Conjunctions From Infinitives

English infinitives have simple forms ( to have, to be, to go, to eat, tocome ); when conjugated, the / to / disappears and, except for the thirdperson singular of the present tens, the six conjugated verb-forms comedirectly from the infinitive. There are, af course, exceptions.

Italian infinitives, on the other hand, do not have a / to /. Instead, they havean equivalent of the / to / in the infinitive endings lare, ere, irel, (avere,essere, andare mangiare. venire). When conjugated the larel, lerel, andlirel are replaced with special endings to reflect the subjects. These verb-forms become less complex because they have fewer irregularities.

There are specific advantages and disadvantages in both languages,however. English has virtually no verb inflection, no special form for theintransitive, and practically no subjunctive, as we will see in later chapters;yet, it uses two helping verbs ( to have, to be)in compound tenses.I have gone I will have read the book.

italian, however, ha full verb infection in its intransitive verbs and partialinflection in its transitive verbs.