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)

After certain expressions: would rather, had better 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 After certain expressions: would rather, had better -ie. I’d rather not fail the test Help infinitive with or without TO -ie. She helped me to finish/finish

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

Go on gerund=continuar con una acción Go on infinintive=continuar con la siguiente acción en un proceso -ie. They went on watching the film/Maggie went on to speak about her dreams (later in the conversation)

Regret gerund=una acción pasada. Regret infinitive=una acción presente o futura -ie. I regret having done that/I regret to tell you that you have failed the exam

Try gerund=hacer un experimento Try infinitive=intentar hacer algo difícil o imposible -ie. She tried cooking the soup/She tried to climb the tree but it was very difficult.