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Croy Index: Vocabulary - Prosody - Verbs - Nouns - Adjectives - Nominals - Other Topics - Syntax List


24.169 Introduction to the Infinitive

Make sure you read Croy section 169 carefully.

You have already learned the various forms of the infinitive and you have seen various uses of the infinitive in the Practice Sentences.

The infinitive is "infinite" because it is not defined for a specific person or number. The infinitive of a verb does not have person or number, but the infinitive does have aspect and voice.

The infinitive does not have tense. Consequently, it is negated with the word μή.

As you have seen before, the difference between the present infinitive and the aorist infinitive is purely a difference of aspect. This can be very difficult to translate into English.

Like other verbs, an infinitive can take an object in the accusative case, an indirect object in the dative case, can be modifed by adverbs, by prepositional phrases, etc. The infinitive can also have a subject, but the subject of an infinitive is put into the accusative case. Make sure you pay careful attention to the examples Croy provides of the accusative subject of the infinitive.

The infinitive also acts like a noun. To be more specific, an infinitive is considered to be a neuter singular noun. The infinitive does not change form when it is put into different cases, but it can be accompanied by a definite article, and the case of the definite article gives you a clue about the case of the infinitive. This is important when the infinitive is being used as the object of a preposition. When the infinitive is accompanied by a preposition it is sometimes referred to as an "articular infinitive."


Biblical Greek Online. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. Page last updated: April 9, 2005 8:06 PM


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