What is a verb in an indefinite form 4. How to find and what is an indefinite form of a verb

A verb in its initial or indefinite form is called an infinitive. The infinitive always answers the question "what to do?" or "what to do?" In relation to the initial form, you can never ask the questions: “What is he doing?” “What will he do?” “What will he do?” “What did you do?”, “What did you do? " etc. That is, the infinitive, by definition, has the minimum number of morphological features.

Examples. The verb "go" answers the question "what to do?" Accordingly, this is a verb in an indefinite (initial) form, or an infinitive. However, the verbs "goes", "will go", "go" answer the questions "what is he doing?", "What will he do?", "?" These verbs already have morphological features - faces, numbers and tenses - and are not infinitives.

Another example. The verb "write" answers the question "what to do?" and is infinitive. From this initial form, verbs are formed in the past and future tenses, first, second and third persons, singular and plural: “wrote”, “wrote”, “”, “”, “will write”.

In other words, a verb in an infinitive is always a zero (indefinite) form, from which it is always possible to form different forms of the same word in different persons and numbers. This process is called conjugation.

What signs of the verb can be determined by the initial form

If the infinitive is the initial, zero, indefinite form of the verb, can it be used to determine any signs of this part of speech, or morphological signs? Yes, you can define constants, signs of the verb.

First, by the indefinite form, you can determine the types of the verb - perfect or. The imperfective verb in the initial form answers the question "what to do?" and indicates an unfinished action. For example, "walk", "", "sing", "", etc. The perfect verb in the infinitive answers the question "what to do?" and denotes a completed, completed action. For example, "take a walk", "read", "sing", "compose", "fly", etc.

Secondly, it can be determined by the infinitive. In there are two conjugations - the first and the second. The first conjugation includes all verbs that end in -et, -at, -ut, -t, -t, -t, and several exception verbs in the infinitive. The second conjugation includes most of the verbs ending in –it, as well as some exception verbs in –at, –at, and –et.

The indefinite or initial form of the verb (and strictly in the language of science - it is called the infinitive) linguists call its form, which denotes strictly action itself, regardless of grammatical categories such as person and number, and answers the question "what to do?" The word "do" itself is one example of the infinitive, or indefinite form of the verb.

This gives the answer to the question, what is the peculiarity of the indefinite form of the verb.

In Russian schools, the topic of infinitive is usually touched upon in the middle grades.

Formal signs of the infinitive

In Russian, the signs of the infinitive are the suffixes "t" or "ti": go, run, stand, crawl, find, define, etc. After vowels, use "t", after consonants - "ti": run, but go.

It is also important that the infinitive always answers one question - what to do?

The group of verbs that ends in "chi" stands out especially: lie down, bake, take care, burn, etc. Initially, in the Old Russian language, they also had the suffix "ti" after "g" at the end: legti, pekti, bereti, zhegti. Such an archaic form has survived to this day in the other Slavic languages \u200b\u200bthat are closest to Russian - Ukrainian and Belarusian. In Russian, "gti" was gradually transformed into "chi".

In English, an indicator of an indefinite form is the particle used before the verb to: to go, to love, to run, etc. The infinitive has its formal features in every language, but it is not possible to consider all of them within the framework of one publication, and it is not makes sense. Everyone who has studied English knows about this, and it does not matter if it was taught in the first grade or in the older ones.

In Russian, a verb in an indefinite form is characterized by such constant features as transitivity, reflexivity, type of conjugation. All this is also studied in middle school, which can be easily remembered.

The indefinite form is usually used to determine the conjugation of those verbs, the ending of which in other forms is unstressed. We all heard about this more than once in a school class in Russian lessons.

Features of the syntactic role of the infinitive

If the various variants of the conjugated forms of the verb in the sentence most of all tend to the role of the predicate, and the other cases of their use are rather an exception to the rules, then the infinitive can be used as any member of the sentence: subject, addition, definition.

In a sentence, it is usually used together with a predicate, in the role of which a noun, an adverb, an indefinite form of another verb, or a full adjective in the instrumental case with a linking verb is used.

Look to the world positively is an important skill.

Believe the deceiver is stupid (option: no point).

Save - it means to earn.

Go in the area became unsafe in the evenings.

Do not be wrong - means to do nothing.

Predicate

There are two cases of using the indefinite form of the verb as a predicate:

As part of a compound predicate of a two-part sentence.
In a one-piece, impersonal sentence.

Examples of two-part sentences:

I have to do it.
I really want you to help.
Worker finished grind detail.
He dreams to go abroad.
He continued intensely work over the project.
The new employee soon adapted to the team and stopped set unnecessary questions.

Examples of impersonal one-part sentences:

Well, how not be in love this city!
Impossible pass the!
How would we meet.

Definition

As an inconsistent definition, a verb in an indefinite is used when explaining a noun.

Often we tend to (to what?) embrace immense.

Usually in such cases, the indefinite form of the verb is combined with abstract nouns expressing desire, desire, intention, habit, inclination, ability, readiness, etc.

Circumstance

Usually in this role the indefinite form appears in the verb of movement or other action and explains why this action was taken. Between the predicate and such a circumstance, the goal can be put “so”.

For example:

I went to drink water.
The major went out to check the posts.
They came to Sochi to rest by the sea.

Addition

The infinitive acts as a complement when it refers to the subject to which the action expressed by the predicate is directed. So, in the sentence "I want to help you" it is part of the compound verb predicate. But if we say “I asked a colleague to help me”, “help” is already acting as an addition. This nuance must be taken into account in order to determine the role of the infinitive in such sentences.

Here are some more examples in which the indefinite form acts as a complement:

We asked a friend meet us at the station.
The authorities persuaded him to take vacation later.
The chief asked me come in to him as soon as I show up at work.

Stylistic nuances of using the indefinite form of the verb

The indefinite verbs are often used in office instructions, orders, written and oral orders. Speeches addressed by officers to soldiers are especially often saturated with them.

An indication of the rigidity of a particular order or requirement, the rigidity of its observance is transmitted through the infinitive. For example: "Ensure the result no later than July 20". It sounds even stricter than the form of the imperative mood - “provide”. Although the imperative itself, especially if it is not accompanied by the word "please", carries a considerable similar burden.

It is not surprising why their use is so popular precisely in the army, where discipline, diligence and subordination are of great importance, and in civil structures with a rigid management vertical, for example, government bodies.

And various prohibitions, designed as a combination of the infinitive and the particle "not", have the same function: do not smoke, do not litter, etc.

After all this, you are unlikely to have doubts about the subject of what the indefinite form of the verb is.

The infinitive is the initial meaning of the verb. The peculiarity of the infinitive is that it denotes only a pure action, not tied to the person who performs it, does not indicate whether one or more persons perform the action, and also does not give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe time of the action. That is, the infinitive has no definiteness of the past, present or future tense.

This part of speech is also called the "indefinite form of the verb", because it does not characterize any details of the action being performed, revealing only its original meaning. Latin word infintusfrom which this term originated can be translated as "uncertain".

Indefinite verb form: rules and examples

The infinitive can only answer questions:

"What to do?";
"What to do?".

It is impossible, for example, to ask "Doing what?""What is he doing?","What are we doing?""What are they doing?""What you are doing?","What did you do?""What will you do?", since the infinitive is the indefinite form of the verb. Time and face remain unclear, and no reference is given to the details of what is happening.

Infinitive suffixes

The infinitive ends with word-forming suffixes:

- to give birth, grow up, die;
-ch, - protect, burn, whip;
- to carry, grow, row.

It can also be supplemented with a postfix -sia (-sia), by which we can judge which indefinite form of the verb is irreversible and which is reversible:

-s (-sia) - toil, pray, beware.

Infinitive signs

An infinitive is a form of a verb that always remains unchanged. It cannot be conjugated, represented in a different tense or person. Infinitives can only have constant verbal features that are present in any verbs, regardless of their form. These features include transitivity / intransition, recurrence / irreversibility and perfection / imperfection.

Transitional and intransitive infinitives

The transitivity of a verb is determined in accordance with the presence of an additional word of the indefinite form of the verb, denoting an object or a phenomenon to which the action is partially transferred. Intransitive verbs consist of a single word that directly denotes an action. The transitional infinitive can include:

nouns or accusative pronouns that have no preposition: injecting, threading;
nouns in the genitive case, without a preposition, which express the share of something, or participation: wait for trouble, pour water;
nouns or pronouns in the genitive case, if the verb has a negative expression: not be able to ignore them.

Thus, these words are part of the verb, filling it with meaning, and without them the essence of the action is lost. Part of the action, in turn, passes on to an object or circumstance, giving it a specific semantic load.

Returnable and non-returnable infinitives

The indefinite form of the verb can also be reflexive and non-reflexive. Irretrievable verbs express an action performed by someone or something in relation to someone and something. Reflexive express an action directed by someone or something towards itself, or mean another other closed interaction or state of an object and have a postfix at the end -sya (sm)... On the -sya the reflexive indefinite form of the verb usually ends. The rule says that reflexive verbs cannot be transitive.

Examples of non-returnable infinitives: put on, lower, peep... Examples of reflexive infinitives: dress, get down, sneak.

As we can see from the above examples, some reflexive verbs can be obtained from non-reflexive ones by simply adding a postfix -sya (as in the case of a couple " lower-lower-lower "). This changes only the direction of action, but the general meaning remains. In rare cases, according to the rules and norms for the use of verbs, it is impossible to use a verb in both its word forms - perfect and imperfect, as, for example, it is unacceptable to "put on" the reflexive indefinite form of the verb (example " put on, put on "). "To put on" denotes an action performed in relation to an object or person, while "dressing" can refer exclusively to the very object performing the action (it can be used in other word forms, but provided this return value is preserved) ... Despite the fact that such a limited in use, indefinite form of the verb is rarely found, the rule remains the rule. Also, from some imperfect forms of verbs, we will not be able to compose a perfect one, based on their key meaning, which we can see on the example of the verb "to peep" is not peep for yourself. By the same principle, in the Russian language there is no imperfect form of the verb "to sneak" - you cannot " steal"anything.

Perfect and imperfect infinitives

Infinitives can also be of perfect and imperfect form. The indefinite form of the imperfect verb expresses actions that continue in time and do not have a specific binding - these are, as it were, eternal actions, and without additional indications in the context, it does not give us an idea of \u200b\u200bthe completeness or incompleteness of the action. The question will be appropriate here "What to do?"... Examples:

Perfective infinitives indicate that the action has already been performed, or will certainly be performed, that the result already exists, or will still be (of course, in cases of negation or question, it can have a relatively indefinite coloring). The question will be pertinent here "What to do?"... Examples:

After reading the note, it should be burned.
Thank me for not having to burn this note.
Were you instructed to burn the note?

Only a small number of dual infinitives contain the Russian language. The indefinite form of the verb, which refers simultaneously to both the perfect form and the imperfect one, can be used this way and that, depending on the environment, without changing its word form. That is, she answers the question "What to do?", and to the question "What to do?"... Examples:

An order was received to execute all traitors in the future. - "What to do?";
An order was received to execute the traitor. - "What to do?";
In the village, they got used to marry girls quickly. - "What to do?";
By the fall, Martha had managed to marry all her girls. - "What to do?";
It's hard to tell your heart. - "What to do?"
How to tell your heart not to love? - "What to do?"
It is very interesting to explore the caves, but at the same time it is dangerous. - "What to do?"
Tomorrow we have to explore these caves. - "What to do?"
You can attack them from any direction, while I smash them head-on. - "What to do?"
You will have to attack them from the right, and I will come from the flank. - "What to do?"

Conjugation of verbs

The conjugation of verbs reflects their change in accordance with the person and number. Although the infinitives themselves cannot have persons, numbers or gender, and, therefore, cannot be conjugated, they nevertheless serve as a derivational basis for other verbs, therefore they are referred to any of the two verb groups by the conjugation type - either to I , or to II. The endings of indefinite verbs belonging to the first group: th, th (except for exception verbs). The forms of these verbs have endings - you and - you, - you and - you, - and - you, - and - you, - you and - you... The endings of indefinite verbs belonging to the second group: -and and on -I am (except for exception verbs). When conjugated, the forms of these verbs endings -y and -yu, -you, -it, -im, -it, -at and -yat.

Infinitive function in a sentence

Verbs, as usual, perform the function of a predicate in a sentence. Together with the subjects, they form the grammatical basis of sentences. However, the infinitive, due to its peculiarities of use, can perform completely different functions in a sentence. Therefore, the role of any of the members of the sentence in this case can be played by the indefinite form of the verb. An example of using infinitives as different members of a sentence:

Morphological parsing of the infinitive in a sentence

To carry out the morphological analysis of a verb in a sentence, you need to determine its part of speech, general grammatical meaning, ask it questions, define a word form, indicate constant and non-constant morphological features, as well as its function in the sentence. Since the indefinite form of the verb does not change, the morphological analysis of the infinitive is carried out without indicating non-constant verbal signs.

The ability to form an indefinite form, to recognize it in the text, to distinguish it from other forms of the verb is necessary not only when studying the verb, but also when forming its forms. Various tasks, exercises, work with tables will help to develop this skill.

In school practice, to identify an indefinite form, the teacher most often uses only questions (what to do?) (What to do?), Paying little attention to a detailed acquaintance with this form. For example, mistakes are very common when defining verbs like bear, protect. However, these errors can be prevented by offering students such a table when they are familiar with the indefinite form.

This table will help to recognize the indefinite form and by external formal signs (final -th, -night or -th). The number of verbs in the indefinite form in -ti and -night is small. Students should be introduced to the most common ones:

Verbs in -ti:

go, go, plod, carry, lead, row, revenge, carry, find a mouth, weave, crawl, grow, scratch, shake, blossom.

These verbs can be incorporated into exercises.

1. From various forms of verbs to -ti, form an indefinite form: sweep - revenge, carried - carry, etc.

2. Put these verbs in the form of the 1st person singular: row - row, find - find, etc.

3. From these verbs, using various prefixes, form new ones: weave - weave, weave, weave, etc.

4. Using the verbs to drive, rake, revenge, go, come, carry, compose a coherent text on the topic "On a subbotnik".

A similar work is done with verbs ending in -ch.

Verbs in -ch:

protect, achieve, burn, lie down, clothe, doom, renounce, bake, help, neglect, shear, guard, whip, flow, crush, carry away, harness

Very often, children form non-literary forms from verbs in -ch: "burn", "flows", etc. To avoid this, you need to bring them to the conclusion that only in the 1st person singular and in the 3rd person plural the numbers of these verbs retain the sounds g and k (burn - burn, bake - bake), and in other forms the alternation of g - g and k - h occurs (burn - burn, burn, burn, burn; flow - flow, flow, flow , flow).

Accordingly, the students are also hampered by the reverse operation, that is, the formation of an indefinite form from personal forms of verbs, for example: the shore, you reach, lie down, flow, get carried away, cut, renounce, guard.

Students also experience difficulties in forming the indefinite form from impersonal verbs (by the way, the comparison of the third person and the indefinite form is especially important from the point of view of spelling), therefore it is useful to practice such tasks as finding the indefinite form from impersonal verbs: it gets dark early (dusk) ...

I want to sleep, it gets cool, I feel the approach of spring, it seems quite grown-up.

How well the students learned to find the indefinite form from which the verb is formed will show the results of completing such an assignment.

Write out verbs from each sentence and choose an indefinite form for them.

1) The boy walked barefoot, and carried his shoes in a sack.

2) I cleaned the kettle, took some water and went to the fire.

3) The old man smiles, winks, squats.

4) The short summer night was leaving, the dawn was already shining in the east, the stars were slowly extinguishing.

5) It's getting dark outside, but we don't want to go back.

6) Styopka spread his arms and lies on his back, his hat lying on the sand.

7) Evening shadows fall on the ground, merge, fill the streets with darkness.

Spelling work when studying an indefinite form can be accompanied by work on the development of speech,

1. Choose synonyms for these verbs (also verbs in an indefinite form).

To be timid (afraid), argue (prove), obey (obey), motivate (justify), send (send), restore (restore), export (export), import (import), debate (argue), stimulate (induce), blame (reproach, reproach), trust (hope), study (study), groom (undead, cherish), be zealous (try), oppose (object)

2. Choose antonyms for the given verbs (also verbs in an indefinite form).

Punish (forgive), rush (procrastinate), chat (be silent), praise (scold), extinguish (ignite), chill (warm up), cry (laugh), start (end), agree (object), appear (disappear), spoil (fix), love (hate), climb (descend), thaw (freeze), rest (work), dawn (dusk), cool (heat), despair (hope), build (destroy), work (sit back).

3. These phrases should be replaced with verbs that are close in meaning.

To languish in idleness (to be bored), to fish (to fish), to win (to win), to be afraid (to be afraid), to send a telegram (to telegraph), to go back (to return), to improve at something (to qualify), to be examined (to be examined ), understand something (navigate), regain consciousness (wake up), move to another country (emigrate), confess mistakes (repent), release from accusations (rehabilitate).

4. Explain the meaning of phraseological expressions using synonymous verbs. Make sentences with phraseological turns.

Beat your brow (ask), beat your thumbs up (mess around), take you out into the open (expose), cut your nose (remember), turn up your nose (become proud), peck your nose (doze), pout your lips (take offense), hang your head (depress) , come to your senses (come to your senses).

Exercises for various substitutions should be carried out throughout the entire study of the verb (2-3 minutes at the end of the lesson). Some attention should be paid to paronyms, that is, words that are different in meaning but similar in pronunciation, such as: gape - shine, import - export, put on - dress, reject - refute, present - provide, etc. These words you can speak in class, write out in the student's dictionary, include in dictations, come up with sentences with them; it is useful to look up their meanings in an explanatory dictionary.

When repeating morphology in high school, students should remember that verbs in an indefinite form can be different members of a sentence: subject (Learn - always useful), predicate (Our task is to learn), definition (I got the opportunity to learn), addition (We agreed to learn only good and excellent), circumstance (the guys came to the city to study).

The suggestions below will help to consolidate this information.

1) I went out into the air to freshen up (L.).

2) Riding this horse was a pleasure for Rostov (L.T.).

3) I lay down on the camp bed to rest a little (T.).

4) I saw the need to change the conversation (P.).

5) I have an innate passion to contradict (L.).

6) The sun was just beginning to rise (L.T.).

It would seem what a simple thing! But this linguistic phenomenon has its own characteristics and even "pitfalls", which will be discussed later in this article.

Brief description of the infinitive in Russian

An indefinite verb is what we see written in a dictionary entry. It has no mood, face, number, time, that is, it is not changed depending on who performs the action, since there is simply no such subject. However, such a verb still has some features - form (perfect or imperfect) and conjugation (first or second). In addition, it is characterized by recurrence or irreversibility, as well as transient or intransitive.

How to understand that a verb is in the infinitive

To determine that a given form of a word denoting an action is actually an infinitive, you need to ask questions of the indefinite form of the verb. These include: " what to do?"(For example," read "or" talk ") or" what to do?"(For example," give "or" drink "). If the verb answers them, then it is in the initial form.

In addition, there are always suffixes in: -t-, -ty-, -ch-, -th- and -st-... It is worth noting that some linguists claim that these are endings of indefinite verbs, since this morpheme is subject to change. However, the controversy continues to this day.

What is the indefinite form of the verb used for?

It is the Russian language that is quite rich in various possibilities of using the infinitive. The indefinite form of the verb can be a subject, predicate, definition, addition in a sentence, and also be an integral part of a verb predicate, express an imperative mood or future tense. Below we will take a closer look at each of the listed cases using examples.

Specific syntactic roles of the verb in the initial form

So, a verb in an indefinite form is a subject if it is characterized in any way. For example:

Drawing was the meaning of his life.
Being a mother is the meaning of Svetlana's life.

In these sentences “ paint"And" to be (mother)»Are subject, since they are separate, independent actions.

In addition, a sentence can contain two infinitives, one of which characterizes the other:

To live is to love.

Then here " live"- subject, and" be in love"- predicate. In this case, the term of the sentence is easily determined: the subject goes to the predicate. Also instead of " means " there can be a dash or the words " this "," is"And the like.

An infinitive can be a definition if it appears in this form, for example:

He went to bed with a firm resolve to read a book tomorrow..

It turns out that the verb "read" here answers the question "how?" With what decision did he go to bed? Read (book tomorrow). That is, a verb of an indefinite form is a definition if it refers to a noun that means necessity, decision, desire, expression of will, and the like.

The indefinite form of the verb can also be an object, if, for example, it is used in such a phrase:

Dad asked Lena to raise a pencil.

That is, the verb "asked" has a full lexical meaning here. Both verbs refer to different people (" asked"- to dad, and" to raise"- to Lena).

The infinitive is a constituent part of the verbal predicate if used with a verb that denotes the beginning, continuation or completion of an action, that is, it has an auxiliary meaning. For example:

The puppy quickly began to fall asleep.
The teacher continued to teach the lesson.

"Began"and" continued"- these are the verbs, therefore" fall asleep" and " lead " are predicate parts.

The infinitive expresses the imperative mood, if used in a commanding tone. For example, a squad leader may order: “ Be silent!", And the captain of the ship yells:" All hands on deck!»

The initial form of the verb expresses the future tense in sentences like this:

Yes, Ivan should not be a pilot!

That is, it should contain a certain shade of annoyance or regret.

Common spelling mistakes

In most cases, the indefinite verb is easy to spell, but sometimes people get confused. This happens when the verb is reflexive. The soft sign before the suffix is \u200b\u200bsimply forgotten - xia-, so it turns out that the verb is in the third person and singular. And sometimes it makes it very difficult to understand when reading.

In order to avoid mistakes and correctly write suffixes (or endings of verbs of an indefinite form), you need to ask them mentally questions every time: “h what to do?"Or" h what to do?»If the verb clearly answers exactly to them, it is necessary to put a soft sign. For example, in the last word in the sentence " Petya is going to sleep tonight " a soft sign is put, since Petya going to what to do? Get some sleep.

Thus, the verb of the indefinite form is a rather interesting and important part of the language that can be used in different cases, the main thing is to master them well.