George Boeree | Re: [LFN] Use of the infinitive

• Autor: George Boeree (“cgboeree”)
• Tema: Re: [LFN] Use of the infinitive
• Data: 2007-12-03 21:47
• Mesaje: 2434 (a supra, presedente, seguente)

Hello, Isaac.

Stictly speaking, there is no need for the infinitive, especially
after auxiliary verbs.  However, when the infinitive is used as a
verbal noun, it helps to identify it as such.  For example, if you
want to say "To dance is good" (usually expressed in English as
"Dancing is good"), you could say "dansa es bon" (as opposed to "la
dansa es bon").  But the reader is deprived of a clear indication
that dansa is to be understood as a noun rather than a verb. That is
clarified by saying "dansar es bon."  Note that in lfn we do not say
"dansante es bon," as we might in English, since dansante is only
used as an adjective (or adverb) or as a noun meaning something like
"the dancing ones."  Few languages use the verbal adjective
(participle) like we do in English, whereas many, including the
romance languages, do use a special infinitive form.

So, to sum up (I sound like a professor, no?), we use la, un, -s, -r,
-ia and capitalization to indicate the presence of a noun (plus other
words, such as tota, cada, esta....).  Verbs are indicated with ia,
va, ta, and el (in cases of confusion in the present tense, such as
"me vole es grande" vs "me vole, el es grande").

It has always been a bit of a strain, trying to be creole-like, yet
also be capable of precision.

Jorj

Some men dream of fortunes; I dream of cookies.


On Dec 3, 2007, at 12:22 PM, Isaac Ben Harush wrote:

> Hello all,
> Going through the LFN grammar, I was wondering if the infinitive form
> is really essential. Examples using the -r form also mention it to be
> optional.
>
> Me vole dansar = I want to dance.
> To my eyes, "me vole dansa" means the same. If the meaning should
> be "I
> want a dance", then it's "Me vole un dansa", no?
>
> I'm trying to think of occations where the infinitive is essential.
> But
> I'm not very linguistically inclined... Right now, the -r suffix seems
> out place with the creole nature of LFN.
>
> I'll be happy to be corrected.
>
> Isaac.
>
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