Also, if the infinitive clause contains more than just zu + infinitive, it is separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. As mentioned above, you always need zu + infinitive of the verb to build and infinitive clause. An infinitive is basically the form a verb has in the dictionary. Note the different word order of the German sentence. “Der Mann hat den Befehl, hier zu bleiben.” – The man has the order to stay here. I called Maria today, because I want to congratulate her on her birthday. infinitive clauses. The infinitive is the ‘to’ form of the verb, the one you look up in a dictionary. Building infinitive clauses. Infinitive clauses refer to the person or thing of the main clause! This applies to all verbs except: modal verbs, gehen, fahren, bleiben, kommen, lassen, sehen, and hören. subordinate clause. Compare: Ich habe keine Lust, ihm zu helfen. In many cases, you can substitute the infinitive + zu for a clause containing dass. German Infinitive Clauses. The subject is understood by the information in the main clause. But another really common way to kind of “connect” two actions is called an infinitive clause. In German this combination will always be at the end of the infinitive clause, in English this is not the case. German infinitive clauses are subordinate sentences which are constructed with the infinitive form of a verb and the preposition “zu”. Well, especially German infinitive clauses with the expression “um zu” represent the purpose of an action. I called Maria today to congratulate on her birthday. Note that only in the first example does the German infinitive clause also translate into an infinitive clause in English: Remember that infinitive clauses with zu and infinitive constructions (um/anstatt/ohne … zu) are also subordinate clauses. ["ihm" included as complement of the infinitive, hence comma used] Sie hat keine Zeit zu lesen. The infinitive is used WITHOUT zu after certain verbs, mostly modal verbs. Infinitive phrases are subordinate clauses. And if that still sounds a little daunting, relax and focus on your German input. Click here to check out our lesson on Infinitive Clauses.. Also, find out how well you understood the infinitives here.. PS – On this blog, you will find grammar lists just like this one, vocabulary lists divided subject-wise as well as articles related to countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland and a lot more. It is useful to view infinitive clauses as transformations of declarative main clauses. müssen, können, lassen, wollen, sollen and dürfen are special verbs when it comes to infinitives: Sentences with one of those words have related verbs in infinitiv, too.. Ich kann gehen(inf) Ich will etwas erledigen(inf). So, as a last point of this article about the German infinitive, I want to mention the general infinitive clauses. Note also that infinitive clauses can occupy the first position and can even become the subject of another clause. Longer infinitive clauses are set off by a comma. Read German books. Listen to German podcasts. In the following examples, the infinitive clauses are in italics. if those verbs come after the related verb, they're in infinitive, too. The infinitive can be used to give an order or instruction. zu is used with the infinitive after other verbs, adjectives and nouns. Click to see full answer. Infinitive + zu is used when the verb is directly related to a second action (alternative: for some verbs a dass-clause is used). The subject that is omitted from the subordinate clause can be either the main clause’s subject or its direct/indirect object or another that is understood to be there. Infinitive Subordinate Clauses. The dependent infinitive stands, as usual, in final position in the sentence, but it is preceded by a zu.If the dependent infinitive involves an entire phrase, as in our second and third examples, this phrase is separated from the main clause by a comma. 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