Infinitive in English and Ukrainian languages

The infinitive is a verbid characterized by the following features:

1. Its dual lexico-grammatical meaning of “action, process partially viewed as a substance”. Both in Ukrainian and in English the infinitive names the action or process without expressing their relation to person, number, tense and mood (work, wait, робити, чекати).

2. Typical word-building elements of the infinitive differ greatly in both languages.

The English infinitive is characterized by the word-morpheme “to”. The infinitival “to” is often called a particle, but it is not so. It is a group-morpheme of the infinitive. Its being a word-morpheme distinguishes it from other group-morphemes, such as -ing, -en, etc. Like other word-morphemes, “to” can represent the whole analytical word. Compare the answers to Will you go? 1) Yes, I shall, where shall represents the analytical word shall go. 2) I want to, where to represents the analytical word to go.

Similar to other word-morphemes, “to” can be separated from the rest of analytical word by some other word or words, in this case linguists speak of the split infinitive, e.g.: He will fully appreciate …. They asked him to personally intervene …. Compare also: It is necessary to somehow arrange it. – Треба це якось влаштувати. The importance of this particle is also obvious from the fact that it can replace by itself the infinitive if it has already been used, e.g.: He wants me to go there, but I don’t want to. Він хоче, щоб я пішов туди, але я не хочу (іти, робити це). In Ukrainian in similar cases the infinitive can be altogether missing [5; 96–98].

The presence or absence of this word-morpheme depends on the context of the infinitive in speech, thus the infinitive is used without its word-morpheme “to” after some verbs and verbal expressions, namely: a) after modal verbs (except ought, have), b) verbs of physical perceptions – to see, to hear, to observe, to perceive, to watch, c) to make, to let, d) had better, would rather, etc. [24; 189].

In Ukrainian the infinitive is characterized by the following typical stem-building morphemes: suffixes -ти (-ть) (плакати, робить), -ну, -ува (-юва), -а, -и, -і (ї) + -ти (стукнути, мандрувати, гостювати, читати, бачити, уміти).

A very peculiar phenomenon of the Ukrainian language are the forms of the infinitive with the diminutive meaning (значення пестливості), formed with the help of suffixes, common also for nouns, for example: and спатоньки, їстоньки, питоньки, спатусі others: їстоньки не їм, і питоньки не п’ю та виглядаю все Зозуленьку мою (Є. Глібов) [5; 97].

3. The grammatical categories of voice, aspect (see a paradigm below) in English.

The Paradigm of the English Infinitive

Aspect	Voice
	Active	Passive
non-perfect, non-continuous	to write	to be written
non-perfect, continuous	to be writing	-
perfect, non-continuous	to have written	to have been written
perfect, continuous	to have been writing	-

 

There are no passive forms of the English infinitive of the continuous aspect. Each of six forms of the infinitive is as if the generalizing forms on the basis of which the corresponding personal aspect-tense forms are built.

The paradigm of the Ukrainian infinitive is characterized by the general verb categories of transitiveness – intransitiveness, aspect and voice (стояти – стати, укривати – укрити, умивати – умива­тися, побороти – поборотися, будувати – бути збудованим, написати – бути написаним) [15; 170–171].

The peculiarity of the English infinitive is the fact that it has the category of tense. The tense is expressed by this not absolutely but relatively. The tense of the infinitive is not independent; it is subordinated to the tense meaning of the finite verb form, performing the function of the predicate in the sentence. Thus the forms of the infinitive of the common and continuous aspects can render the action simultaneous with the action of the verb-predicate, e.g.: I am glad to see (to be speaking to him). Я радий, що бачу його (що говорю з ним). The perfect form of the infinitive points towards the fact that the action denoted by it is prior to the action expressed by the verb-predicate, e.g.: I am glad to have seen him. Я радий, що побачив його (побачився з ним). The perfect continuous form of the infinitive underlines the duration of the action, which began earlier than the action expressed by the predicate and continued up to the moment of speaking.

From this whole system of forms only two forms of the active and passive state of the common aspect have their correspondences in Ukrainian: to ask – питати, to be asked – бути запитаним. Other forms of the infinitive do not have their correspondences in Ukrainian and are mainly rendered with the help of subordinate sentences. By this the infinitive of the passive state is rarely used in Ukrainian and is mainly substituted by the subordinate sentence, compare: They want to be invited there. Вони хочуть, щоб їх туди запросили (і бути запрошеними туди).

The aspect and voice meanings of the infinitive are the same as in the finites [5; 97–98].

4. Its peculiar combinability resembling that of the verb, and partly that of the noun.

Like a finite verb the infinitive is associated:

a) with adverbs in both languages, e.g. to speak fluently; говорити вільно.

b) with nouns and pronouns denoting the doer or the object of some action in English, e.g.: We expected you to bring the book.

Like a noun the infinitive may be associated with a finite verb in both languages, e.g.: To land seemed impossible. I promised to come. Я пообіцяв прийти.

5. The syntactical functions of subject, predicative, object, attribute, adverbial modifier, etc. in English. In Ukrainian the infinitive can function usually as a part of both simple and compound verbal predicates, e.g.: Нинішній фестиваль буде проходити під девізом: “Світ милосердя”. У листі лікар пропонував відмови­тись від примусового характеру лікувально-профілактичних заходів [15; 171].

Apart from different morphological characteristics there are a lot of peculiarities in the syntactic usage of infinitives in both languages. For example, in Ukrainian the infinitive is widely used in the function of the imperative mood (Мовчати! – Silence!), in the meaning of appealing to action (Достроково виконати це завдання!) and others.

In English the infinitive has the following characteristic features:

1) English infinitive can be used in the function of the attribute of the modal character. This attribute by its meaning equals to the subordinate sentence, the predicate of which expresses the action that should take place in the future, e.g.: the conference to open (конференція, яка повинна початися/відбутися), the sum to be paid (сума, яку треба виплатити).

2) It has the ability to enter a number of syntactic constructions: the so called “complex object”, “complex subject”, where it performs, e.g., the function of the secondary predicate, as well as the verbal compound predicate where it performs the function of the predicative and others.

3) English infinitive can be easily used as the nominal (predicative) member of the compound nominal predicate after the linking verb “ to be”. In Ukrainian the infinitive cannot be used after the linking verb “ бути”, compare: The task of the boy was to open the door. Завдання хлопця полягало у тому, щоб відчинити двері. To see her was to love her. Бачити її означало любити її. To read books is to learn. Читати книжки – означає (це значить) учитися.

4) In English the passive and the perfect forms of the infinitive are widely used after the verbs of the incomplete predication (дієслова неповної предикації), e.g.: He only asked to be alone. Він тільки просив, щоб його залишили на самоті. He must have come to the station. Він, мабуть, уже дійшов до станції. In Ukrainian in corresponding cases the subordinate sentence is used, or the personal form of the verb in the simple sentence with the parenthetical words (вставні слова) мабуть, напевно;

5) In English the infinitive can render the predicate relations to some names, bound with it in the sentence, e.g.: He is a man to do it. – Він – людина, яка зробить (повинна зробити) це. I want him to come first. Я хочу, щоб він прийшов перший. As it is obvious from these sentences it is characteristic to use subordinate sentences in these cases in Ukrainian.

6) On the other hand, in Ukrainian the noun or the pronoun, which denote the doer of the action, can be used before the infinitive or can be absent, e.g.: Я наказав (йому) зачинити вікно. Вона попросила (сина) принести склянку води. In English in both cases mentioning of the doer is an obligatory one: I told him to close the window. She asked her son to bring a glass of water.

7) In colloquial English the infinitive can sometimes be used in the function of the predicate without the linking verb, e.g.: I, do it! Never! In Ukrainian we use other constructions in such cases: Щоб я це зробив! Ніколи! [5; 98–99].

One more peculiar feature of the infinitive in both contrasted languages is its ability to build analytical forms like shall bring, will bring, should bring, would bring, буду писати, etc.

The infinitive representing an action in its most general form is often treated as the initial or indefinite form of the verb. The infinitive is in both languages one of the main forms of the verb which can be used independently in the sentence and can also be the basis for other verb forms to be created.

3. The English participle versus Ukrainian дієприкметник and дієприслівник

Participle as the English verbal form combines both the features of adjective and adverb. Being used in the attributive meaning, it corresponds to Ukrainian дієприкметник, but when it is used in the circumstantial meaning, it corresponds to our дієприслівник. So, we should constantly bear in mind, that the term “дієприкметник”, which is usually used regarding the English Participle in grammars and textbooks of the English language published to be used in Ukrainian schools, is rather incorrect and conventional one.

Complex forms of the English Participle are built with the help of the same auxiliary verbs as the corresponding personal verb forms. Together with verb forms they enter the general system of conjugation. Ukrainian дієприкметник and дієприслівник stand separately from the personal forms of the verb and have their peculiar characteristic features. The Ukrainian дієприкметник combines in itself the categories of the verb and the adjective, and that is why it is often called the verb-noun form (дієслівно-іменна форма), that is the intermediate from between the verb and the adjective. Such features of Ukrainian дієприслівник as its morphological unchangability (незмінність) and the typical syntactic function of the circumstantial word, also witness about the fact that it is by itself the intermediate lexical-grammatical category, transitive from the verb to the adverb [5; 99].

The English Participle. The English Participle is characterized by a rather complex system of forms, in particular: Participle I or Present Participle in active and in passive states (finishing, being finished), Participle II or Past Participle (finished) and Perfect Participle (according to Yu.O. Zhluktenko Participle III) in active and in passive states (having finished, having been finished) [5; 99].

The active Participle I (swimming) can have the attributive and the circumstantial meanings, so it can correspond to the Ukrainian дієприкметник of the present tense (плаваючий) or to the verbal descriptive attributive construction (той, хто (який) плаває) or to дієприслівник (плаваючи).

The passive Participle I (being asked) has more often a circumstantial than the attributive meaning, it corresponds usually to the Ukrainian verbal descriptive construction (коли мене запитали), more seldom to дієприслівник (будучи запитаним).

The Participle II has only an attributive meaning that is why it mainly corresponds to the Ukrainian passive дієприкметник: finished – закінчений, закінчуваний.

The Perfect Participle is used only with the circumstantial meaning. It corresponds mainly to the Ukrainian дієприслівник of the past tense, or to the verbal descriptive construction, e.g.: having finished (закінчивши, коли/після того як; я … він закінчив); having been finished (бувши закінченим/коли (після того, як) його … її закінчили. This English participle cannot be used, when we should render the continuity of the action sequence (безперервність слідування дій), whereas the Ukrainian дієприслівник of the past tense (зробивши, приїхавши, сказавши) can express both the antecedence of the action (передування дії) as well as discontinuity of the action succession (безперервність слідування дій).

Having the present and perfect forms the English participle expresses the category of tense. But being constantly used in the function of the secondary, subordinated part of the sentence, it is seldom used with the independent tense meaning. Almost always its tense meaning is a dependent one and is determined by its correlation with the predicate or the circumstance of time. Participle I mainly stresses upon the simultaneous character of the action denoted by it action with the action denoted by the predicate, whereas the Perfect Participle shows the action which was prior to the action of the predicate and was finished till the beginning of another action.

The category of aspect is revealed by the English participle inconsistently and in a limited way (непослідовно і обмежено). The aspect meaning of its forms is usually subordinated to their tense meaning and is not always expressed clearly. Participle I in the attributive function has mainly the aspect processual (процесуаль­ний) meaning (the man smoking … людина, яка зараз курить …), in its circumstantial usage it usually does not have the clear aspect meaning. Past and Perfect Participles have the aspect meaning of the action completeness: done, having done (зроблений, зробивши).

The English participle has also the forms of the active and the passive states.

Unlike the Ukrainian participle, the English participle does not have any of noun categories – gender, number, case. It is widely used for building of analytical tense-aspect personal verb forms and as well can enter as a constituent part specific English syntactic constructions, in particular, the so called “Absolute Participial Construction”, “Complex Object with Participle” and others [5; 99–100].

Ukrainian дієприкметник/participle. Since the Ukrainian participle bears the meaning of two parts of speech – the verb and the attribute, it has some categories of the verbal character and other categories of the attributive character.

Each participle belongs to the same aspect as the verb from which it is created. Correspondingly the tense form is built: participles formed from the verbs of the imperfective aspect have the tense forms of the past and the present tense, and participles formed from the verbs of the perfective aspect have only the forms of the past tense.

Ukrainian participles have also the category of state. Active participles render the characteristic feature caused by its carrier himself, that is the feature, which is directly bound with the modified object or is caused by the activity of its carrier, e.g.: сяюче обличчя, працюючий робітник, посивіле волосся. They can have the meaning of the present tense of the imperfective aspect (зростаючий, пануючий, виконуючий) or the meaning of the past tense of the perfective aspect (пожовклий, навислий, зблідлий).

In modern Ukrainian active participles of the present tense with suffixes -уч- (-юч-) and -ач- (-яч-): ростучий, виконуючий, правля­чий are used rather rarely, at this according to their meaning they are close to normal adjectives of the type лежачий, сидячий. In corresponding cases more often the attributive construction of the type: той, що (який, хто) росте (виконує, править) is used. In English these participles as well as the attributive construction have as their correspondences the Participle I of the active state (growing, fulfilling, ruling).

Active participles of the past tense of the perfective aspect are formed with the help of the suffix - л-: осиротілий, зітлілий, скам’янілий, помертвілий, схудлий, пожовклий. They are formed only from prefixal intransitive verbs, which render the state, and have the limited sphere of usage. Instead of them as well as with non-prefixal intransitive and transitive verbs the attributive verbal constructions of the type той, що схуднув (який) схуд/писав, розбив) are more often used. In English the mentioned participles and constructions are rendered by the descriptive constructions of the type: who became thin, who wrote (was writing, has written).

Passive participles of the present tense are not formed in modern Ukrainian. In their meaning the reconsidered forms of passive participles of the past tense, formed from transitive verbs of the imperfective aspect, are used very often: обговорюване питання, вживаний засіб and others. Here the participle of the past tense begins to acquire the meaning of the present tense, e.g.: the phrase вживаний ними засіб, which earlier has the meaning “засіб, який вони вживали”, is now used with the meaning “засіб, який вони зараз вживають”. In parallel the verbal descriptive constructions are widely used: який (що його) обговорюють (вживають).

Passive participles of the past tense are formed with the help of suffixes - т-, -н-, -ен-, (-єн-) from the verbs of the perfective aspect: написаний, згаданий, вжитий.

In English Ukrainian participles of the present tense have as their correspondences: a) Participle I of the passive state – if the action is happening at the given moment of speaking (being discussed, being used); b) Participle II – if the common or the repeated action is rendered (discussed, used). Passive participles of the past tense have as their correspondence Participle II (written, mentioned, used).

Expressing similarly to adjective the characteristic feature of some object, Ukrainian participle is declined according to genders, numbers and cases. All participles are declined in the same way as normal adjectives of the hard group [5; 100–102].

Following is the contrastive analysis of participles’ main features in English and Ukrainian languages. So, the participle is a verbid characterized by the following properties:

1. The dual lexico-grammatical meaning of “qualifying action”.

2. Typical stem-building elements. Special suffixes: -ing (Participle I), -ed, -t, -en (Participle II) in English. Participle II is sometimes characterized by an internal inflexion (written) or by a zero suffix (put). Suffixes - ач (яч), -уч (-юч) for active participles and -н,
-ен (-єн), -т forpassive participles inUkrainian.

3. The grammatical category of voice (see a paradigm below) in English.

The Paradigm of Participle

Participle I	Participle II
Voice	written
Active	Passive
writing	being written
having written	having been written

 

In Ukrainian participles similar to verbs have the categories of tense, aspect and voice. The participle retains the aspect of the verb from which it is built (виконувати – виконуючий, написати – написаний). Similar to adjectives it has the categories of gender and case and is coordinated in the form with the noun it precedes regarding its gender, number and case.

Taking into consideration their aspectual character Ukrainian participles are subdivided into active and passive ones. Each of these groups has the present and the past tense (participles do not have the future tense).

Active participles point towards the character of some acting object. In the present tense they render the simultaneous character of the action with the action of the finite verb (У темніючому небі яскраво сяяла вечірня зірка). They are formed from the stems of the present tense of transitive and intransitive verbs of imperfective aspect by adding suffixes - ач (яч), -уч (-юч) and adjectival endings (правити – правлячий, відпочивати – відпочиваючий).

Passive participles render the quality of the action upon which the action is directed (На лісовій галявині стояла хата крита очеретом). Passive participles in Ukrainian have only the form of the past tense and thy are formed from the base of the infinitive by adding suffixes: -н (писати – писаний), -ен (-єн) (веліти – велений),
-т (мити – митий) [15; 188–189].

4. Its peculiar combinability partly resembling that of the verb (the participle is associated with adverbs, with nouns and pronouns denoting the object of the action), and partly that of the adjective (it modifies nouns) and of the adverb (it modifies verbs) [24; 190].

As it has already been mentioned, the adjectival and the adverbial features of the participle are connected with its combinability.

English Participle II is mostly used with nouns, e.g.: my forgotten friend ….

As to Participle I, the combinability of different grammemes is different.

The non-perfect active participle may modify both nouns and verbs, e.g.: his smiling eyes; smiling slyly, he stretched out his hand.

The non-perfect passive participle usually modifies verbs, but occasionally nouns, e.g.: Not being invited there I chose to stay at home.

The other grammemes are used only to modify verbs, e.g.: Having been detained by the flood, he came late.

English participles like those of Ukrainian and other languages may sometimes develop into adjectives, the idea of quality gradually overshadowing that of action, as in standing water – стояча вода, a charming woman – чаруюча жінка. They may develop into nouns, the idea of substance outweighing that of action – the wounded – поранений, the accused – обвинувачений. Both adjectivization and substantiviation involve the change of combinability and function that is they are cases of conversion.

The peculiarity of the English participle is its ability to build analytical forms like is asking, is asked, has asked, is being asked, etc. As to the verbal features of English Participle I they do not differ essentially from those of the infinitive and the gerund. Whereas the grammeme traditionally called “past participle” (Participle II) stands somewhat apart. It possesses a number of peculiar features which are worth considering in detail.

Subjective verbs such as to exist, to die, to lie (лежати), etc. which, as a rule, are not used in a passive voice, have no Participles II used independently (that is, they cannot be parts of analytical words). There are but a few exceptions to this principle such as: runaway, fallen, couched, collapsed, vanished, gone, come, faded withered, retired, e.g.: a fallen idol, vanished civilizations, dream come true, etc [24; 190].

5. Its most characteristic syntactical functions of attribute, adverbial complement, etc.

Ukrainian дієприслівник. Дієприслівник (or in translitera­tion “dijepryslivnyk”) is the peculiar Ukrainian verbid combining the features of the verb and the adverb. It points towards some additional action and explains the main one, expressed by the finite verb (Він ішов собі, похнюпившись, тихо відміряючи крок за кроком) [15; 191]. Thus, it is characterized by the following features:

1. Its lexico-grammatical meaning of the “character or quality of some action”.

2. Its typical stem-building elements depend upon the type of dijepryslivnyk.

Dijepryslivnyky of the imperfective aspect (of the “present tense”) are formed from the base of the present tense of verbs of the imperfective aspect with the help of suffixes - учи(сь), -ючи(сь),
-ачи(сь), -ячи(сь), e.g.: пишучи, несучись, співаючи, вживаючись, лежачи, ніжачись, стоячи, ставлячись. In English they mainly have Participle I of the active state as their equivalent: writing, singing. дієприслівники with the suffix - ся are rendered sometimes by the same participle of the passive state: being used.

Dijepryslivnyky of the perfective aspect (of the “past tense”) are formed directly from the form of the masculine gender singular of the past tense of the perfective aspect with the help of suffixes - ши(сь), -вши, e.g.: приніс – принісши, прочитав – прочитавши, умився – умившись, прийшов – прийшовши.

In English these dijepryslivnyky have as their correspondences different verb forms:

1) Perfect Participle of the active state, e.g.:

Закінчивши роботу, ми пішли додому. – Having finished our work, we went home.

2) Participle I of the active state, e.g.:

Він стояв, прихилившись до стіни. – He stood leaning against the wall.

3) Gerund with the preposition, e.g.:

Виконавши завдання, він повернувся додому. – After fulfilling the task he returned home [5; 102–103].

3. Dijepryslivnyk is the indeclinable word similar to adverb. It has common with the verb grammatical categories of tense, aspect and state.

Aspect characteristics are expressed very distinctly, where dijepryslivnyky of the imperfective aspect correlate with verb forms of the present tense, compare: друкують – друкуючи, сміються – сміючись, сидять – сидячи, and the forms of the perfective aspect correlate with the verb forms of the past tense, compare: відмовив – відмовивши, пообіцяв – пообіцявши, приїхав – приїхавши. That is why dijepryslivnyky of the imperfective aspect are very often called dijepryslivnyky of the “present tense” though they do not necessarily render the present action, but usually have the task to show the simultaneous character of the action with the action of predicate. Dijepryslivnyky of the perfective aspect are in the same way called dijepryslivnyky of the “past tense”, though they do not render the past action, but mainly point towards the fact that the action happened earlier than the action expressed by the predicate. So, the tense in dijepryslivnyky is expressed as the relative one, dependent, that is such, which is perceived not in accordance to the time of speaking, bit in accordance to the action expressed by the predicate. To compare – English participles also express the category of tense relatively, not absolutely.

Some dijepryslivnyky can lose the verb features and transfer into adverbs. This process is called adverbialization. Compare the dijepryslivnyk and the adverbialized dijepryslivnyk: Лягаючи і встаючи, за кого молитесь? Чайка скиглить літаючи, мов за дітьми плаче (Т. Шевченко) [15; 192-193].