Is the infinitive form the masu stem or does it include the masu?


Looking it up has gotten me mixed answers. I've seen people refer to either as
the infinitive. A follow-up: is the -ru on ichidan verbs seen as an auxiliary
or is it part of the word?




Japanese is not an Indo European language. As such, it does not share the same
structures and grammatical concepts. Arguably, Japanese does not have an
infinitive.

What do you mean when you say “infinitive“? Define how you intend the term,
and then we might be able to elucidate whether Japanese has an “infinitive”
for your purposes.

