Hungarian Verbs - Infinitive

Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is the form suffixed by -ni, e.g. várni, kérni. There is a variant -ani/eni, which is used with the following groups:

• verbs ending in two consonants (e.g. játszani, tartani, küldeni, választani, festeni, mondani, hallani, ajánlani),
• verbs ending in a long vowel + t (e.g. fűteni, véteni, tanítani, bocsátani) and
• the words véd and edz (védeni and edzeni respectively).

Exceptions are állni "to stand", szállni "to fly", varrni "to sew", forrni "to boil", which have -ni despite the two consonants. This is due to the fact that in written language, the "long" 'l' (or 'r') sound has to be marked.