10 common verbs followed by infinitives - English Grammar for Beginners

Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on common verbs

followed by infinitives. In English, most commonly, if we want to follow a verb with

another action or activity, we usually have to follow it with -- well, we always have

to follow it with a gerund or an infinitive. Those of you who don't know what an infinitive

is, it is "to" plus base verb. For example, "to run", "to like", "to see", "to dance",

etc. A gerund is a verb plus -ing. So, for example, "running", "dancing", "singing",

"hiking". Some verbs in English can be followed by both a gerund or infinitive, and there's

no difference in meaning. So, for example, a verb like "like". "She likes to talk." "She

likes talking." The meaning is the same, right? There's really no difference. So, both are

okay. However, there are some verbs in English that can only be followed by a gerund or can

only be followed by an infinitive. The verb "enjoy" is one example. So, in this sentence,

"She enjoys to talk." "She enjoys talking." Only one of these is grammatically correct.

Which one do you think it is? Okay, if you said, "She enjoys to talk" is correct, you

are absolutely incorrect. "She enjoys talking" is correct. So, "enjoy" is an example of a

verb that can only be followed by a gerund. Okay? And I apologize for the sound there.

Now, I'm going to give you a list of verbs in English that can only be followed by an

infinitive, which again is "to" plus the base verb. So, these are verbs that you're going

to be using a lot when you speak. I tried to pick the most common ones that I could

think of that I use in my own daily life. And if you remember, you know, very, very

quickly that, okay, these verbs, when I use them, it's always "to" plus verb, "to" plus

verb, "to" plus verb, you will be a much better and more proficient English speaker. Okay?

So, here we go. So, we have the verb "want", right? "To want", "to desire" something. For

example, "They want to expand the company." So, we have the verb "want" here. "To expand."

Not, "They want expanding." "They want to expand." Next verb is "hope". "I hope to see

you there." Right? "I hope to see you at the party." So, we have "hope" plus the infinitive

"to see". Not, "I hope seeing." We have "agree". "They agreed to make the deal." Right? So,

we have "agreed to make the deal."

Now, here what you'll notice, in the first two examples, both of my sentences were in

the present tense, the simple present. Right? "They want to expand the company." "I hope

to see you there." Both of these are present sentences. This one is in the past. Right?

"They agreed to make the deal." So, the tense of this verb, of the first verb, does not

matter. Okay? If it's past, if it's present, if it's continuous, if it's present perfect,

past perfect, whatever it is, the next verb still has to be an infinitive. Okay? And we're

going to see more of those examples as we go along.

So here, we have the verb "plan". "We are planning to visit Europe." Now, as you notice,

we are planning, right now, in the present continuous, to visit Europe. Right? Next one,

"decided". "She has decided to quit." So, here we have, again, the auxiliary verb, "have",

plus the main verb, "decided", just like here, we have the auxiliary verb, "be", plus the

verb, "ing", with "planning". "She has decided to quit." Not, "She has decided quitting."

Right? Okay, next one, "choose". "Chris chose to stay at home." So, imagine that you had

a party, and you invited a lot of your friends, and one of your friends named Chris decided

to stay home. This is what you would say, right? In the past tense, "He chose", now,

those of you, you know, "chose" is the past of "choose", "to stay at home." Not, "He chose

staying." "He chose to stay."

Okay, "promise", very common verb that we use all the time. "He promised to come on

time." Right? So, we have, "promised to come." Not, "He promised coming on time." "He promised

to come on time." "To arrive on time."

And finally, very common verb, similar to "want", which we use all the time, "need".

Right? "I need to go to the bank." So, if you need to pay your bills, or your visa,

and for whatever reason, you don't have internet access, or you don't do internet banking,

say, "I need to go to the bank." Right? Not, "I need going." "I need to go."

Okay, guys. So, if you'd like to test your understanding of these verbs, and the ones

that are commonly followed by an infinitive, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

Good luck, guys.