Infinitives

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The infinitive of a verb is the form you look up in a dictionary when you want to know a verb's meaning. The vast majority of Russian infinitives end in -ть, and a few end in -чь and -ти:

The infinitive is often translated with a “to” phrase, but it can also be translated with an “-ing” phrase or a bare verb stem, depending on the context:

If a verb is reflexive, the infinitive is followed by -ся if it ends in a vowel, or by -сь if it ends in a non-vowel:

Rev. 5:59 AM 4/7/2010