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Re:i don't get french tenses
Hi Rachel,
I sincerely doubt that you're stupid, but that doesn't mean I should expect you to follow me if I try to give you some kind of Noam Chomsky definition of "infinitive". Not everyone needs to be a grammar guru like me. Contrary to what most kids on the schoolyards seem to think, not having information about something is not at all the same thing as being dumb.
Anyway, that said, here, in layperson's terms, is what an infinitive is.
An infinitive, in English, is the "to - " form of the verb. We use it with 'going' to form the future (I'm going to stop, I'm going to write, I'm going to dream, etc.) We often use the infinitive when a verb is the object of a verb (that is, the answer to the question, "what is being (verb)-ed (whatever the verb happens to be)
Examples:
I want a dog (What do I want? a dog -- dog is the object of the verb want)
I want to go (What do I want? to go -- to go is the object of the verb want, and since I'm using a verb as the object of a verb -- the: what it is that I want--, I use the infinitive, the " to - " form.
In French, they don't use "to" to form an infinitive. Instead, the use an -ir or an -er, usually at the ending. There are exceptions, like etre and aprendre.
Warning: Don't try to translate into French word-by-word. The French don't always use their infinitives the same way we do. You're much better off learning to say the phrases correctly, and not worrying so much about the grammar for now. My French isn't great, and I can't exactly come up with a good example of that precisely, but perhaps you'll see the sort of thing that I mean if I show you a related problem:
Say I wanted to say, "This is going to be helpful" A word-by-word translation would be,
Ç'est allant etre utile. But in French, that's just not how they say it. They say, This goes to be helpful: Ça va etre utile. This may help you see why people from other countries phrase things so strangely when they're learning to speak English. You'll make a lot of mistakes like that as you learn French, but don't worry about it. It's all part of the learning process, and gives you a lot of great opportunities to laugh at yourself. Au revoir!
Reply to message # 56115
i don't get french tenses Rachel
Can anyone explain in really simple words what the infinative is and how you translate it, because i'm kinda dumb
Language pair: English; French
Category: Vocabulary/Translations
Post date: July 15, 2005
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Language pair: English; French
This is a reply to message # 56115
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| 56229 |
Re:i don't get french tenses
Hello Rachel, I'm Quentin, nice to meet you :-)
I suppose "infinative" means "Infinitif", well...That's really funny trying to explain that ^_^ Infinative is just the brut form of a verb. For exemple, in English, the brut form of the verb in "I'm thinking..." is "To Think", it's the form used in dictionnary, lessons...etc.
In french it's exactly the same..."I'm thinking" = "Je pense" in french, "To Think" = "Penser" in french, so "Penser" is the Infinative form.
"To think", thought..etc
"Penser", je pense, tu pense, il pense...etc
Hope this will help you :)
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Language pair: English; French
This is a reply to message # 56115
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