[Multilingual Monday] Without Infinitives A
Hey guys, miss me? I'll do my best to keep at this. I had some down time but now I'm back.
One of the points most frequently stressed in my studies of the Georgian language is the lack of an infinitive -- meaning, of course, that unlike many languages (Spanish, Hebrew), verbs like "I want" can't be followed by an infinitive of a verb (I want to eat, etc.). In this particular construction, the optative is used (the optative mood can be seen here, and by definition it normally expresses a wish or desire). მინდა ვისწავლო, Minda vistsavlo, "I want to study," features the optative of "study", სწავლოდ, stsavlod. Though this does fit the whole "desire" aspect of the optative, this is used for most instances where the infinitive is used with other verbs.
Basque also lacks an infinitive, but uses a regular form of the verb with nahi, "want," and the appropriate auxiliary. Egin nahi dut means "I want to do it", and dut would change depending on person and other circumstances. Egia esan nahi diet is "I want him to tell the truth", with egia esan being "tell the truth" and diet being "I to him.
Sometimes nominalization of the verb happens when no infinitive exists in a language. 雑誌読むのが好きです, Zasshi yomu no ga suki desu, "I like to read magazines", has yomu no, "reading," which itself is a shortening of 読むこと, yomu koto, "that thing which is reading". Of course, there is not a 100% correlation between the uses of the infinitive and nominalization here (or in the above examples, but less here in Japanese!). Several uses of the infinitive use separate verb inflections in Japanese -- "want to read" is 読みたい, yomitai, and "able to read" is 読める, yomeru (meaning: no nominalization in these examples).
This is where I open the floor to stories about the infiinitive -- whether it's used differently from English or nonexistent in another language, I'd love to hear it!
One of the points most frequently stressed in my studies of the Georgian language is the lack of an infinitive -- meaning, of course, that unlike many languages (Spanish, Hebrew), verbs like "I want" can't be followed by an infinitive of a verb (I want to eat, etc.). In this particular construction, the optative is used (the optative mood can be seen here, and by definition it normally expresses a wish or desire). მინდა ვისწავლო, Minda vistsavlo, "I want to study," features the optative of "study", სწავლოდ, stsavlod. Though this does fit the whole "desire" aspect of the optative, this is used for most instances where the infinitive is used with other verbs.
Basque also lacks an infinitive, but uses a regular form of the verb with nahi, "want," and the appropriate auxiliary. Egin nahi dut means "I want to do it", and dut would change depending on person and other circumstances. Egia esan nahi diet is "I want him to tell the truth", with egia esan being "tell the truth" and diet being "I to him.
Sometimes nominalization of the verb happens when no infinitive exists in a language. 雑誌読むのが好きです, Zasshi yomu no ga suki desu, "I like to read magazines", has yomu no, "reading," which itself is a shortening of 読むこと, yomu koto, "that thing which is reading". Of course, there is not a 100% correlation between the uses of the infinitive and nominalization here (or in the above examples, but less here in Japanese!). Several uses of the infinitive use separate verb inflections in Japanese -- "want to read" is 読みたい, yomitai, and "able to read" is 読める, yomeru (meaning: no nominalization in these examples).
This is where I open the floor to stories about the infiinitive -- whether it's used differently from English or nonexistent in another language, I'd love to hear it!