On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:41:21 +1000, Andrew Dunbar hippytrail@gmail.com wrote:
Many languages do not have a concept of "infinitive". Many languages use some other form as the headword in dictionaries. Such forms are known as citation forms. The other extremely common form used by many languages as the verbal citation form is the 3rd person singular present indicative. If verbs have gender then it is the masculine form. I am not aware of another verb form used as the citation form but there's a good chance there are others in exotic languages.
FWIW, (Modern) Greek uses first person singular present indicative. I believe that Ancient Greek and Latin dictionaries often use the first person singular present indicative as the citation form as well, even though both languages have infinitives.
Arabic uses third person singular masculine *perfect* (usually past), rather than imperfect ("present"), as does Maltese by tradition, though I'm told that some Maltese consider the second person singular imperfect to be the preferred citation form.
--Ph.