Was bedeutet infinitive ?

This is translated as "不定詞" in Japanese, but I don't quite understand what it means. Does that simply mean the basic dictionary form of a verb?

Antworten

jamesavery98

26 Apr 2020

Favorisierte Antwort

Englisch (US)

Yes, it is the basic (unconjugated) form of a verb. With verbs when learning a foreign language you typically learn the infinitive of the verb first, then you learn how to conjugate it.

So for example, the verb “to run” is in the infinitive form (It is healthy to run- this is an impersonal sentence meaning that it has no subject, hence the verb is not conjugated) The conjugated form of the infinitive “to run” could be “I ran all the way home just to say I’m sorry” for example.

Antwortender mit hoher Bewertung

War diese Antwort hilfreich?

Diese Frage teilen

Copy URL

jamesavery98

26 Apr 2020

Englisch (US)

Yes, it is the basic (unconjugated) form of a verb. With verbs when learning a foreign language you typically learn the infinitive of the verb first, then you learn how to conjugate it.

So for example, the verb “to run” is in the infinitive form (It is healthy to run- this is an impersonal sentence meaning that it has no subject, hence the verb is not conjugated) The conjugated form of the infinitive “to run” could be “I ran all the way home just to say I’m sorry” for example.

Antwortender mit hoher Bewertung

War diese Antwort hilfreich?

2up

26 Apr 2020

Japanisch

@jamesavery98 Thanks for the answer. I see, so it means the basic (unconjugated) form of a verb, not the verb form that was used under the influence of the subject or tense. The Japanese term "不定詞" is really hard to understand, and I think many Japanese, including perhaps even some of the Japanese teachers who teach English, don't really understand it, I think.