Infinitive (Ancient Greek)
The Ancient Greek infinitive is a non-finite verb form, sometimes called a verb mood, with no endings for person or number, but it is inflected for tense and voice.
It is used mainly to express acts, situations and in general "states of affairs" that are depended on another verb form, usually a finite one.
It is a non declinable nominal verb form equivalent to a noun, and expresses the verbal notion abstractly; used as a noun in its main uses, it has many properties of it, as it will be seen below, yet it differs from it in some respects:
Uses
Ancient Greek has both the infinitive with the article, for example τὸ ἀδικεῖν "doing wrong, wrong-doing" and the infinitive without the article, for example ἀδικεῖν "to do wrong".The infinitive with the article
The articular infinitive corresponds to a cognate verbal noun. It is preceded by the neuter singular article and has the character and function of both a noun and a verbal form. It can be used in any case and thus participate in a construction just like any other noun: it can be subject, object, predicative expression, orit may also serve as an apposition; it may have an adnominal or an adverbial use ; it may form an exclamation ; it can also be the complement of a preposition in any oblique case and denote many adverbial relations; finally, if in the genitive case, it can denote purpose, oftener a negative one.
In all the preceding passages the articular infinitive is in the present tense stem; yet this is by no means a rule, since it can be used in any tense stem, denoting a variety of aspectual differences.
Infinitive without the article
The infinitive without the article is of two sorts and has two discrete uses: the dynamic infinitive and the declarative infinitive. Traditionally they are said to be used not in indirect discourse and in indirect discourse respectively, yet this terminology is misleading; for infinitives of both sorts may be used in indirect discourse transformations "I said that he will undertake an expedition" or "I advised him to undertake/that he should undertake an expedition", where indirect discourse, one way and another, is employed: direct discourse for "He will undertake...", and for.Dynamic infinitive
A so-called dynamic infinitive may be governed by verbs of will or desire to do something, verbs of will or desire not to do anything and verbs or verbal expressions denoting ability, fitness, necessity, capacity, etc.. It can also be found after adjectives of kindred meaning. It stands as the object of such verbs or verbal expressions, or it serves as the subject if the verb/the verbal expression is used impersonally; it also defines the meaning of an adjective almost as an accusative of respect. An infinitive of this kind denotes only aspect or stage of action, not actual tense, and can be in any tense stem except the future one; only the verb μέλλω "I am about to" may exceptionally take a dynamic future infinitive.The difference between the present and the aorist infinitive of this sort is aspect or stage of action, not the tense —despite their tense stem, such infinitives always have a future reference, because of the volitive meaning of their governing verb. More specifically, an infinitive in the present verb stem lays stress on "the process or course of the state of affairs", and in many cases has "an immediative" semantic force, while an infinitive in the aorist verb stem lays stress "on the completion of the state of affairs, expressing a well-defined or well-delineated state of affairs".
Analogous aspectual distinctions between the present and aorist verbal stem are present also in the use of finite moods as the imperative and the subjunctive and even the optative of wishes in independent clauses. So, in cases as those presented in the following examples, a dynamic infinitive somehow recalls a corresponding finite mood expressing will or desire, pray or curse, exhortation or prohibition etc. and indirect discourse is from one aspect employed:
Declarative infinitive
A so-called declarative infinitive is mostly used in connexion with verbs of saying, thinking and perceiving such as λέγω, φημί, ἀποκρίνομαι, ὑπισχνοῦμαι, ὁμολογῶ, ἀκούω, ὁρῶ etc. and it is usually used in oratio obliqua. The latter means that it represents a corresponding finite verb form of the oratio recta, thus a declarative infinitive denotes both tense and aspect or stage of action. But the present infinitive represents either a present indicative or an imperfect one, and a perfect infinitive either a perfect indicative or a pluperfect one. A declarative infinitive with the particle ἂν is also the representative of a potential indicative or potential optative of the corresponding tense.Verbs that usually have a future reference, such as ὄμνυμι "swear", ὑπισχνοῦμαι "promise", ἐλπίζω "expect, hope", ἀπειλέω "threaten", προσδοκάω "expect" etc., either take the declarative infinitive, and in this case indirect discourse is employed, or they are followed by the dynamic aorist infinitive, and they are constructed just like any verb of will, desire etc. The same constructional alternation is available in English, as shown below.
For the difference between the present and aorist dynamic infinitive see the discussion in the above section. Yet in the last two examples another reading is also possible, considering ἀποδιδόναι and ἀποδοῦναι to be present and aorist declarative infinitive respectively: "I swear that I give 'the money back. I swear that I gave the money back'."
The infinitive in subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions
The infinitive is used instead of the indicative mood, with substantial difference in meaning, in certain subordinate clauses introduced by specific conjunctions: ὥστε "so as to, so that", πρίν "before" or "until" and relative adjectives introducing relative clauses of result, such as ὅσος "so much as enough to", οἷος "of such a sort as to", ὃς or ὅστις " that he could", in clauses introduced by the prepositional phrases ἐφ' ᾧ or ἐφ' ᾧτε or with ὥστε "with the proviso that".Note: a "declarative" infinitive is sometimes the mood of subordinated clauses in indirect speech, instead of a corresponding indicative or optative mood, in modal assimilation to the main infinitive used to represent the independent clause of the direct speech; so after relative, temporal or conditional conjunctions such as: ὃς "who" or ὅστις "whoever", ἐπεὶ or ἐπειδή "since, when", ὅτε "when", εἰ "if" etc. An example:
Here, the main infinitives, those directly depended on the finite verb ἔφη, namely πορεύεσθαι and ἀφικνεῖσθαι, attractivelly affect the mood of the embedded clauses introduced by ἐπειδὴ, a temporal conjunction, and ἐν ᾧ, a relative prepositional phrase.
Subject of the infinitive
In general, Greek is a pro drop language or a null-subject language: it does not have to express the subject of a finite verb form, unless it is communicatively or syntactically important. Concerning infinitives, no matter of which type, either articulated or not, and also either of the dynamic or declarative use, the following can be said as a general introduction to the infinitival syntax :These three main constructions available are described in some detail in the sections below.
Accusative and infinitive
The construction where an accusative noun or pronoun functions as the subject of an infinitive is called accusative and infinitive. This construction can be used as an indirect speech mechanism, in many instances interchangeable with a complementary declarative clause introduced by "ὅτι/"ὡς". But with some verbs the infinitival construction is the rule in classical Greek. Yet it can be also in use with any infinitival use, no matter whether indirect speech is involved or not. In the following examples the infinitival clause is put in square brackets :Some actual examples from classic Greek literature:
Oratio recta/Direct speech would have been: τοὺς πονηροτάτους καὶ ἐξαγίστους ὀνομαζομένους αἱNOM συμφοραὶNOM σωφρονίζουσινFIN. "The mishaps chasten those called utterly wicked and ungodly".
Oratio recta/Direct speech would have been: ἡNOM ἡμετέρα φύσιςNOM ἱκανωτέραNOM ἐστὶFIN τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν προκριθείσης. "Our nature is more competent than the one chosen by the gods as best".
And here is an example where no indirect speech is involved:
This construction, accusative and infinitive, is also always in place when the main verb is an impersonal one or an impersonal verbal expression, and the infinitival clause functions as its subject. Of course, in such cases the infinitive has a subject of its own. An example:
Nominative and infinitive
When the subject of the infinitive is identical with the subject of the governing verb, then normally it is omitted and understood in the nominative case. The phenomenon is traditionally understood to be some kind of case attraction . In the following examples infinitival clauses are bracketed ; coreferent items are indexed by means of a subscripted "i".Πέρσης is a predicate noun in the nominative, showing case agreement with an understood and omitted pronoun.
Note: there are certain cases where the subject of the infinitive, whether of the declarative or the dynamic type, is put in accusative case, even though it is co-referent with the subject of the main verb; in this mechanism emphasis or contrast is present. An example:
Here the unemphatic dropped null-subject of the main verb is emphatically repeated right after the verb within the infinitival clause in accusative case. The meaning is ‘I believe that it is I who have made more money than any other two sophists together – you may choose whoever you like’. The comparative nominal phrase ἢ ἄλλους σύνδυο shows case agreement with ἐμέ.
Here now the subject ἐγώ of the finite verb εἴργασμαι is emphatically uttered in nominative case; the second part of the comparison, ἢ ἄλλοι σύνδυο, agrees with this in nominative case.
Subject omitted and understood in an oblique case (genitive, dative or accusative)
When the infinitival subject is coreferent with a word constructed with the governing verb in a higher syntactic level, in other words, when the subject of the infinitive is itself argument of the governing verb, then it is normally omitted and understood either in the oblique case in which the second argument is put, or in the accusative as if in an accusative and infinitive construction.In all the above examples the case of the subject of the infinitive is governed by the case requirements of the main verb and "the infinitive is appended as a third argument". As fas as the two first are concerned, traditionally this construction is sometimes called dativus cum infinitivo or genitivus cum infinitivo and is considered to be a case attraction, the dative or genitive being used instead of a predicate in the accusative: ἄνδρα, ὡς προθυμότατον; see also below.
On the other hand, as it is indicated by predicate adjectives/sunstantives or participial constituents of the infinitival clause, it is not unusual at all for an accusative to be understood and be supplied by context as the subject of the infinitive, as the following examples illustrate. As far as the genitive is concerned, a predicate substantive or a participle normally stands in the accusative while an adjective may stand either in accusative or in genitive case. As far as the dative is concerned, the choice between a word in concord with a dative and an accusative case seems to be laid down by the speaker's/writer's preference.
This construction is obligatory when the infinitive is governed by a participle in any oblique case, more usually an attributive one. Here the predicate adjective always shows concord with the case of the leading participle. So an embedded participial clause like φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοί "claiming that they are wise" or οἱ φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοί "Those who claim that they are wise" is declined this way -in any of the following word ordering, but in slightly different each time meaning :
In the above phrasal structuring the predicate adjective σοφοὶ "wise" is always put in the case of its governing participle φάσκοντες "claiming".
Morphology
Present infinitives of -ω verbs end with -ειν. The middle and passive voices share the same form and end with -εσθαι. The -ε- contracts if the stem ends with a vowel.Note: εἰμί, εἶμι, φημί and οἶδα are not used in the middle or passive voices.
Future active and middle infinitives add -σ- to the future active stem and use the same endings as the present infinitive. Future passive infinitives add -θήσεσθαι to the stem of the aorist passive.
Note: εἰμί is deponent in the future and has middle forms with active meanings. φημί is not used in the middle or passive.
Aorist infinitives of -ω verbs end with -σαι in the active, -σασθαι in the middle and -θηναι in the passive. -μι verbs take -εναι in the active, -σθαι in the middle and -θηναι in the passive. Verbs with 2nd aorist forms take -εῖν in the active, but inflect like other aorists in the middle and passive.
Perfect active infinitives add -εναι to the reduplicated perfect stem. The middle and passive voices share the same form and add -σθαι.