infinitivepluspronoun

Infinitivepluspronoun is a descriptive label for a non-finite verb form in which an infinitive is attached to one or more clitic pronouns. This construction is most familiar in Romance languages, where object or indirect object pronouns can be concatenated to the infinitive to form a single unit. The resulting form often carries the meaning of “to do [it] for someone” or “to do [it] to/for someone,” depending on the language and context.

In usage, the infinitive plus pronoun typically occurs inside periphrastic verb phrases. A finite or auxiliary verb governs the infinitive, which bears the pronoun cluster. The pronouns are usually clitics and attach directly to the infinitive, sometimes requiring a diacritic to preserve the original word stress. The configuration allows speakers to encode person and number on the pronoun while keeping the non-finite nature of the main verb.

Common examples appear in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Spanish supports forms like quiero comérlo, meaning “I want to eat it,” where comer is the infinitive and lo is attached to form comérlo. Italian yields something like devo mangiarlo, “I must eat it,” with mangiare plus lo fused into mangiarlo. Portuguese provides quero comê-lo, “I want to eat it,” with the infinitive marked by a diacritic and followed by the pronoun. These examples illustrate how infinitive plus pronoun conveys object relations without requiring a separate finite verb.

Cross-linguistic variation exists in pronoun placement, consent with certain verbs, and phonological adjustments. The construction is less common or differently realized in English, where non-finite clauses rarely host attached pronouns in the same way.