Gerunds and Infinitives

Form and Uses

Form
• Gerund: you add –ing to a
verb:
– ie. Meet > Meeting

• Infinitive: you add “to”

before the base form of a
verb:
– ie. Meet > To meet
Uses: the gerund
• We use the gerund:

– After some verbs:

• Suggest, recommend,
like/dislike/prefer, love/hate,
enjoy, finish, miss, continue,
– ie. I suggested going to the
cinema (Propuse ir al cine)
– In some expressions:
• Feel like (Tener ganas de)
• It´s no use (No merece la pena)
• Get used to / Be used to (Estar
acostumbrandose / Estar
acostumbrado)
• Can´t stand (No poder
soportar)
• Can´t help (No poder evitar)
• Don´t mind (no importar)
– ie. I don´t mind cleaning my
room
– As subject in a sentence
when we talk about general
actions
• ie. Finding solutions to some
problems is not easy (Encontrar
soluciones a algunos
problemas no es fácil)
– After prepositions

• ie. I´m interested in studying

maths
Uses: the infinitive
• After some verbs, such as:
– Want / wish / hope
– Agree
– Appear / seem
– Choose
– Decide
– Learn
– Plan
– Promise
– Refuse
ie. I want to travel around the
country next year
– After some adjectives and
adverbs
• Happy to
• Slowly to
– ie. I´m happy to be here / He
ran too slowly to win
– After the indirect object of
some verbs, such as: ADVISE,
INVITE, TELL, WARN, TEACH,
PERSUADE
• ie. He advised me to go to the
doctor (Me aconsejó que fuese
al médico)
• Verbs related to
perception (HEAR, FEEL,
SEE,…) and MAKE / LET are
followed by infinitive
without to
– ie. I saw Eric leave the office
/ Their parents make them
clean their room
Verbs followed by either a gerund
or an infinitive
• Begin
• Propose (proponer)
• Forbid
• Intend (tener la intención
de)
– ie.They started answering the
letter / They started to
answer the letter
Verbs with a change of meaning
• Stop gerund = dejar de
hacer algo
• Stop infinitive = interrumpir
una acción para hacer
otra cosa
– ie. He stopped going out
with Mary / He stopped to
have a coffee
• Remember gerund = se
refiere algo pasado
• Remember infinitive = se
refiere al futuro

– I remember meeting him at a

party / I remembered to
close the window
• Forget gerund = indica
que se nos ha olvidado
que ocurrió algo
• Forget infinitive = significa
olvidarse de hacer algo

– ie. I forgot seeing him at a

party / I forgot to close the
door