infinitive
part of speech
noun (an infinitive, infinitives); adjective (infinitive)
meaning for a pupil
(grammar) The basic form of a verb, often with to in front: to run, to be, to eat; the bare infinitive has no to: run, be, eat. tree →
sense in the lessons
In grammar lessons in English and French (manger, aller); dictionaries list verbs by the infinitive. Phrases: to-infinitive, split infinitive, bare infinitive.
examples
- HVI is the imperative form of the verb to he, meaning he thou; HIV is the infinitive; and VIH is future. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- To swim is an infinitive. tree →
- I want to go home: to go is an infinitive. tree →
- In French, aller is the infinitive meaning to go. tree →
- A split infinitive puts a word between to and the verb: to boldly go. tree →
- Can and must are followed by the bare infinitive: I can swim. tree →
- Look up a verb in the dictionary by its infinitive. tree →
note
Plural infinitives. Split infinitives are now accepted by most writers; old rules said avoid them. Say in-FIN-i-tiv.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «infinitive» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.