Infinitive

Hi everyone!

Today I'll talk to you a little about infinitives beacuse for me it is very interesting that just one form of a verb can work for many things without changing the verb.

First of all, what's an infinitive?
The infinitive is the base form of a verb. In English, when we talk about the infinitive we are usually referring to the present infinitive, which is the most common. However, there are four other forms of the infinititive:

  • the perfect infinitive
  • the perfect continuous infinitive
  • the continuous infinitive
  • the passive infinitive.
Also it is very important to know that infinitives have two "forms":
  • the to-infinitive = to + base
  • the zero infinitive = base
To form the negative of an adjective just put "not" before the infinitive

To know a lot more about the to-inifinitive and the zero infinitive click here. There you'll find all the uses that the infinitive has.

Another important thing to know is how to recognize an inifinitive even when the part "to" is missing.
An infinitive will almost always begin with to. Exceptions do occur, however. An infinitive will lose its "to" when it follows certain verbs. These verbs are feel, hear, help, let,make, see, and watch.

The pattern looks like this: Special Verb + Direct Object + Infinitive - to

You can use this webpage too to improve.

Also I have for you two links where you can practice with the infinitives.
I really hope you find this new information useful as it was for me.

Comentarios

  1. Andrea Suárez8 de octubre de 2017, 7:42 a.m.

    Hi Elio, good to read you again. Your entry is very useful and there's extra information on it. I understand that the infinitives starts with "to" but, is there another kind of words we can use?
    Thank you.

    ResponderBorrar
  2. Unknown9 de octubre de 2017, 10:13 p.m.

    Hello Elio. I like the way how you explain the topics in your blog. The information you have posted is so interesting because believe I didn't know how many types or infinitives existed. This blog reminded me about the "zero infinitive" that is the one where the "to" is not used. I got some questions for you. When do we use the infinitive with "to" and when the "zero infinitive"? And is there an exception where we can use both zero or infinitive with to, without changing the meaning of the sentence?

    ResponderBorrar
  3. Unknown10 de octubre de 2017, 9:36 a.m.

    Hello there Elio, nice information about infinitves, as Marisa said you know how to explain any topic you get in your hands, i really liked it, even thought i didn't know the academic name of the base form of the verb,the explanation was very interesting and refreshing, therefore, i have a doubt about this: Is there a rule that states which of the two forms we have to use in speech and in writing?

    ResponderBorrar
  4. Anónimo10 de octubre de 2017, 1:27 p.m.

    Hey there, Elio. I liked the way you showed the infinitives with the different types of verb tenses and how can we use them. And there are two types of infinitives 1) to+infinitive and 2) bare infinitive. I just have a question "Does the pattern that you described to use the infinitives can change? " Good-bye

    ResponderBorrar

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