Building an Infinitive

Level 2

The infinitive supplies an action before an auxiliary such as karaa, “can,” or doonaa, “will.”

How It Works

Regular class-one consonant stems take -i, as in qori. Class two takes -n after its appropriate stem, as in fiirin or samayn. Class three uses its vowel stem plus -n, as in booqan.

Stem changes matter: baxaa has bixi, and sameeyaa has samayn, also spelled sameyn. Do not append an infinitive ending to a complete present form. Infinitives have high tone on the final vowel position of the stem; ordinary orthography leaves it unmarked.

In Maryan waxay fiirin doontaa sawirka, fiirin remains nonfinite while doontaa agrees with Maryan. The construction occurs with selected auxiliaries for future, ability, former habits, and conditional meanings. Other English infinitives often require a verbal noun or an in-clause. Irregular verbs have separately established infinitives.

Examples (3)

  1. Waxaan qori karaa warqad.

    I can write a letter.

    Class-one qori precedes karaa.

  2. Maryan waxay fiirin doontaa sawirka.

    Maryan will look at the picture.

    Class-two fiirin precedes feminine doontaa.

  3. Cali wuxuu booqan doonaa ayeeyadiis.

    Ali will visit his grandmother.

    Class-three booqan uses the vowel stem.

How It Connects

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

Building an InfinitiveLevel 2

Learn This First

Recognize the infinitive slot in the familiar future construction before learning its formation across verb classes.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.