Editing Infinitive (section)

== Balto-Slavic languages ==

The infinitive in [[Russian language|Russian]] usually ends in ''-t’'' (ть) preceded by a [[thematic vowel]], or ''-ti'' (ти), if not preceded by one; some verbs have a stem ending in a consonant and change the ''t'' to ''č’'', like ''*mogt’ → moč’'' (*могть → мочь) "can". Some other [[Balto-Slavic languages]] have the infinitive typically ending in, for example, ''-ć'' (sometimes ''-c'') in [[Polish language|Polish]], ''-ť'' in [[Slovak language|Slovak]], ''-t'' (formerly ''-ti'') in [[Czech language|Czech]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]] (with a handful ending in -s on the latter), ''-ty'' (-ти) in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], -ць (''-ts''') in [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]. Lithuanian infinitives end in -''ti'', [[Serbo-Croatian]] in -''ti'' or -''ći,'' and [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]] in -''ti'' or -''či.''

[[Serbian language|Serbian]] officially retains infinitives -''ti'' or -''ći'', but is more flexible than the other Slavic languages in breaking the infinitive through a clause. The infinitive nevertheless remains the dictionary form.

[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] have lost the infinitive altogether except in a handful of frozen expressions where it is the same as the 3rd person singular aorist form. Almost all expressions where an infinitive may be used in Bulgarian are [[Balkan sprachbund#Avoidance or loss of infinitive|listed here]]; neverthess in all cases a subordinate clause is the more usual form. For that reason, the present first-person singular conjugation is the dictionary form in Bulgarian, while Macedonian uses the third person singular form of the verb in present tense.