The Personal Infinitive

Level 3

Galician can give an infinitive its own person: para falarmos (for us to talk), antes de saíres (before you go out), ao chegaren (when they arrived).

How It Works

Forms

  • falar: falar, falares, falar, falarmos, falardes, falaren
  • comer: comer, comeres, comer, comermos, comerdes, comeren
  • partir: partir, partires, partir, partirmos, partirdes, partiren
  • saír: saír, saíres, saír, saírmos, saírdes, saíren (the accent stays)

Irregular verbs are regular here

The endings always go on the infinitive itself: ser → seres, sermos; ter → teres, termos; facer → faceres, facermos; ir → irmos, irdes. Forms built on the preterite stem, like fixermos or tivermos, belong to the future subjunctive, not to the personal infinitive.

Where it appears

  • After a preposition such as para, antes de, despois de, ao, sen, por: Grazas por virdes!, Antes de saíres, apaga a luz (see antes de and despois de and ao + infinitive).
  • After expressions such as é mellor, é importante, cómpre: É mellor falarmos agora.

An unstressed pronoun may go before the infinitive after a preposition: para non nos perdermos (see pronoun placement).

Where it does not appear

Inside a verb phrase, where two verbs share one subject, the infinitive stays plain: Queremos ir, Podedes entrar, Tes que chamar.

For when to choose it over the plain infinitive, see when to use the personal infinitive. It can often replace a subjunctive clause: antes de que saias or antes de saíres (see personal infinitive or subjunctive).

Examples (6)

  1. Trouxen o mapa para non nos perdermos.

    I brought the map so that we would not get lost.

    Perdermos is the nós form. The pronoun nos can go before the infinitive after para non.

  2. Antes de saíres, apaga a luz.

    Before you go out, turn off the light.

    Saíres is the ti form and keeps the accent of saír.

  3. Ao chegaren á casa, viron que non había luz.

    When they got home, they saw that the power was out.

  4. É mellor falarmos agora.

    It is better for us to talk now.

  5. Grazas por virdes!

    Thank you all for coming!

    Virdes is the vós form of vir.

  6. Deiche as chaves para entrares cando queiras.

    I gave you the keys so that you can come in whenever you like.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a future ending instead of the personal infinitive.

    Trouxen o mapa para non nos perderemos.
    Trouxen o mapa para non nos perdermos.

    The personal infinitive adds -mos straight to the infinitive: perder + mos. Perderemos is the future tense.

  • Adding a person ending inside a verb phrase.

    Queremos irmos á praia.
    Queremos ir á praia.

    After querer, poder, saber, deixar or ter que, the second verb shares the subject and stays as a plain infinitive.

  • Building it on the preterite stem.

    Chamámoste para fixermos a cea xuntos.
    Chamámoste para facermos a cea xuntos.

    The personal infinitive always starts from the infinitive, even for irregular verbs: facer, facermos. Fixermos is the future subjunctive.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

The Personal InfinitiveLevel 3

Learn This First

A personal infinitive adds subject-person endings to the full infinitive.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.