<p>I am a collector. I collect sentences which I find interesting or exemplary for certain syntactical structures. I just stumbled over another example of this structure, so I thought I would ask the question here. These are some of my 'to infinitive' collection. There seems to be a remarkable similarity between this use of 去 + verb and the English to + infinitive.</p>

<p>Is this more apparent than real? Maybe this is only Modern Chinese, under  foreign influence. Can this kind of structure be found in Old Chinese? </p>

<p>Does Chinese have a 'to infinitive'? </p>

<p>(these are not all complete sentences, just the bits I saved) </p>

<p>如何去尽责</p>

<p>理解为<strong>去</strong>爱别人</p>

<p>有专门<strong>去</strong>学这方面的知识</p>

<p>可能是错过了真正<strong>去</strong>生活的机会。</p>

<p>用自己的行动做表率，<strong>去</strong>影响自己的子女和整个社会。</p>

<p>Just thought I'd throw this in, 4 去s in one short text:</p>

<p>人们把老师比作“春雨”，把学生比作“春苗“，春苗需要春雨<strong>去</strong>浇灌。老师就如那绵绵的春雨，用丰富的知识<strong>去</strong>开启学生的智慧，用优秀的人格<strong>去</strong>培育学生的品德，用无私的奉献精神<strong>去</strong>熏陶学生的心灵。</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-23T06:34:54.493Z
In English using 'to + infinitive' is mostly syntactic; in Chinese '去 + verb' is for semantics (weak causation: in order to/come down to/turn out to).
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-23T11:31:44.777Z
So you are saying, this use of 去, which is not rare, is like 而？ I presume you are Chinese. What idea does this use of 去 give you, if you don't mind me asking? The to infinitive is not explained in English, so the questions was a bit difficult.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-23T14:57:33.323Z
去 in your example generally gives me the impression of some action, like I might imagine someone is actually going to go somewhere to do something when 去 is added, it has no real meanings, for example 如何去尽责=如何尽责 to me, they are both ok, 如何去尽责 just add some slightly more action in it.
(Though I am not Chinese, but am a native Chinese speaker.)
CYC
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-23T17:27:21.360Z
I am native speaker. As Maroon's answer analyzed in detail, there are a few different meanings of 去 across your examples, but the general idea it summons when I hear this word is either 'go do something' with a sense of purpose and actually doing it as opposed to just reasoning, or 'then' which is similar to 而 like you said.
NS.X.
<grammar>
Is '去+verb' similar to 'to infinitives' in English?
# Is '去+verb' similar to 'to infinitives' in English?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-23)

I am a collector. I collect sentences which I find interesting or exemplary for certain syntactical structures. I just stumbled over another example of this structure, so I thought I would ask the question here. These are some of my 'to infinitive' collection. There seems to be a remarkable similarity between this use of 去 + verb and the English to + infinitive.

Is this more apparent than real? Maybe this is only Modern Chinese, under foreign influence. Can this kind of structure be found in Old Chinese?

Does Chinese have a 'to infinitive'?

(these are not all complete sentences, just the bits I saved)

如何去尽责

理解为**去**爱别人

有专门**去**学这方面的知识

可能是错过了真正**去**生活的机会。

用自己的行动做表率，**去**影响自己的子女和整个社会。

Just thought I'd throw this in, 4 去s in one short text:

人们把老师比作“春雨”，把学生比作“春苗“，春苗需要春雨**去**浇灌。老师就如那绵绵的春雨，用丰富的知识**去**开启学生的智慧，用优秀的人格**去**培育学生的品德，用无私的奉献精神**去**熏陶学生的心灵。

**Tags:** grammar

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In English using 'to + infinitive' is mostly syntactic; in Chinese '去 + verb' is for semantics (weak causation: in order to/come down to/turn out to).  
> **username_0**: So you are saying, this use of 去, which is not rare, is like 而？ I presume you are Chinese. What idea does this use of 去 give you, if you don't mind me asking? The to infinitive is not explained in English, so the questions was a bit difficult.  
> **username_2**: 去 in your example generally gives me the impression of some action, like I might imagine someone is actually going to go somewhere to do something when 去 is added, it has no real meanings, for example 如何去尽责=如何尽责 to me, they are both ok, 如何去尽责 just add some slightly more action in it. (Though I am not Chinese, but am a native Chinese speaker.)  
> **username_1**: I am native speaker. As Maroon's answer analyzed in detail, there are a few different meanings of 去 across your examples, but the general idea it summons when I hear this word is either 'go do something' with a sense of purpose and actually doing it as opposed to just reasoning, or 'then' which is similar to 而 like you said.  

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