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