infinitive used as a question

amirsherman

amirsherman

Senior Member
russian
Hi everyone,

I noticed that in modern Hebrew (but not in older language) people just use the infinitive as a question. I mean there is no conjugated verb, only an infinitive. Like

אתה רואה! גם אתה לא מצליח לקרוא. זאת הבעיה!

מה לעשות? את מי לשאול?

Why did the second man reply using infinitives? What's his meaning?

Thank you in advance
 
    • Since you indicate you speak Russian I'll answer with a Russian example:

    Что делать?
     
    For the benefit of those who don’t speak Russian, could you please translate Что делать? into English? :)
     
    I had a similar question

    What's meaning of מה למזוג לכם? when a waiter says it to the customers?

    The context is מה למזוג לכם? בירה קרה? מיץ? תה חם?

    I've seen this type of question a lot: you have מה and then an infinitive. What does this type of structure mean?
     
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