The five infinitives of the Finnish verb play a great part in the syntax,
and are often used to express the subordinate sentences (temporal,
final, etc.) of other languages. The simplest way to understand their
many uses is to recollect that they are equivalent to an English verbal
ending in _ing_, such as _cutting_. Now a word like this is a noun, but
it can also have an object, e.g. _cutting the wood_, and it can be also
combined with a substantive or pronoun indicating the agent, e.g. _my
cutting the wood_ or _the man’s cutting the wood_. Such expressions as
_my cutting the wood is unavoidable_, _during my cutting the wood_, or
_without my cutting the wood_ are intelligible in English, though not
idiomatic; but they are the literal translation of the Finnish idiom. In
other words, the infinitive is a noun capable of declension in certain
cases and of being combined with a genitive or personal affix to mark
the agent. As it is also a verbal noun, it is likewise capable of being
combined with a second substantive to mark the object of the action.
Thus =nähdessänsä minun päiväni= is literally ‘_in his seeing my day_,’
that is _when he saw_. The use of the fourth infinitive is slightly
different. In the phrase =Minun on tämä kirja lukeminen=, _I should read
this book_, it will be observed that the object is in the nominative.
This is because the literal meaning seems to be, _This book is a reading
for me_, though it must be admitted that the negative form =Ei ole minun
tätä kirjaa lukemista= does not lend itself to this explanation, and
can only be explained by supposing it is due to analogy. The object of
the other infinitives is mostly put in the partitive, partly perhaps
because, as the genitive and accusative are identical in form in the
singular, the subject and object might be confused if the latter were in
the accusative. The object is, however, often put in the nominative. The
rule generally given is that this is only right if the infinitive depends
on an imperative or a verb implying necessity, as =minun pitää ostaman
hevonen=, _I must buy a horse_. But this rule is not always observed in
the Kalevala, or even in modern books. E.g. Kal. xi. 127, =Onko saarella
sioa minun leikki lyöäkseni?=
_Infinitive I._
The first infinitive has two forms, one with the translative termination
and always used with a prominal suffix; the other with no case
termination and used without a pronominal suffix.
A. The longer form with the suffix is used to express the purpose of the
action of the main verb, and is rendered in English by _in order to_ or
by a simple infinitive. =Antakaa vettä juodakseni=, _give me water to
drink_. This is of course literally _give me water for my drinking_,
and is exactly analogous to the use of the same case of a noun in the
sentence, =Juon vettä terveydekseni=, _I drink water for my health_. It
is important to notice that the pronominal suffix always indicates the
subject of the action denoted by the infinitive, and not the object,
though in translation it is often necessary to invert the sentence. For
instance in S. John vii. 19 and 20 the questions ‘_Why go ye about to
kill me? Who goeth about to kill thee?_’ are rendered =Miksi te etsitte
minua tappaaksenne? Kuka sinua etsii tapaaksensa?= literally _Why seek
ye me for your killing? Who seeks thee for his killing?_ =Me pyysimme
venettä soutaaksemme=, _we asked for a boat to row in_. =Menkäämme tuolle
vuorelle katsellaksemme järveä=, _let us go up that hill to have a view
of the lake_. =Tahdon lukea laskun nähdäkseni onko kaikki oikein=,
_I want to read the bill to see if everything is right_. =Oli paljon
matkustellut ulkomailla täydentääkseen sivistystään=, _he had travelled
much abroad to complete his education_. The distinction between the uses
of the longer and shorter forms of the infinitive is not always observed
in dialects and poetry. Thus the longer form is used with impersonal
verbs, e.g. =Sinun täytyy mennäksesi=, _you must go_, where =mennä=
would now be used. So too =Älä pelkää ottaaksesi=, _fear not to take_.
Kal. i. 165, =Wilu tääll’ on ollakseni, Waiva wärjätelläkseni, Aalloissa
asuakseni, Weessä wierielläkseni=, _it is cold for me to be here, painful
to stay, to dwell in the waves, to roll in the water_. Cf. Kal. xliii.
401, and xvii. 507.
B. The fact that the last syllable of the shorter form of the first
infinitive is closed shows that it has undoubtedly lost a letter or
syllable. It is probable therefore that the short form is not really the
nominative from which the translative is derived, but a translative which
has lost its termination. Cf. =luo=, =taa= for =luoksi=, =taaksi=. The
employment of the form is also agreeable to its origin, for its manifold
uses, as given in grammars, may be summed up in the formula that it
defines the meaning of verbs, adjectives, and substantives; that is to
say, it expresses that towards which an action tends, which is one of
the uses of the translative (p. 159). Such phrases as =voin=, =tahdon=,
=tiedän lukea=, _I can read_, _wish to read_, or _know how to read_ might
be expressed as _I have power_, _will_, or _knowledge for reading_.
In some cases the use of the translative and this infinitive are
obviously analogous. =Ei sovi suuttua=, _it is not fitting to be angry_.
=Hän sopii sotamieheksi=, _he is fit for a soldier_. =Ei minun kelpaa
juoda vettä=, _it does not suit me to drink water_, can be also expressed
in the form, =Vesi ei kelpaa minulle juotavaksi= (_or_ =juomaksi=).
The short form of this infinitive never takes suffixes in ordinary
Finnish, though it does occasionally in the Kalevala; e.g. the first
lines =Mieleni minun tekevi, Aivoni ajattelevi, Lähteäni laulamahan,
Saa’ani sanelemahan=. =Onko saarella sioa ... Minun laulut laulellani=,
_is there a place on the island for me to sing my song_ (Kal. xxix. 137).
Cf. =Onpa saarella sioa ... Sinun laulut laulellasi= (_ib._ 147).
The subject of the infinitive, which in the longer form is denoted by a
suffix, is in the case of the shorter form either not expressed at all in
such a phrase as =Isä antoi kirjan pojalle lukea=, _the father gave the
boy the book to read_; or it is put in the _genitive_. =Isä toi kirjan
pojan lukea=, _the father bought the book for the boy to read_, literally
_for the boy’s reading_.