The (A,D) duality pairs play crucial role in the theory of general relational
structures and in the Constraint Satisfaction Problem. The case where both
classes are finite is fully characterized. The case when both side are infinite
seems to be very complex. It is also known that no finite-infinite duality pair
is possible if we make the additional restriction that both classes are
antichains. In this paper (which is the first one of a series) we start the
detailed study of the infinite-finite case.
Here we concentrate on directed graphs. We prove some elementary properties
of the infinite-finite duality pairs, including lower and upper bounds on the
size of D, and show that the elements of A must be equivalent to forests if A
is an antichain. Then we construct instructive examples, where the elements of
A are paths or trees. Note that the existence of infinite-finite antichain
dualities was not previously known