Difference between revisions of "Infinitives in Norwegian"

Latest revision as of 19:32, 23 April 2016

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Infinitives

The notion infinitive can be used referring both to a given type of form of a verb, and to certain types of verb constructions, or clauses.

Uses of the form infinitive are described in Sentence syntax - Norwegian, section Auxiliary verbs and main verbs.

Infinitival clauses are introduced by the infinitival marker å, they have no subject, and their first verb is in infinitive form. They otherwise have the same internal build-up as finite subordinate clauses, and can serve as constituent or part of constituent in a clause, as in the following example, where the infinitival clause serves as part of the Oblique constrituent om å måtte bli skjenket et sverd:

(1) Infinitival clause exhibiting clausal structure:

                                  Inf-mark  Modal      Passive   Vmain                 DirectObject
Subject Vmain            Oblique

Given this parallellism, one may subsume finite and infinitival subordinate clauses alike under the notion subordinate clauses. (Other languages also display subordinate structures built around participial forms, those built around present participles often called gerunds, and those built around past participles as absolutives; since these types only to a very limited extent can be used in Norwegian, we don't include them in this enumeration.)

Not all occurences of infinitives count as clauses: the occurrences of infinitival forms following modals (see above) are not counted as constituting separate clauses.

Infinitival forms following modals are also not preceded by å. Further types of occurrence of infinitives without å are seen in constructions like the following.

In (2), the 'omission' of å may be seen as connected to the governing verb be ('ask'), contrasting for instance with the otherwise parallel verb befale ('order'), which requires å, as in Jeg befaler deg å komme ('I order you to come').

(2)

The pattern in (3) is used by a small group of verbs like se ('see'), høre ('hear'), føle ('feel'), kjenne ('sense'):

(3)

In both cases, what follows the main verb has a clausal content, that is, 'I ask her that she comes ' in (2) and 'I see that she comes ' in (3). Although infinitive clauses with clausal content generally use the å-marker, there are thus some verb-dependent cases where this is not so.

The infinitive marker å, corresponding to English to, is pronounced in the same way as the coordination marker og, corresponding to English and. They cannot be used one for the other. (See also Coordination marking in Norwegian.)

An extensive overview of infinitival constructions can be downloaded here:

Hellan, L.: Infinitive construction types in Norwegian. An inventory. Sept. 04, 2014

Related pages

Sentence syntax - Norwegian

Subject-Verb Inversion in Norwegian

Sentence adverbials in Norwegian

Verb Complementation - Norwegian

Past and Perfective patterns in Norwegian

Definite determiners in Norwegian

Personal pronouns in Norwegian

Reflexives - Norwegian

The Noun Phrase - Norwegian

Agreement in Norwegian noun phrases

Possessive constructions in Norwegian

Gender in Norwegian nouns

Coordination marking in Norwegian

Reflexive verbs in Norwegian

Verb - Preposition expressions in Norwegian

--Lars Hellan (talk) 22:22, 28 January 2016 (CET)

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