Editing Infinitive (section)

== Hebrew ==

[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] has ''two'' infinitives, the infinitive absolute (המקור המוחלט) and the infinitive construct (המקור הנטוי or שם הפועל). The infinitive construct is used after prepositions and is inflected with pronominal endings to indicate its subject or object: בכתוב הסופר ''bikhtōbh hassōphēr'' "when the scribe wrote", אחרי לכתו ''ahare lekhtō'' "after his going". When the infinitive construct is preceded by {{Script/Hebrew|ל}} (''lə-'', ''li-'', ''lā-'', ''lo-'') "to", it has a similar meaning to the English ''to''-infinitive, and this is its most frequent use in Modern Hebrew. The infinitive absolute is used for verb focus and emphasis, like in {{Script/Hebrew|מות ימות}} ''mōth yāmūth'' (literally "a dying he will die"; figuratively, "he shall indeed/surely die").<ref>{{cite book |first=Scott N.|last=Callaham|title=Modality and the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute|series=Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes|volume=71 |isbn=978-3-447-06158-2|place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Harrassowitz|date=2010}}</ref> This usage is commonplace in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. In Modern Hebrew it is restricted to high-register literary works.

Note, however, that the Hebrew ''to''-infinitive is not the [[lemma (morphology)|dictionary form]]; instead, verbs are traditionally cited in the third-person masculine singular of the suffix conjugation (Modern Hebrew past tense), which is the least marked form.