1. Gerunds and Infinitives
Form and Uses

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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)

6. After prepositions
ie. I´m interested in studying maths

7. 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

8. After some adjectives and adverbs
Happy to
Slowly to
ie. I´m happy to be here / He ran too slowly to win

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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

17. 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.