Let's talk about the initial form of the verb (it is also often called indefinite or infinitive). It is necessary to know about it because in the huge structure of human knowledge, the initial form of the verb is one of the main, bearing elements.
What is a verb
Those who graduated from school a long time ago and managed to forget a lot, it is worth recalling: a verb is a part of speech that describes an action. Read, go, do, write, draw, dream - all these words are verbs that differ only in their features.
About the verb
In Russian grammar, verbs have 7 features: tense, aspect, person, mood, gender, number, voice; often conjugation is also considered as a feature. Not in every case it is legitimate to speak about a separate sign or about all at once. In particular, the past tense is characterized by the absence of a person, and the present tense, like the future, makes the conversation about the gender of the verb pointless.
It is pointless to study these signs, their differences from each other, as well as the possibility of conjugation, without establishing the main thing: what is the initial form of the verb. This definition is synonymous with the conceptindefinite form and the term "infinitive".
The infinitive expresses the verb in the dictionary. It is not by chance that this form is called the initial one - it really is the start for further study of these parts of speech. Questions of the initial form of the verb - "What to do?" and "What to do?". Examples of the infinitive: lie down and forgive, cut and run, leave and return, call in and consider. Well, now we can talk about verbs in more detail, having examined their distinctive features in more detail.
About face and time
Dealing with the face of the verb (there are 3 of them) is easy, by determining who exactly reports the described action. The face reflects the attitude of the speaker to the ongoing process. The first singular number is the actions of the speaker himself: I do, I go. The same in the plural - the actions of the group that the speaker represents: we do, we walk. Second-person verbs characterize the actions of the interlocutor of the speaker or the group that he represents: you do, you go, you do, you go. The third person, regardless of the number, is the actions of outsiders who are not participating in the dialogue: doing, walking, doing, walking. The corresponding noun or pronoun will help you understand which person to attribute the verb to.
The tenses of the verb characterize the attitude towards the moment when the described action is performed. There are 3 forms of the verb representing present, past and future tense. Examples of present tense verbs: go, do. For the past and future tense, similar options: went, did, willwalk, will do.
Important to remember! The initial form of the verb is impersonal. Notions of person, number, time are also inapplicable to the infinitive.
Verb gender and mood
Changes in verbs occur not only by number, person or tense, but also by gender, like nouns. There are three genders: feminine, masculine, neuter - the pronoun or noun used with it can also help determine whether a verb belongs to them. The sign of the gender of the verb appears exclusively in the past tense and is determined by the end: walked, walked, did. The concept of gender is not applicable to the infinitive of the verb.
An important characteristic of a verb is its mood, which can be indicative, imperative or conditional. Using the indicative mood, describe actions that have either ever happened, or are happening at the moment, or will happen later. Examples of the indicative mood of verbs: walked, walks, will walk, did, do, will do. The conditional mood tells about the actions desired or those that are possible under certain conditions. When forming a conditional mood, the initial form of the verb without an ending, the suffix "l", as well as the particle "by" are taken as the basis. Examples of the conditional mood: would go, would do. Imperative verbs represent a command, an order, an invitation to action. Examples: do it, go get it! Often, the particle "-ka" is added to such verbs, which somewhat softens this order: do-ka, go!
About verb types
By their form, verbs can be classified as perfect and imperfect. Imperfect characterize the action without any indication of its end, and as an infinitive, the question "What to do?" Examples: walk, draw. In perfect form, these same examples will look different: go, draw, because here the verbs describe the completed action. The question that can be put to their infinitive is “What to do?”.
Most verbs have both types: draw-draw, burn-burn, eat-eat. However, there are verbs without a paired form. These, in particular, include "belonging" - here only an imperfect form is possible. Or "find yourself" - this word, on the contrary, can only exist in its perfect form. There are also two-species verbs (such as "execute") - they combine the meanings of both types. Often in the case of two aspect verbs, the ending in the initial form looks like “-irovat” (“emigrate”).
Transitivity and voice of the verb
Properties such as transitivity and voice of a verb indicate its relationship with other objects. The notion of transitivity indicates the presence of an action object. Examples of transitive verbs: eat (soup), read (magazine) - here soup and magazine are the objects of action. The intransitiveness of the verb implies the absence of an application object. Examples of an intransitive verb are to work, to live (there is no specific object to which this action is attached). A special case of intransitive verbs -returnable; here the performer of the action is at the same time the one to whom it is directed. In these cases, the initial form of the verb ends in "-sya": bathe, laugh, worry.
The voice of a verb deals with the relationship between subjects and objects of an action. The active voice characterizes the active construction. For example: the cat ate the fish. The cat (subject) performed an active action on the object (fish), the voice of the verb “ate” is valid. The same thought, formulated differently: the fish was eaten by the cat. This construction, unlike the previous one, is passive, and therefore the voice of the verb in it is passive.
And again about the infinitive
Knowing the characteristic features of verbs, it is worth talking about the infinitive in more detail. How to determine the initial form of the verb? It's very easy to ask a question. If in relation to the action being performed, you can ask: "What to do?" or “What to do?” means that the form of the verb describing this action is indefinite. Of all the features considered, the infinitive has only a form, as well as such properties as transitivity and recurrence.
The formation of the infinitive occurs by adding a formative suffix to the root of the word. A characteristic suffix in the initial form of the verb is “-ty”, “-ty”, “-ch”. Examples of the infinitive: climb, carry, bake.
About verb conjugations
The conjugation of a verb is its change depending on persons and numbers: I write, he writes, wewe write, etc. Each verb can be attributed to the first or second conjugation; it is necessary to know about this affiliation in order to achieve the correct spelling for any particular case. Errors in the conjugation process are especially common in the case of unstressed verb endings.
To correctly determine conjugations, you need to know what the initial form of the verb is. The first conjugation represents all the mentioned parts of speech with the ending “-ovat” - to train, to inform. A number of verbs ending in “-et”, “-at”, “-yat”, as well as “lay” and “shave” (the ending “-it”) belong to the same conjugation. The second conjugation is represented by all verbs with the ending "-it", with the exception of those already mentioned. This also includes individual verbs with the endings “-at” and “-yat”, if they are stressed (lie down, stand). Another part of the verbs belongs to the second conjugation (to look, to hate, etc.), which cannot be adjusted to any standards - they just need to be remembered. Knowing the rules of conjugation of verbs is the key to correct spelling, and simply a requirement of literacy. By the way, the infinitive itself is not conjugated and does not change depending on persons and numbers.
Verbs in a sentence
The roles of these parts of speech in a sentence can be different. Most often, the verb acts as an ordinary (simple) predicate: "Tolya bought bread." There are often cases of a complex verbal predicate: "Vanya decided to run to the store." The predicate in this case is the whole construction (I decided to run away), and the second verb in it is represented by the infinitive. Sometimes the verb can appear inas an inconsistent definition: "I didn't like the idea of going there" (going there is an inconsistent definition).
The Russian language is unique in its own way in that it allows for more complex, truly fantastic constructions. “We decided to send, go find, buy a drink” - a sentence of 6 verbs, 5 of which represent an infinitive with a complete meaning and compliance with the rules of grammar. Foreigners are crying!
Conclusion
Most linguists agree that the first word spoken by ancient man was a verb. It is unlikely that our distant ancestor in those harsh times needed adjectives in the lexicon to describe the beauty of the night sky, and most of the nouns could well have been replaced by a pointing gesture in their direction. But the command “Run!” given to a fellow tribesman could well save his life, the word “I want” and the corresponding movement towards the mammoth carcass also left no doubt about what was said. In case of urgent need, only one verb could well replace all other parts of speech.
By the way, modern approaches to the study of foreign languages also involve the primary study of verbs as the main means of expressing human needs. Naturally, native speakers also need a good knowledge of these parts of speech, their features and properties. And the infinitive plays a special role in the study of verbs.
