Gerunds vs Infinitives After Verbs

You've finished your homework, hit send on the group chat, and then — the doubt lands. I enjoy to play football. Wait, is that right? I want playing football — no, that's not it either. You say them both in your head a few times, and your brain just goes, "Hmm. Maybe?" Not very helpful.

Here's the thing — this isn't about being "bad at English." It's about patterns. Some verbs "like" to be followed by an -ing word (a gerund — playing, reading, swimming); some prefer to + verb (an infinitive — to play, to read, to swim); a few are happy with either; and a small, sneaky handful change their meaning depending on which one you pick. Nobody's born knowing any of this — you learn it by noticing, and that's exactly what we're going to do here.

You already know what gerunds and infinitives look like from our other articles (F1 and F3) — so I'm not going to re-teach the forms. This piece is about what happens when one verb comes first and has to decide what form follows. Which verbs want which, when both are allowed, and how a quiet swap can flip your whole meaning.

Before you read on, here's where we're heading. By the end of this article, you'll be able to: - Tell when a verb needs a gerund (enjoy playing) and when it needs a to-infinitive (want to play). - Use the verbs that take both — and spot when the meaning changes (stop smoking vs stop to smoke). - Handle the preposition + gerund pattern (good at drawing, before going) without second-guessing. - Dodge the classic exam mistakes with remember, try, regret, and stop.

Beginner (Foundation)

Let's start from the feeling you already have — that some sentences "sound right" and some don't. That instinct is worth trusting, and we're just going to give it some rules to lean on.

Look at these two pairs:

• ✔ I enjoy playing video games.
• ✘ I enjoy to play video games.
• ✔ I want to play video games.
• ✘ I want playing video games.

The idea is identical in both — video games — but the form of the second verb changes. And that's the whole beginner job: certain verbs are simply "built" to work with a gerund, and others are built to work with a to-infinitive. Think of it almost like each verb having a favourite partner it likes to bring along.

Here are the most common gerund-takers — verbs that want the -ing form:

• enjoy — I enjoy reading.
• finish — Have you finished eating?
• mind — Do you mind helping me with this?
• keep — She keeps forgetting her PE kit.
• avoid — You should avoid leaving it to the last minute.
• suggest — He suggested going to the cinema.
• practise [US: practice] — I practise playing the piano every night.

And here are the most common infinitive-takers — verbs that want to + verb:

• want — I want to go home.
• need — You need to listen.
• hope — We hope to pass the exam.
• decide — They decided to leave early.
• plan — She plans to study medicine.
• promise — I promise to help with the poster.
• learn — He's learning to code.

There's a small, reassuring trick hiding in those lists. The infinitive-takers often point forward — at a plan, a hope, a decision, something you're aiming for. Want, need, hope, plan, decide — all forward-looking. The gerund-takers often describe the activity itself, as a thing you do and enjoy or finish. It's not a perfect rule, but it's a good nudge when you're stuck.

One more thing for the foundation. Some verbs let you slot a person in the middle — and then they still take a to-infinitive. Verbs like ask, tell, want, expect:

• Miss Patel asked us to rewrite the first paragraph.
• Mum expects me to tidy my room first.

You're not inventing a new rule there — you're just adding who's being asked, and the to stays put.

Common Mistake: ✘ I hate to doing maths. — This jams the two patterns together. Pick one: ✔ I hate doing maths (gerund), or ✔ I hate to do maths on Sundays (infinitive). You never need both a to and an -ing at once.

Quick recap: - A gerund is a verb + -ing used like a noun (reading, playing); an infinitive here is to + verb (to read, to play). - Some verbs take a gerund (enjoy, finish, avoid, suggest); others take a to-infinitive (want, hope, decide, promise). - Infinitive-takers often feel future-looking; gerund-takers often describe the activity itself. - A few verbs take a person, then a to-infinitive (ask us to rewrite). - Don't try to memorise fifty verbs tonight — learn a short, real list and grow it.

Intermediate (Development)

Once the two camps feel less mysterious, we can sort the verbs into working groups and meet the first proper headaches — verbs that allow both forms, and the little words that only ever want a gerund.

Verbs that take both (with barely any change)

Some verbs are relaxed about it. They'll happily take either form, especially when we're talking about likes and dislikes — like, love, hate, prefer:

• I like playing tennis. / I like to play tennis.

Both mean almost the same thing. In everyday English we lean towards the -ing form for general hobbies and habits — She loves swimming, He hates doing homework. But with would like / would love / would prefer, we almost always swing to the infinitive:

• ✔ I'd like to go now.
• ✔ I'd prefer to stay at home.

The same goes for start, begin and continue — It started raining and It started to rain are both fine, and nobody will mark you down.

Pro-Tip: For general likes and dislikes, reach for -ing (I love reading). After would like / would love / would prefer, reach for to + verb (I'd love to visit, I'd like to apply). That one habit clears up most of the like/love confusion in one go.

Verbs where the form changes the meaning

Here's the bit people half-learn and then trip over in exams. A small set of verbs takes both forms — but the two versions mean genuinely different things. Let's take them one at a time.

remember / forget

• + gerund = a memory of something that already happened.
• + to-infinitive = a task you mustn't forget, pointing at the future.
• I remember going to the zoo when I was six. (the memory is of a past event)
• Remember to bring your book tomorrow. (don't forget this future job)
• I'll never forget meeting her. (a memory that stays with you)
• I forgot to lock the door. (I didn't lock it — I meant to, but didn't)

stop

• + gerund = quit; you don't do it any more.
• + to-infinitive = pause one thing in order to do another.
• She stopped smoking. (she doesn't smoke now)
• She stopped to smoke. (she paused what she was doing and had a cigarette)
• We stopped talking when the teacher walked in. (the talking ended)
• We stopped to talk in the corridor. (we were walking, then paused for a chat)

try

• + gerund = experiment — do something and see what happens.
• + to-infinitive = make an effort at something difficult.
• Try restarting your laptop. (just see if that helps)
• Try to restart your laptop. (it might be tricky, but make the effort)

regret

• + gerund = be sorry about something that already happened.
• + to-infinitive = a formal way of giving bad news, usually a fixed phrase.
• I regret telling her my secret. (I told her, and now I'm sorry)
• We regret to inform you that your application was unsuccessful. (very formal — you'll see it in letters, not in a text to a friend)

You're unlikely to write regret to in ordinary schoolwork, but you'll certainly read it — so it's worth knowing on sight.

Common Mistake: ✘ I remember to see you last year. — You mean a memory of the past, so you need the gerund: ✔ I remember seeing you last year. Save remember to for jobs you mustn't forget.

Prepositions only ever want a gerund

Here's a rule that comforts a lot of students once they spot it — after a preposition, English almost always wants a gerund, never an infinitive. Prepositions include in, on, at, about, for, without, before, after, by, of, and chunks like good at, interested in, keen on:

• She's good at drawing.
• They left without saying goodbye.
• Before going to bed, I brush my teeth.
• Thanks for helping me.
• I'm interested in studying biology.

Not ✘ good at to draw, not ✘ without to say goodbye.

And watch this one — We're looking forward to seeing you. The to there is a preposition, not the start of an infinitive, so the gerund still follows. (Look forward to keeps its full explanation for another day; here, just clock the -ing.)

Pro-Tip: In a gap-fill test, underline the word right before the blank. If it's a preposition — in, on, at, for, about, without, before, after — a bell should ring: "Aha, probably -ing here."

If a phrasal verb turns up (give up, put off, keep on), it almost always wants a gerund too — She gave up playing the flute, Don't put off doing the revision. We're only noting the follow-on form; for the phrasal verbs themselves, look back at the Pillar 2 piece.

Quick recap: - like, love, hate, prefer, start, begin often take both with little change; use to + verb after would like/love/prefer. - With remember, forget, stop, try, regret, the form changes the meaning — pause and check. - remember/forget + -ing = memory; + to = a future job you mustn't forget. - stop + -ing = quit; stop + to = pause one thing to do another. - After a preposition (including looking forward to), use a gerund every time.

Advanced (Mastery)

If you're still with me, you're ready for the finer points — the sort of thing that lifts a top-band exam answer and makes a story or an essay read like you know exactly what you're doing.

Verb + object + to-infinitive

You met the seed of this at Beginner level. Plenty of verbs take an object — a person or thing — and then a to-infinitive:

verb + object + to + verb

Common ones: want, expect, ask, tell, advise, encourage, allow, invite, remind, persuade.

• I want you to come to the party.
• They told us to wait outside.
• The teacher encouraged me to try again.

The object (you, us, me) is the person actually doing the action of the infinitive. And you can't rebuild this with a gerund — ✔ I enjoy playing football, but ✘ I enjoy you to play football is just a different structure entirely.

The gerund-only and infinitive-only lists worth knowing

Some verbs are firmly one thing, and exam writers love them. You've already met a few — here are the ones most likely to catch you higher up.

Firmly gerund-only: avoid (avoid eating too much sugar), consider (I'm considering changing schools), imagine (imagine living on Mars), suggest (he suggested going to the cinema), admit (she admitted cheating), deny (he denied taking the money), miss (I miss chatting after lessons).

Firmly infinitive-only: agree (they agreed to help), offer (she offered to explain), refuse (he refused to apologise [US: apologize]), promise (I promise to call), pretend (she pretended to be asleep), seem (he seems to understand), manage (we managed to finish on time), fail (he failed to hand it in).

Common Mistake: ✘ He suggested to go home. — Suggest takes a gerund or a that-clause, never a to-infinitive. Fix it to ✔ He suggested going home or ✔ He suggested that we go home.

The deeper "why"

None of this is arbitrary, and knowing the reason helps you predict a verb you've never met. Infinitives — especially when they show purpose — carry a sense of reaching towards something not yet done. You want, you plan, you hope — all forward. Gerunds are nouns; they treat the action as a thing in itself, something you're doing, have done, or are weighing up. That's why I enjoy to work sounds wrong — enjoy is about experiencing an activity, not aiming at a goal — while I want to work sits perfectly, because want is future-facing by nature.

A couple of extra advanced pairs reward slow thinking. Go on + -ing means carry on with the same thing (he went on talking for ages); go on + to means move to the next stage (she went on to explain the themes). And in British English, need has a neat passive-ish trick — The whiteboard needs cleaning means it needs to be cleaned. Small, but genuinely useful in descriptions.

A few edge traps that snare strong writers

• help takes the bare or the full infinitive — help me carry this and help me to carry this are both correct, the second just a touch more formal.
• make and let take the bare infinitive (no to) — The film made me cry, not ✘ made me to cry.
• can't help wants a gerund — I can't help laughing at that video.
• It's worth / it's no use / there's no point take gerunds — It's worth checking twice.

And remember the boundary — the form of gerunds and infinitives (continuous, perfect, passive, as subjects) lives in F1 and F3. Here we've stayed hard on which verb triggers which.

Pro-Tip: When you edit a draft, use Find and search your own writing for remember, forget, stop, try, regret. Flex each one both ways in the margin and ask which meaning you actually wanted. That two-minute drill catches no end of silent meaning slips.

Quick recap: - Many verbs take verb + object + to-infinitive (told us to wait, want you to come). - Firm gerund-only verbs: avoid, consider, imagine, suggest, admit, deny, miss. - Firm infinitive-only verbs: agree, offer, refuse, pretend, seem, manage, fail. - Infinitives reach towards a goal; gerunds treat the action as a noun — that's the deep pattern. - make/let take the bare infinitive; can't help and it's worth take gerunds.

UK vs US Note

Good news on this one — the mechanics are identical. Which verbs take gerunds, which take infinitives, which shift meaning: all shared across UK and US English. You won't meet a different rule, only the odd spelling toggle in the surrounding words — apologise [US: apologize], practise the verb [US: practice], colour [US: color]. The choice between -ing and to never changes.

Key Takeaways

• Some verbs "like" -ing after them; others "like" to + verb — learn short, real lists rather than one giant table.
• A few verbs (remember, forget, stop, try, regret) change meaning when you switch the form.
• After a preposition — including looking forward to — use a gerund.
• At higher levels, some verbs are firmly gerund-only or infinitive-only, and many take object + to-infinitive.
• Real progress comes from noticing these patterns in your reading and listening, not just cramming lists.

Check Your Understanding

1. Choose the correct form: a) I enjoy (to watch / watching) TV after school. b) We decided (leaving / to leave) early.
2. Explain the difference in meaning: a) I stopped to talk to my friend in the corridor. b) I stopped talking to my friend because we had an argument.
3. Correct the mistakes: a) She suggested to go to the park. b) Remember bringing your ID card tomorrow.
4. Fill in with the gerund or infinitive: a) He's interested in _ (study) law. b) They promised _ (help) us.
5. Which is correct — and what does it mean? A. I forgot doing my homework last night. / B. I forgot to do my homework last night.

Internal Links

• F1 — Infinitives: form and basic uses (how infinitives are built, and their other jobs)
• F3 — Gerunds: form and basic uses (gerund forms and their other roles)
• B9 — used to / be used to (for the be used to + gerund pattern)
• Pillar 2 — Phrasal Verbs (back-link only, for verb + particle combinations like give up smoking that then take a gerund)

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