There are many aspects to consider when translating French texts into Swedish. The purpose of the present study is to examine French non-finite constructions, namely participle and infinitive phrases, and to compare them with their Swedish translations. Thus, the method is contrastive. The analysis is based on 213 phrases collected from two non-literary French texts – one economical text and one medical text – and their Swedish translations. The different interpretations have been divided into categories to study the transpositions that have been made, i.e. in what way the two languages differ from each other in this context. The structural differences but also similarities have been illustrated and, to a certain degree, it has been found, according to the hypothesis, that the examined French non-finite constructions often correspond to Swedish main or subordinate clauses, or even other constructions, such as other phrases. On the other hand, it has also been noted that the French infinitive phrase, in most cases, has been translated by an infinitive phrase, which means that no transposition has been made. The Swedish interpretations illustrated in this study are not to be regarded as proof of the occurrence of structural differences and similarities ; the intention is to show how the French constructions in question can be translated into Swedish, and to demonstrate certain tendencies of the two languages respectively.

L’infinitif est souvent présenté comme un mode qui ne présente ni les marques de temps, ni de personne, ni de nombre. De ce fait, la grammaire traditionnelle le classe parmi les formes non personnelles du verbe avec le gérondif et le participe. Cependant, l’infinitif sert à exprimer un ordre, un conseil, une interdiction, entre autres actes directifs. On le retrouve dans les modes d’emploi de divers produits, dans les recettes de cuisine, dans le code de la route, dans les libellés de conseil, pour ne citer que quelques exemples. Selon les grammaires, dans cet emploi, l’infinitif serait utilisé à la place de l’impératif, dont il serait l’équivalent. Au vu de ces affirmations, cette thèse se propose d’étudier les caractéristiques de l’infinitif injonctif. Pour ce faire, nous nous intéressons à la catégorisation de l’infinitif et aux propriétés de l’injonction. En effet, l’utilisation de l’infinitif injonctif soulève des questions. Le texte injonctif est associé à un acte d’intimation à l’action ; il s’agit d’un acte directif par lequel un locuteur veut agir sur le comportement de son destinataire. Alors comment expliquer qu’une forme qui serait non personnelle et intemporelle puisse être employée dans un genre qui s’inscrit résolument dans une situation de communication où la présence d’un locuteur ne fait pas de doute, et où le message est destiné à un public déterminé ? Notre recherche a permis de montrer que l’infinitif est une forme verbale à part entière, avec des particularités qui lui sont propres. Notre étude sur corpus vient confirmer cette position au vu de l’organisation des constituants très riche de l’infinitif injonctif / The infinitive is often described as a mood which does not possess time, person or number markers. Hence, traditional grammars classify it as impersonal, along with the gerund and the participial. However, the infinitive can express an order, an advice, and a prohibition, among other directive speech acts. It is used in instruction manuals, in cooking recipes, in traffic regulation texts, in advisory texts, to name a few. According to grammars, in such cases, the infinitive is used instead of the imperative. It would thus be similar to the imperative. On the basis of these statements, this thesis intends to study the characteristics of the injunctive infinitive. To do this, we consider the categorisation of the infinitive as well as the properties of the injunctive discourse. Indeed, the use of the injunctive infinitive raises questions. The injunctive text relates to a directive speech act through which the speaker attempts to get the addressee to perform the action described. How is it, then, that an impersonal and tenseless verb form can be used in a discourse which is clearly linked to a communication situation where there is no doubt as to the existence of a speaker and where the speech is directed towards a particular audience? Our research shows that the infinitive is a verb form in its own right, with its own unique features. Our corpus-based study confirms this fact, as shown by the rich syntactic possibilities with the injunctive infinitive.