What are ways I can better understand infinitives?

Question

I only undersatand the basics and my instructor keeps telling me theres more to it but truth be told I dont understand it at all! PLEASE HELP ME

what are infinitives? - Rey_Mysterio, May 7, 2013

exactly....idk it says conjugate the following infinitives... - moriah12, May 7, 2013

vender,hablar, responder, etc... - moriah12, May 7, 2013

how does your teacher want it to be conjugated? - Rey_Mysterio, May 7, 2013

Answer 1

That means they are the verbs(words) with the ending.

They are the verb in its purest form. (untouched)

You would take the endings off and conjugate them.

They are simple: Look below and you will see.

Your examples:

Hablar- to talk

Responder- to respond

Notice they have to in front. (in English)

When you conjugate them they change to : He...(the verb) She...(the verb) ect..

These are the notes my teacher gave me....

? A verb is an action word.

? The main form of a verb is called the infinitive.

In English, infinitives include the word “to.”

? The infinitive is like a lump of clay that can be molded to match the subject of the sentence it is used in:

I speak

you speak

he/she speaks

we speak

you-all* speak

they speak

And that is all there is to it. Infinitives are simple. - jessicamccall117, May 7, 2013

Answer 2

Jessica, do not forget the "ing" ending....

Eating pizza everyday is a health hazard.

Please elaborate chileno.... :) - jessicamccall117, May 7, 2013

You see, you have to be able to extract help being given to English learners as well as the other way around. ;) - chileno, May 7, 2013

You mean to tell me you don't understand that "eating" is an infinitive in English? - chileno, May 7, 2013

in English? I'm not sure that I do. I learned about "infinitives" only in Spanish - jessicamccall117, May 7, 2013

Well, Chileno I certainly wasn't thinking about that. Thanks! :3 - jessicamccall117, May 7, 2013

Eating is not an infinitive in English. In this case, it is a gerund, a verb used as a noun. - Noetol, May 8, 2013

Eating is not - 0080b918, May 8, 2013

Not to be a stickler here, but in this sentence "eating" is not the gerund, it is a verb being used as the subject of a sentence and thus needs -ing on the end, but it is not being used in the correct form to be classified as a gerund in English. - Vida_de_Scott, May 8, 2013

Answer 3

And another (1) for your patience!