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Greetings bod,
It is very easy actually. Everything has a name. For instance you have a name, I have a name or that table has a name. All names by definiton are nouns.
For instance when I say "Bod", is Bod a person or a name? It is both isn't it? Smillarly when I say "table", is table an object with four legs or is it the name of an object?
While these words are names (and therefore nouns) they are also referring to objects, aren't they? When I say "Bod is very clever." I'm refering to you and not to the word "Bod".
We need names to talk about things. There are names for people, for objects, for actions, for anything that is imaginable.
When we talk about actions we also need the name of an action. Therefore there are names of actions.
"The name of an action is called an infinitive."
Because these are names of verbs (actions or occurings) they are at the same time nouns since all names are nouns.
When I say "koşmak" (to run) is this a noun or is this a verb? The answer is, "it is both". It is like asking "when I say Erdinç, is this a person or a name?" It is the name of a person (me, in this case).
Smillarly, koşmak is the name of the verb koşmak."An infinitive is the noun version of a verb."
When you talk about a verb you use the infinitive. You make the infinitive the object of the sentence, or in noun sentence it can be the subject of the sentence.
For instance "(Ben) koşmak istiyorum" has the infinitive koşmak as an object.
"Koşmak çok güzel." has the infinitive koşmak as subject. (There is no object in noun sentences.)
Instead talking about verbs when you conjugate them they are no more nouns. For instance if you conjugate the infinitive koşmak it is no more a noun.
"Ben koşuyorum."
"Koşuyorum" is a conjugation of the infinitive "koşmak" and koşuyorum is a verb. "Koşuyorum" can not be a noun since it doesn't name anything.
In short saying that "koşmak is a verb" or "koşmak is a noun" or "koşmak is both an noun and a verb" or "koşmak is an infinitive" are all correct.
Here is a short further reading:
http://www.answers.com/infinitive
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