Proficiency in any language is unthinkable without knowledge of the basic units of speech. No less important are grammatical rules that allow all parts of speech to be harmoniously connected with each other using cases, prepositions, and conjugations. Russian is a predicative language; it often uses categories of action or verb constructions. When getting acquainted with this part of speech, students will learn how it is formed and what it is indefinite form verb.

In the textbook for grade 4, when children are introduced to this concept, a rule is given.

The indefinite form of the verb is the initial and unchangeable form from which all verbal parts of speech (participles, verbal adjectives) and verb forms formed during conjugation.

What questions does the indefinite form answer: what to do? (what to do?).

The indefinite form is called in linguistics by the term “infinitive” (from the Latin Infinitus). Based on the infinitive, it is impossible to say who and when performs any action (for example, “to walk”: it is not clear who did it and when, there is no indication of either the number or the time). Its morphological features are the suffixes –ть(-ти) (for example, id you, say t) or ending the root with -ch (for example, le whose, se whose).

Peculiarities

The indefinite form of the verb does not change. This is the peculiarity of the infinitive, so it cannot be conjugated or otherwise changed.

The initial form of a verb can only have constant features:

1. Conjugation (1st, 2nd, different conjugations).
2. Refundability (refundable, non-refundable).
3. Transitivity (transitive or intransitive).
4. Kind (imperfect or perfect).

The infinitive is devoid of signs of person, time or number, so it is impossible to tell from it who and when performs the action.

How to find the infinitive

For those learning Russian as a foreign language or for children who do not read enough, the issue of finding an infinitive can present some difficulties. How to find the infinitive form of a verb.

Those who know Russian at the native level, as a rule, do not experience any particular difficulties with this. How to put a verb into an indefinite form: mentally ask infinitive questions - “what to do?” or “what should I do?”

The infinitive can also be defined in another way:

1. Find out what form the verb in the sentence belongs to.
2. “Cut off” the personal endings that appear during conjugation, and (if necessary) the past tense suffix -l-.
3. Substitute the infinitive suffix –ть(-ти) to the remaining part or simply ask the appropriate question.

Let's look at the following example: “They carefully wrote down the letters in the notebook.” Initial form in in this case will “prescribe”.

How we defined it:

1. We ask the question: They (what did they do?) prescribed.
2. The question “what did you do?” indicates that the verb imperfect form(without the prefix “s”), which means that to determine the infinitive you also need to ask without the prefix “s”: “what to do?”
3. Removing the ending -And and past tense suffix -l-. We have: prescribing-.
4. We substitute the infinitive suffix -t to the rest of the word: (what to do?) – to register.

Please note that in this case you can make a mistake and say “register” as the answer; this will be incorrect, since “register” answers the question “what to do?”, that is, it is in the perfect form.

Important! When determining the initial form, you need to pose a question to the verb in the sentence itself in order to determine its type.

A hint on how not to make a mistake when determining the (imperfective) form: the infinitive retains all prefixes and suffixes (with the exception of the past tense suffix -l-) of the form of the verb with which you work in the text.

Pay attention! In the process of searching for N.F. you can go two ways: ask the question - “what to do?” or “what to do?”, or follow the above method.

Syntax function

What is the role of the infinitive form of the verb in a sentence. It can perform various syntactic functions. Summary information about possible members sentences expressed by infinitive are given in the table:

The infinitive almost never occurs as an object. However, in the sentence “He ordered to serve coffee,” “to serve” can be interpreted as an addition (ordered what?).

Definition online

If you find it difficult to determine the initial form yourself or are not sure that you did it correctly, you can test yourself using online services for.

Since the definition of the infinitive is a mandatory part of it, you can go to any Internet page that offers this service and enter required verb in the form in which it is used in the sentence.

The first word that will be indicated will be N.f. verb..

Let us note that, in general, the ability to identify parts of speech and change them by persons, numbers, and tenses largely depends on innate literacy and linguistic flair. But even if this is not all right, learning which questions the indefinite form answers is not that difficult. Otherwise, you should adhere to the above schemes and tips.

To consolidate (or form) knowledge on this topic, we can recommend a number of tasks and exercises:

1. Distinguishing parts of speech with similar endings (put the cast iron in the oven (noun) - bake pies (v.), Sing, come here! (proper noun) - sing songs (v.)).
2. Converting an imperfective verb into a perfective form and vice versa.
3. Formation of a verb from a noun (for example, travel - to travel, food - to eat, trip - to travel).

With practice the necessary skills will come.

Useful video: Indefinite verb form

When it comes to the form of a verb, we say: “Build the verb in the 2nd person form plural future tense." Based on this, we can say that the form of the verb is person + number + tense. By building your answer using this formula, you will never miss anything. Now let's move on to defining all three terms.

Person and number to determine verb form

The person is the one who performs the action. To determine it, we ask a question to the verb Who? or What? If the answer is:

• I/we is a 1st person verb, it refers directly to the speaker or the group of people in which he is a member. For example: I cook, we build;
• you/you – this is a 2nd person verb, it refers to the one/those with whom we are talking. For example: you are lying, you are walking,
• he/she/it/they – then this is a 3rd person verb, it refers to someone else (not the speaker or the interlocutor). For example: he runs, she drinks, they are friends.

Time to determine the form of the verb

Determining the time is very simple: it is done almost intuitively:

• In present tense verbs, the action happens now, this minute. Even if the time is not specified in the sentence, it can be understood independently. For example: I sculpt (When?) now they are building (When?) Today,
• in past tense verbs the action takes place in the past: yesterday, a week ago, etc. For example: painted (When?) yesterday,
• in future tense verbs the action will only happen in an hour, tomorrow, etc. For example: I will learn (When?) Tomorrow.

Infinitive

Verbs in the indefinite form do not have gender, person or number, but they do have an aspect. Such verbs end in -t, -t or -ch. Their type is determined by asking:

• what to do?, then it is of an imperfect form. For example: (what to do?) read ;
• if a verb is followed by a question what to do?, then he looks perfect. For example: (what to do?) read.

Other verbs also have aspect, but this is not indicated when determining their form. It is worth noting that perfective verbs do not have a present tense, because it is implied that the action was either completed in the past or will be completed in the future.

Determining the form of a verb is easy, since everything is done almost intuitively, the main thing is to remember the algorithm: person + number + tense.

The morphology of the Russian language is multifaceted and interesting. She studies the features of parts of speech, their constants and variable characteristics. The article discusses infinitive verbs in detail.

Infinitive

Not everyone knows what an infinitive is. in its initial form. It represents a verb in dictionaries. For example, in explanatory dictionary no verb dating, since this is a personal form, the dictionary entry is devoted to the same verb, but in the initial form - meet. You can put a verb in this form by asking the question what to do? or what to do?: dating - what to do? dating, drawing - what to do? draw, call back - what to do? call back. The infinitive differs from other verb forms not only in the question. The suffixes of infinitives (verbs in the initial form) are special: -т, -ти, -ч. Therefore, the analyzed word is an infinitive if the verb contains such morphemes.

Verb and its indefinite form

Pupils and students who are especially keen on studying the Russian language are concerned with the question of why the infinitive is called the indefinite form of the verb. First, the word “infinitive” itself comes from a Latin word that translates as “indefinite.” Secondly, the infinitive does not determine the form of the verb, more precisely, its personal form, tense, mood, gender, number, and so on. The infinitive determines the constant features of the verb, such as aspect, conjugation, reflexivity and transitivity. They will be discussed below.

Invariable signs of a verb

When performing it, you need to identify its signs. Constant signs are indicated by the indefinite form of the verb.

View is a part-speech category that reflects the relationship of an action to its internal limit: completed/happening. Infinitive verbs that answer questions what to do? have a perfect form: say, cook, leave. Verbs in the initial form that answer the question what to do? have an imperfect appearance: talk, cook, go. Species pairs are identified, that is, words with the same meaning, but different types: decide - decide, say - talk, sew up - sew up, bake - bake.

Traditionally determined by the initial form. The 2nd conjugation includes those that end in -it(exception shave, lay, rest), and verbs hold, drive, see, watch, hear, breathe, hate, endure, offend, twist, depend; to the first - all other verbs. The conjugation of not all verbs can be determined by the infinitive. A class is distinguished which, when changed, combines the endings of 1st and 2nd conjugations. These are the words give, eat, run, want.

Transitivity - next constant sign. Infinitive verbs that are able to control a noun in the accusative case are called transitive, and those that cannot are called intransitive. For example, sew (what?) a button, record (what?) a movie, draw (who?) a child- transitional; surprise, call, shoot are not used with the accusative case, that is, intransitive.

Reflexive verbs are those that have the postfix -sya: to build, to wash, to make a reservation. Non-reflexive - those that do not have this affix.

Question about morpheme

Indicators of the initial form of the verb - the morphemes -ть, -ти, -ч - cause discussions among linguists. Many define them as endings, citing their ability to change: say - said, indicate - indicated. However, the infinitive is considered an unchangeable form, so it should not have endings. An increasingly common version is that morphemes denoting the infinitive are inflectional suffixes.

Impersonal form of the verb

Infinitives are non-finite verb forms. This is due to the fact that it is an unchangeable form in which the person, gender, and number are not determined. Infinitives do not accompany nouns in nominative case, as opposed to personal forms. They only name the action without its relation to the person. The infinitive is also not associated with the category of tense, which is determined by personal forms. Their inclination is also indeterminable. That is, the infinitive is unreal, it is timeless, it only names the action. Some students ask the question about the dependence of the infinitive on the verb. An infinitive is, in another way, a verb in its initial form.

In Russian grammar, other non-personal forms are distinguished - these are the participle and the gerund. They, like the infinitive, do not change according to persons. A gerund is an unchangeable form of a verb that combines the characteristics of an adverb and a verb and answers a question what did you do? doing what?: reading, publishing, pointing, chorusing. A participle is a form of a verb that denotes a characteristic by action, combines the characteristics of an adjective and a verb, and answers questions about adjectives: Which? surrounded, acting, watching, forgotten.

The role of the infinitive in a sentence

The peculiarity of the infinitive form of the verb is that it can play the role of any member in a sentence. Quite often the subject of an infinitive verb is in Russian. Examples: To seek the truth in everything was her goal in itself. Appreciating the work of others is worthy. There's no use talking to him. Denoting an action, the infinitive plays the role of a predicate: You won't see any rest! You can't understand him. She's unrecognizable. Often it comes in following an auxiliary verb: The family wanted to stay here for a month. Lena began working immediately after her appointment to the position. He stopped joking after the remark he received.

Secondary members of a sentence can also be expressed by the infinitive form of the verb. Thus, the infinitive acts as a complement in sentences: The captain ordered to advance. They agreed to meet. She quickly got used to working. The definition can be expressed by an infinitive: She had a desire to change the world for the better. He took the opportunity to leave. The hope of leaving by morning reassured them. Circumstance presented initial form verb: Vera was going to go to the sea. Volunteers stopped by the lake to feed the birds. Children from all over the city come to study with her.

Infinitives in folklore and fiction

Infinitives have long been used by people in oral folk art, more precisely in proverbs. The indefinite form of the verb in them is necessary to create a generalization of the content: Promise less, sin less. Indulging a thief means stealing yourself. It's not hard to do, but it's hard to come up with. IN fiction Infinitive verbs are widely used. Examples: “I can live on a dense stump,” “That’s why I called you - to find out,” “Let me come first,” “and no one cared about his worries, just to talk.”(Shukshin V.M. “Stoves and benches”); “No one wants to change... the balance,”"habit of smiling tsomehow... pulled it slightly to the side bottom part his...face""You could have asked not to sprinkle crushed peanuts on it"(Iskander F.A. “On a Summer Day”).

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 the concept of the time the action was performed. That is, the infinitive does not have a definite 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 infintus, from which this term is derived, can be translated as "uncertain".

Indefinite verb form: rules and examples

The infinitive can only answer questions:

• "What to do?";
• “What should I do?”

It is impossible, for example, to ask "Doing what?""What's he doing?"“What are we doing?”"What are they doing?""What are you doing?"“What did you do?”“What will you do?”, since the infinitive is the indefinite form of the verb. The time and person remain unclear, and no reference is given to the details of what happened.

Infinitive suffixes

The infinitive ends with word-forming suffixes:

• -t - give birth, grow up, die;
• -whose, - to protect, burn, whip;
• -ti - carry, grow, row.

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

-sya (-sya) - to toil, to pray, to beware.

Signs of the infinitive

The infinitive is a form of the verb that always remains the same. It cannot be conjugated or represented in another tense or person. Infinitives can only have constant verbal features that are present in any verbs, regardless of their form. Such characteristics include transitivity/intransitivity, recurrence/irrevocability, and perfection/imperfection.

Transitive and intransitive infinitives

The transitivity of a verb is determined in accordance with the presence of an additional word of an indefinite form of the verb, denoting an object or phenomenon to which the action is partially transferred. Intransitive verbs consist of one single word denoting the action itself. The transitive infinitive may include:

• nouns or pronouns put in the accusative case without a preposition: give an injection, thread;
• nouns put in the genitive case, without a preposition, which express a share of something, or participation: wait for trouble, pour water;
• nouns or pronouns placed in genitive, in case the verb has a negative expression: not be able to, not notice 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, transfers to an object or circumstance, giving it a specific meaning.

Reflexive and irreversible infinitives

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

Examples of irreversible infinitives: put on, lower, peek. Examples of reflexive infinitives: to dress, to lower oneself, to sneak.

As we see from the above examples, some reflexive verbs can be obtained from non-reflexive verbs by simply adding a postfix -xia(as in the case of a pair " lower-lower"). This only changes 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 of its word forms - perfect and imperfect, as, for example, the reflexive indefinite form of the verb is unacceptable for “put on” (example " put on - get dressed"). “Put on” denotes an action performed in relation to some object or person, while “dress” can be addressed exclusively to the object itself performing the action (it can be used in other word forms, but provided that this reflexive meaning is preserved) . Despite the fact that such a limited in use infinitive form of the verb is not often found, the rule remains the rule. Also, from some imperfect forms of verbs, we will not be able to create a perfect one, based on their key meaning, which we can see in the example of the verb “peep” - you cannot peek for yourself. By the same principle, in the Russian language there is no imperfect form of the verb “to sneak” - you cannot " sneak" anything.

Perfective and imperfective infinitives

Infinitives can also be perfective or imperfective. The indefinite form of the imperfect verb expresses actions that continue over time and do not have a specific connection - these are, as it were, eternal actions, and without additional instructions in the context it does not give us an idea of ​​​​the completion or incompleteness of the action. A question would be appropriate here "What to do?". Examples:

Perfective infinitives say that the action has already been completed, or will certainly be committed, that the result has already happened, or will still happen (of course, in cases of negation or question, it can have a relatively vague coloring). A question would be appropriate here “What should I do?”. Examples:

• After reading the note, it was to be burned.
• Thank me that you didn't have to burn that note.
• Were you instructed to burn the note?

Only a small number of dual infinitives are found in the Russian language. The indefinite form of the verb, which simultaneously refers to perfect view, and to the imperfect, can be used either way, depending on the environment, without changing its word form. That is, she also answers the question "What to do?", and to the question “What should I do?”. Examples:

• An order was received to execute all traitors from now on. - "What to do?";
• An order was received to execute the traitor. - “What to do?”;
• In the village they are used to getting girls married quickly. - "What to do?";
• By autumn, Marfa 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 should I do?”
• Exploring caves is very interesting, but at the same time dangerous. - "What to do?"
• Tomorrow we will have to explore these caves. - “What should I do?”
• You can attack them from any direction, while I will defeat them head-on. - "What to do?"
• You will have to attack them from the right, and I will come in from the flank. - “What should I do?”

Verb conjugation

The conjugation of verbs reflects their change in accordance with person and number. Although infinitives themselves cannot have person, number or gender, and, therefore, cannot be conjugated, they nevertheless serve as a word-formation basis for other verbs, therefore they are classified into one of two verb groups according to the type of conjugation - either I , or to II. Indefinite verb endings belonging to the first group: -e, -yu(except exception verbs). The forms of these verbs have endings -u and -yu, -eat and -eat, -et and -et, -eat and -eat, -eat and -ete. Indefinite verb endings belonging to the second group: -And and on -I(except exception verbs). When conjugated, the forms of these verbs have endings -u and -yu, -ish, -it, -im, -ite, -at and -yat.

Function of the infinitive in a sentence

Verbs, as usual, perform the function of a predicate in a sentence. Together with 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 parts of a sentence:

Morphological analysis of the infinitive in a sentence

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

The ability to form an indefinite form, recognize it in a text, and distinguish it from other forms of a verb is necessary not only when studying a verb, but also when forming its forms. Various tasks, exercises, and work with tables will help you 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 carry, take care. However, these errors can be prevented if students are offered such a table when familiarizing themselves with the indefinite form.

This table will help you recognize the indefinite form by its external formal features (finite -t, -ch or -ti). The number of verbs in the indefinite form in -ti and –ch is small. Students should be introduced to the most common of them:

Verbs in -ti:

go, go, wander, carry, lead, row, sweep, carry, find, graze, weave, crawl, grow, scrape, shake, bloom.

These verbs can be included in the exercises.

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

2. Put these verbs in the 1st person form singular: row - I'm rowing, find - I'll find, etc.

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

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

Similar work is carried out with verbs ending in -ch.

Verbs starting with -ch:

protect, achieve, burn, lie down, clothe, doom, renounce, oven, help, neglect, cut, guard, flog, flow, pound, captivate, harness

Very often, children form non-literary forms from verbs ending in -ch: “burns”, “flows”, etc. To avoid this, you need to lead 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 (zhgu - burn, bake - bake), and in other forms there is an alternation of g - z and k - h (zhgu - burn, burn, burn, burn; flow - flow, flow, flow , flowing).

Accordingly, students are also hampered by the reverse operation, i.e., the formation of an indefinite form from the personal forms of verbs, for example: shore, 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 3rd person and the indefinite form is especially important from the point of view of spelling), so it is useful to practice tasks such as finding the indefinite form from impersonal verbs: it gets dark early (dusk) .

I want to sleep, it becomes cool, I feel the approach of spring, I feel completely grown up.

How well students have learned to find the indefinite form from which the verb is derived will be shown by the results of completing such a task.

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

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

2) I cleaned the kettle, filled it with water and went to the fire.

3) The old man smiles, winks, and squats down.

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

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

6) Styopka has his arms outstretched and is lying on his back, his hat is lying on the sand.

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

Work on spelling when studying an indefinite form can be accompanied by work on speech development,

1. Find synonyms for these verbs (also verbs in the indefinite form).

Shy (fear), argue (prove), submit (obey), motivate (justify), send (send), restore (restore), export (export), import (import), debate (argue), stimulate (encourage), blame (reproach, reproach), hope (hope), study (study), cherish (undead, cherish), zeal (try), oppose (object)

2. Find antonyms for these verbs (also verbs in the indefinite form).

Punish (forgive), hurry (slow down), chat (be silent), praise (scold), extinguish (ignite), chill (warm up), cry (laugh), start (finish), agree (object), appear (disappear), spoil (fix), love (hate), climb (descend), thaw (freeze), rest (work), dawn (dark), cool (heat), despair (hope), build (destroy), work (idle).

3. Replace these phrases with verbs that are similar in meaning.

To languish from idleness (to be bored), to fish (to fish), to win (to win), to experience fear (to be afraid), to send a telegram (to telegraph), to go back (to return), to improve in something (to qualify), to be examined (to be examined) ), to understand something (to get oriented), to come to consciousness (to wake up), to move to another country (to emigrate), to admit mistakes (to repent), to be released from accusations (to rehabilitate).

4. Explain the meaning of phraseological units using synonymous verbs. WITH phraseological units make proposals.

To beat one's forehead (to ask), to beat one's head (to mess around), to bring out clean water(expose), hack on the nose (remember), turn one's nose up (become proud), nod off (doze), pout one's lips (offend), hang one's head (be despondent), come to one's senses (come to one's senses).

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

When reviewing morphology in high school, students should remember that verbs in the infinitive form can be various members of a sentence: subject (Learning is always useful), predicate (Our task is to study), definition (I got the opportunity to study), object (We agreed to study only good and excellent), circumstance (The guys came to the city to study).

The following suggestions will help 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.).