Inflected Infinitive

To recap, the infinitive is the base form of a verb. In Old English, infinitives end in -an, for example, 'flowan - to flow'. When conjugated, the -an ending is removed, and the inflectional ending added. For example, the 1st present singular inflection -e is added to the root of the verb to give us 'Ic flowe - I flow'.

In Old English, inflected infinitive is a form of the infinitive used to express purpose, obligation, or that an action is expected to happen. This inflection usually follows the preposition 'to', and takes an -enne ending. For example, examine the verb 'healdan' in the following 'Hie timbrodon byrig, þæt land to healdenne - They built forts in order to hold the land' and 'Eow mæst þearf is daglic fasten to healdenne - It is most necessary for you to hold daily fasts'.

The inflected infinitive is often used for emphasis, and in these cases it is often best translated as 'in order to' or 'for the purpose of'. You can see this in the translation of 'healdenne' the first sentence above. Both 'in order to hold' and 'for the purpose of holding' are correct translations. However, when used with the verb 'beon - to be', as shown in the second sentence, the inflected infinitive expressees necessity or obligation. In this case it can usually be translated using 'must', 'should' or 'ought', though in the above example it is more correct to translate it simply as 'to hold'.