Infinitive Clauses: pour, sans, au lieu de + infinitif
ക്രിയാനാമരൂപ (Infinitif) വാക്യങ്ങൾ: pour, sans, au lieu de + infinitif
When the subject of a purpose, manner, or substitution clause is the same as the main clause's subject, French skips a whole conjugated verb and drops straight into the infinitive after certain prepositions. Malayalam has its own, even more compact way of doing this: several of these meanings are built directly into a suffix on the verb itself, with no separate word needed at all.
Grammar Comparison
വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം
pour + infinitif = purpose ('in order to')
J'étudie le français pour voyager en France. (I'm studying French (in order) to travel to France)
ഫ്രാൻസിലേക്ക് യാത്ര ചെയ്യാൻ ഞാൻ ഫ്രഞ്ച് പഠിക്കുന്നു.
pour + infinitive expresses purpose whenever the person doing the studying and the person doing the traveling are the same — no need for a second conjugated verb or a subordinate clause. Malayalam expresses the identical purpose meaning even more compactly, with the infinitive suffix -ാൻ alone (യാത്ര ചെയ്യാൻ, 'in order to travel') and no separate word corresponding to pour at all — the suffix itself already carries the 'in order to' meaning.
sans + infinitif = without doing something
Il est parti sans dire au revoir. (He left without saying goodbye)
അവൻ യാത്ര പറയാതെ പോയി.
sans + infinitive describes an action that did NOT accompany the main action, again only when the subject is shared. Note French uses a plain infinitive here (dire), not a negated one — sans already carries the 'without/not' meaning, so ne...pas is never added inside it. Malayalam builds the same 'without doing' meaning into a single suffix, -ാതെ, attached straight to the verb stem: പറയാതെ ('without saying') needs no separate word for 'without' at all, unlike French's two-word sans + infinitif.
au lieu de + infinitif = instead of doing something
Au lieu de travailler, il regarde la télé. (Instead of working, he's watching TV)
ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്നതിന് പകരം, അവൻ ടിവി കാണുന്നു.
au lieu de + infinitive substitutes one action for another, same-subject rule applying again. Malayalam matches this one closely word-for-word rather than compressing it into a suffix: a nominalized form of the verb plus the dative ending, followed by പകരം ('instead') — ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്നതിന് പകരം ('instead of doing work') — is just as much a multi-word phrase as au lieu de is, unlike the single-suffix shortcuts pour and sans got above.
avant de and après avoir/être: same-subject sequencing
Avant de partir, il a fermé la porte. / Après avoir mangé, il est sorti. (Before leaving, he closed the door. / After eating, he went out.)
പോകുന്നതിന് മുമ്പ്, അവൻ വാതിൽ അടച്ചു. / കഴിച്ചതിന് ശേഷം, അവൻ പുറത്തുപോയി.
avant de + infinitif ('before doing') and après avoir/être + participe passé ('after having done') round out this same-subject infinitive family. Malayalam handles both with the same nominalized-verb-plus-postposition pattern used for au lieu de: -ുന്നതിന് മുമ്പ് ('before doing') and -തിന് ശേഷം ('after doing') — genuinely close, phrase-for-phrase matches for these two, even though pour and sans compress down to single suffixes instead.
Vocabulary
വാക്കുകൾ
- Malayalam
- ...ആൻ...aan
- English
- in order to
- Malayalam
- ...ആതെ...aathe
- English
- without doing
- Malayalam
- ...തിന് പകരം...thinu pakaram
- English
- instead of doing
- Malayalam
- ...തിന് മുമ്പ്...thinu mumbu
- English
- before doing
- Malayalam
- ...തിന് ശേഷം...thinu shesham
- English
- after doing/having done