Gerunds and Infinitives

You cannot work out the choice of -ing purely from a verb’s meaning: it is part of the particular verb pattern to learn. This lesson covers seven verbs: enjoy, finish, mind, avoid, suggest, keep and practise.

Use -ing for the second action in these patterns: I enjoy swimming, rather than I enjoy to swim. The verbs also have other constructions, such as suggest that we leave and enjoy the music. This is therefore not a ban on everything except -ing.

Other verbs follow other patterns: want to leave, decide to stay. Like, start and continue can take both forms, with meaning differences or restrictions depending on context.

Usually add -ing to the base form: cook → cooking, talk → talking, read → reading.

Common changes include make → making (a final silent e is usually dropped), swim → swimming (the final consonant doubles), and tie → tying (ie becomes y). Final w, x and y do not double: snowing, fixing, playing. There are exceptions, such as dye → dyeing.

The same spelling rules apply in different -ing constructions. Pay attention to letters and stress; check an unfamiliar doubtful form in a dictionary.

To negate a preference or completion in the present/past simple, add don’t/doesn’t/didn’t to the first verb: I don’t enjoy swimming. Swimming remains unchanged.

I enjoy not swimming is also grammatical, but means something different: the speaker enjoys avoiding swimming. The position of not determines what is negated. For example, I enjoy not having to hurry expresses enjoyment of freedom from the need to hurry.

In questions, auxiliary do/does/did moves before the subject; use be instead when the first verb is in a continuous form. The first verb and its -ing complement retain their order.

In wh-questions, place the question word before the auxiliary: What do you enjoy doing at the weekend?

In She is cooking, am/is/are + verb-ing forms the present continuous. In She enjoys cooking, cooking names a favourite activity. Not every -ing form after be is automatically continuous: My hobby is cooking identifies an activity.

An -ing form after one of these seven verbs is an action complement; the sentence can use different tenses: She enjoys cooking (present simple), She enjoyed cooking (past simple), She has enjoyed cooking (present perfect).

Both constructions can appear in one sentence: She is enjoying reading this book. Is enjoying is the first verb’s present continuous, while reading is its gerund complement. Two different roles for -ing in one sentence are normal.

Compare want to check with finish checking. The first verb indicates the pattern for the second action.

Both forms are often possible after start and begin: start reading / start to read. Do not apply one verb’s pattern to all others.

Gerund complements after these verbs commonly occur when explaining habits or preferences (enjoy, practise), describing completed or repeated actions (finish, keep), and making polite suggestions or requests (suggest, mind).

In a dialogue, a reply with a gerund complement often follows up the other speaker’s contribution. If someone asks about a habit or advice, repeat the first verb and add your own -ing complement.

In this pattern, put to + base form after the first verb: want to learn, wanted to learn. To is an infinitive marker here. The infinitive names an action without a personal ending.

The form after to does not change with the main verb's tense, person, or number: I want to help, she wants to help, they wanted to help. Helped never follows to in this infinitive pattern.

These verbs express different meanings, but all can take to + base form. Desire and preference: want, would like; need: need; decision or choice: decide, choose; intention or arrangement: plan, arrange, agree, offer; hope or expectation: hope, expect; a promise: promise; refusal or failure: refuse, fail; successfully managing or being able to afford something: manage, afford; acquiring a new skill: learn; and a deserved entitlement: deserve.

These are not the only possible patterns for these verbs. For example, need repairing means that repair is needed, while agree to a change contains prepositional to and a noun. Here we focus on the common to + base form pattern.

This construction can be negated in two ways with different meanings. Most often, the main verb is negated with don't/doesn't/didn't: I don't want to go means the person does not have that desire.

Another option is to negate the action itself by putting not before to: I decided not to go means a decision was made, but it was a decision against the action. This negates the intended action, not decided.

In questions with the auxiliary do/does/did, the main verb — want, decide, hope, and so on — returns to its base form, while the following to + base form stays unchanged: Did you decide to stay? Does she need to call them?

In Present Simple and Past Simple, questions with want, decide, hope, plan, promise, agree, need, expect, refuse, choose, arrange, offer, manage, afford, learn, and deserve use do/does/did: these lexical verbs do not act as their own auxiliaries. Other tenses use their appropriate auxiliary: Are you planning to move? Have you decided to stay? The following to + base form still does not change.

Compare enjoy reading with want to read. The pattern depends on the verb and its meaning, so learn the whole combination.

Not every word has only one pattern. The bike needs repairing means the same as The bike needs to be repaired: the bike requires repair. This is a different meaning and pattern from I need to repair the bike.

In these active examples, the same subject wants, plans, or decides to perform an action: I want to leave. I want you to call me explicitly names another performer, you; that is a separate construction.

Some verbs, including like, start, begin, continue, love, and hate, take both to-infinitives and -ing forms; that is a separate topic. This rule also does not cover reported speech with these verbs or more formal passive constructions, which belong elsewhere in the catalogue.

Usually, add -ing: play → playing. In short words with one vowel letter before one final consonant, that consonant is often doubled: swim → swimming, sit → sitting. Do not double w, x, or y: drawing, fixing, playing.

A final silent e is usually dropped: make → making, ride → riding. There are exceptions, including dye → dyeing; check forms you are unsure about.

The -ing form does not change with the subject's person: I like swimming, she likes swimming, they like swimming. The -ing form stays the same; only the first verb changes (like/likes).

In this pattern, to is always followed by the base (dictionary) form: to + base, without -s, -ing, or a past-tense form. Use to swim, not to swims, to swimming, or to swam.

The first verb (like/love/hate/prefer/start/begin/continue) changes as usual: -s in the third-person singular, and -ed or an irregular form in the past. Only that verb changes, not the form after to.

In these infinitive patterns, use swim after to, not swimming. In other constructions, to can be a preposition followed by -ing: look forward to swimming means to anticipate swimming with pleasure.

Form a negative with the usual auxiliary do/does + not before the base form of the first verb: don't like, doesn't hate, don't continue. Negation does not determine the complement's form (-ing or to); both alternatives remain possible.

In questions (Do you like…? / Does she prefer…? / What does he start…?), the first verb likewise returns to its base form after do/does. Third-person singular agreement is carried by the auxiliary.

In affirmative statements, third-person singular -s belongs on the first verb (likes, hates, prefers, starts, begins, continues), not on the verb that follows it.

Other verbs have their own common patterns: enjoy reading, avoid driving, want to leave, decide to stay. Learn the combinations together with their meanings rather than assuming that every verb allows both alternatives.

Some verbs genuinely change meaning depending on the form: stop, remember, try, and regret. I stopped smoking means that I gave up the activity; I stopped to smoke means that I paused another activity in order to smoke. These meanings are completely different. That contrast is a different phenomenon and is outside this rule.

A polite wish or offer with would like/love/prefer usually requires to: I’d like to help. This is not a universal ban on conditional expressions with -ing: I would hate living there can mean that living there would be unpleasant.

Do not mix the two patterns after like or start: like swimming / like to swim, start cycling / start to cycle. This rule applies to these constructions; it does not prohibit every combination of to + -ing.

Another common error is forgetting that the first verb, not the following form, agrees with the subject: she like swimming instead of she likes swimming.

A third error concerns related rules. If a verb takes only one of these two complement patterns (enjoy, want, avoid, decide, and so on), do not freely add the other pattern. A different rule applies there.

Both patterns are often natural, but they are not always interchangeable. With states after start/begin, to is usually preferred: I’m beginning to understand. After a continuous form of the first verb, to also helps avoid two neighbouring -ing forms.

The most useful habit is not to get stuck choosing a form, but to check other details: third-person singular -s on the first verb, do-support in negatives and questions, and whether to and -ing have been incorrectly mixed in one construction.

You can combine several patterns in your own response. Choose the one that naturally conveys the activity, habit, beginning, or continuation.