Nonfinite verb

Nonfinite verbs are verb forms that do not show tense, person, or number. They include:

  1. Infinitives (e.g., to go, to see), which are the base forms of verbs, and may also function as nouns or adverbs;
  2. Gerunds (e.g., going, seeing), which act as nouns, but are derived from verbs;
  3. Participles (e.g., gone, seen), which can function as adjectives, in forming verbal aspects (such as has gone) and the passive voice, and as components of participial phrases.

Nonfinite verbs are used in constructions where there is no need to express tense directly. They help in creating sentences such as "I want to go", where to go is nonfinite.

In the English language, a nonfinite verb cannot perform an action as the main verb of an independent clause. Nonfinite verb forms in some other languages include converbs, gerundives and supines. The categories of mood, tense, and voice may be absent from nonfinite verb forms in some languages.

Because English lacks most inflectional morphology, the finite and nonfinite forms of a verb may appear the same in a given context.

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