THE PLACE OF INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS WIHT INCHOATIVE VERBS IN THE SYSTEM OF PAST TENSES IN OLD RUSSIAN AND CHURCH SLAVONIC TEXTS

This article reviews the characteristics of the functioning of infinitive constructions with preterites of the verb nachati ( pochati). The Old Russian chronicles and some Eastern Slavonic translated annals were chosen as the main material.

In the Eastern Slavonic texts nacha-constructions are used in statistically considerable numbers: in translated annals the usage of nacha-constructions is comparable to that of pluperfect forms, and in certain texts it is even comparable to that of imperfect forms. The semantics and collocation of the Old Russian nachati (pochati) were considerably different from the present situation.It may be suggested that the cited infinitive constructions in the Old Russian language were embedded into the system of preterites and could perform, in particular, as the analogue of the Old Slavonic inchoative imperfect. In connection with the characteristics of the collocation of the Old Slavonic nachati (pochati), the (na)chati and -konьchati correlation is described as well.