is to work on time summer holidays and then buy a tape recorder and some cassettes.

I have no desire to order these books.
I have no desire to order these books.

The captain was the last to leave the ship.
The captain was the last to leave the ship. (The captain was the last to leave the ship.)

Note:
I. The infinitive, which determines the noun, is translated by the definitive subordinate clause with a verb expressing obligation in the form of the future tense.

The schoolchildren to take part in the ski race, have come.
Schoolchildren who will take part in skiing competitions have come.

The text-book to be published next year is written by our lecturers.
The textbook, which will be published next year, is written by our teachers.

2. The infinitive in the definition function is often used after the words the first, the second, the third, ..., the last, the only, etc. and is translated by the verb in the personal form in the tense in which the verb-predicate is.

Is not always the last to come to work.
He always comes to work last.

I am sure she will be the first to come to the railway station to meet us.
I'm sure she'll be the first to come to the station to meet us.

1. To express the goal (when translating before the infinitive, the union is used in order to):

Not came to Moscow to study at the University.
He came to Moscow (to) study at the university.

He worked hard not to lag behind the other people.
He worked hard to keep up with others.

BUT: After the verbs to go and to come in the imperative mood, the infinitive is not used. The infinitive takes on an imperative form (form imperative mood), and both verbs are combined with the conjunction and.

go and ask him. (You can't say: Go to ask him.) Go and ask him.
Come and ring him up. (You can't say: Come to ring him up.) Come and call him.

An infinitive expressing a goal can be preceded by conjunctions in order to - to, so as to - in order to.

Doesn't work so hard in order not to lag behind the other people.
He works so hard (in order to) keep up with the others.

Take a taxi so as not to miss the train.
Take a taxi so you don't miss the train.

2. To express the consequence in circulation

"too, enough + adjective or adverb + infinitive"

It was too late to come back.
It was too late to turn back.
I don't know him well enough to ask him for money.
I don't know him well enough to ask him for money.

Tense is the time. Tense regulates all actions at times in English language. Literally, tense translates as "grammatical tense".

When we talk about time, we mean the concept of time in general. There is a special term for this concept - Infinite(infinity, limitless). The word Infinite comes from the word finite (limited, finite), which in turn was formed from the words: finish, final - end, final, finish.

Infinitive — indefinite form verb is not a tense form of the verb, it is the form of the verb from which all tense forms are formed, for example, present, future, past tense. Temporal forms of verbs exist in relation to the Time of origin of the action, and the infinitive does not refer to any specific time of the action.

What is the infinitive?

The indefinite form of the verb is formed from the present tense form of the verb by adding to at the beginning. For example: to have, to be, to do, to eat, to walk, to think.

If the infinitive occurs in a sentence, it means that it characterizes the action in general. For example: I like to walk. (I like to walk.) This means that I like to walk in general, without being tied to any particular period of time. That. when I say that I like to do something (I like to do something ...) - I like to do it all the time, today, yesterday, tomorrow - always.

As I already said, all tense forms are formed from the indefinite form of the verb - future, past and present tense. To begin with, we will talk about the forms of the present and past tenses (Present and Past Tenses). We will not consider now also the third form of verbs (past participles). Let's recall these forms using several verbs as an example:

The third form of the verb is not used without auxiliary verbs (helping verbs), so now we will not consider it.

As you can see, the indefinite form of the verb and the verb in the present tense are almost the same. They differ only in particle to. It's fair to everyone English words except for one: words to be. The verb "to be" changes not only in the past tense, but also in the present, i.e. it is also irregular in the present (Irregular). For example:

I like to be happy.

I am happy.

The verb "to be" in English is very unusual, it changes with conjugation in the present tense and is irregular in the past tense.

In the end, I would like to talk in more detail about the use of the infinitive in English.

Compare the following sentences:

I like to walk.

I like walking. (walking - gerund form of the verb - gerund - a noun formed from a verb)

I like a nice walk.

So, why is it that in some cases a verb is used, and in others a noun. Perhaps this is because the infinitive does not characterize the time period, it is an abstraction.

For example:

I like to drive. (I like to drive)

But there is no action in this sentence, i.e. I don't drive a car right now.

But if I say: I drove home yesterday.

Now it is no longer an abstract concept, it is tied to a specific time. That. action in a given period of time gives us certainty, which the infinitive cannot give.

The indefinite form of a verb can be compared to an indefinite subject. Imagine that we are talking about some kind of tree, it doesn’t matter to us what kind of tree it is. But if we talk about a palm tree (palm tree), then we are transferred from abstractions to reality and we are already talking about a specific type of trees. In the same way, we can imagine the infinitive. As an abstraction, it exists regardless of tense, but if the verb is used in a specific tense, the infinitive becomes definite - just like nouns when we transform them from general concepts to certain ones.

That's why I can say I like to drive or I like driving.

Another similar quality of the infinitive and the noun is the particle to before a verb, as well as articles before a noun.

So let's sum it up:

The infinitive is the indefinite form of the verb Not temporary form. It does not apply to any specific period of time, it is an abstraction.

English Joke

The lifeguard told the mother to make her young son stop urinating in the pool.
"Everyone knows," the mother lectured him, "that from time to time, young children will urinate in a pool."
"Oh really?" said the lifeguard, from the diving board!?!?”

Infinitive in English is one of the non-personal forms English verb(like a participle), naming the action, but not having a person, number, gender and time. There is also another name for the infinitive - indefinite or initial form of the verb.

Forms of the infinitive in English

Initial form of the English verb

In russian language infinitive has special endings (suffixes) -th, -ti:

• imperfect view (what to do?): read, work, carry, carry;
• perfect view (what to do?): read, work, bring, take.

In English, the infinitive form is formed as follows:

Particle to + first (indefinite) verb form V1.

Examples:
🔊 to play(play) , 🔊 to sing(sing) , 🔊 to ask(ask) , 🔊 to run(run) .

Negative form of the English infinitive

If in Russian, before the infinitive, when negating, it is added particle is not (Not see , Not do , Not go, Not save), in English the same thing happens, but a negative is added particle not. Watch and listen to the examples below:

🔊 to say(say) - 🔊 not to say(not to tell) ,
🔊 to believe(believe) - 🔊 not to believe(do not believe) .

Aspective forms of the English infinitive in pledges

In English, the infinitive, like the verb, has active and passive voices (Active and Passive Voice). Consider voices of the infinitive in different tense forms on the example of a verb 🔊 to make(do).

Examples English sentences with infinitive forms.

🔊 I don't want to make any mistakes in my life. - I don't want commit mistakes in life (active voice).

🔊 Many mistakes seem to have been made by my friend in his test. - A lot of mistakes was admitted V control work my friend (passive voice).

Functions of the infinitive in an English sentence

In English infinitive in a sentence can act as a subject, complement, definition, circumstance and part of the predicate. Let's consider these cases in more detail with examples.

Which has neither face nor number. The infinitive only names the action denoted by the verb. As in Russian, in English the indefinite form of the verb answers the questions “what to do?” and "what to do?"

To think - to think.

To say - to speak.

The indefinite form of the verb comes from the verbal noun and retains the properties of this part of speech, performing in the sentence syntactic functions noun.

The formal sign of the infinitive in English is the particle to before it, which in some cases can be omitted. The to particle has no independent meaning; it never gets stressed.

Functions of the infinitive

1. Function of the subject:

2. The nominal part of the predicate:

His aim was to decline Mark. His goal was to deceive Mark.

3. Part composite verbal predicate:

We intend to celebrate this occasion.We intend to celebrate this event.

4. Function additions:

Peter asked me to look after his son. Peter asked me to look after his son.

5. Function definitions:

There is a lot of work to be done.There is a lot of work to be done.

6. Function circumstances:

I swim everyday to be fit.I swim every day to keep fit.

Infinitive forms: table

Transitive verbs in English have four forms of the infinitive in the active voice and two in the passive voice, for a total of 6 forms:

Only two forms of the infinitive are translated into Russian with the corresponding forms: Indefinite Infinitive Active and Indefinite Infinitive Passive. There are no corresponding forms for other forms in Russian, so they cannot be translated in isolation from the sentence.

The use of the infinitive with a particle to(full infinitive)

As mentioned above, the indefinite form of the verb in English is used with the particle to:

to swim- swim.

To playplay.

If two infinitives are side by side in a sentence, then the particle to before the second of them is usually omitted:

He is too young to smoke and drink. He is too young to smoke and drink.

Sometimes a particle to can be used at the end of a sentence without a verb. This happens when the verb to which the particle refers has already been mentioned in the sentence. In this situation, the particle to is stressed. This use of the particle is often found in sentences with verbs. to want - to want, to wish - to wish, to mean - to keep in mind, to try- try, try, to allow - allow, to be going - gather, should (would) like - would like and etc.:

She wants me to go there today, but I don't want to. She wants me to go there today, but I don't want to.

(Implying: go).

I didn't want to stay there, but I had to. I didn't want to stay there, but I had to.

(Implying: stay).

Using the infinitive without a particle to(bare infinitive)

In some cases, the infinitive is used without a particle to.

1. After modal verbs must, can (could), may (might) And need:

He must help me. He must help me.

You may come in.You can to come in.

2. After verbs to make - force,to let - allow and sometimes also after to help - to help:

Help me choose a gift for my sister.Help me choose a present for my sister.

Mother makes me clean my room.Mom makes me clean my room.

Father let me go to my friend.My father allowed me to go to a friend.

3. In circulation after verbs to watch - observe,to see - see,to hear - hear,to feel - feel and some others:

I saw her write the letter.I saw her writing a letter.

Note. If the verbs listed in paragraphs. 2–3 are used in passive voice, then the infinitive following such a verb is used with the particle to:

He was made to clean his room.They made him clean the room.

She was seen to write the letter.We saw her writing a letter.

4. After set expressions had better - it would be better, would rather, would sooner - preferred would:

You had better go home.You'd better go home.

I would rather stay here.I would rather stay here.

Now you know all about the infinitive in english. Ask questions in the comments.