German verbs vs English verbs?

Question

Why do all English verbs have to start with "to" and German verbs don't? In English we say "to play" but in German we would just say "spielen". why don't we say "zu spielen"? Why don't we do this in German? Is it just a weird grammar thing we do in English?

Answer 1

Infinitives in English typically begin with "to" (although there are exceptions), whereas infinitives in German are marked by the -en ending (although of course here there are also exceptions).

With the word play, in English one could say "I would like to play" using the infinitive "to play"

In German the sentence would be "Ich würde gerne spielen". This is also using the infinitive, although the infinitive looks different in German. Saying "Ich würde gerne zu spielen" wouldn't follow the German structure of infinitives and therefore wouldn't make sense.

In short, the structure of infinitives simply varies amongst languages. I hope this helps!

Answer 2

In English, the infinitive form of a verb is formed by preceding the basic form of the verb with "to". Why? Good question. It's just one of the oddities about English. We're the oddballs here.

In German, the basic form of the verb IS ht infinitive form.

We're accustomed to the way it works in English, so it takes a little getting used to in German.