Gerund vs infinitive
The short answer
There is no rule that predicts it: the first verb decides. Enjoy, avoid, finish and suggest take -ing; want, decide, hope and agree take to. A small group takes both with different meanings: stop smoking is quitting, stop to smoke is pausing in order to.
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At a glance
Gerund (-ing) or Infinitive (to)?
| Compare | Gerund (-ing)After enjoy, avoid, finish, suggest, mind. | Infinitive (to)After want, decide, hope, agree, promise. |
|---|---|---|
| What decides it | The verb in front of it | The verb in front of it |
| Common verbs | enjoy, avoid, finish, suggest, mind, keep, practise, imagine | want, need, decide, hope, agree, promise, offer, refuse, learn |
| After a preposition | Always: good at cooking, before leaving | Never |
| As the subject of a sentence | Usual: swimming is good for you | Possible but formal: to swim is good |
| After make and let | Not used | Bare infinitive: let him go, make her wait |
| Verbs that take both | stop, remember, forget, try, regret, go on | Same list, different meaning |
How to choose
Ask these, in order
- 1
What is the verb immediately before it?
That verb decides, and the pattern has to be learned with the verb. There is no meaning-based rule that predicts which group a verb belongs to.
She avoided answering the question.
Avoid always takes -ing.
- 2
Is there a preposition just before?
Gerund, without exception. To counts as a preposition in look forward to and be used to.
I’m looking forward to meeting them.
Not “to meet”, this to is a preposition, not an infinitive marker.
NBThe most reliable trap in the whole topic, because the word to looks identical either way.
- 3
Is the verb on the both-list, stop, remember, forget, try, regret?
Choose by meaning, because the two versions say different things.
I stopped smoking. / I stopped to smoke.
I quit. / I paused in order to have one.
- 4
Is it the subject of the sentence?
Gerund, in almost all ordinary English.
Getting up early is easier in summer.
“To get up early is easier” is grammatical but sounds formal.
Side by side
Each one, in full
Verbs that take the gerund
After enjoy, avoid, finish, suggest, mind.
Enjoy, avoid, finish, suggest, mind, keep, practise, imagine, deny, admit, consider, risk, miss and can’t help all take -ing. There is no semantic thread linking them, which is why this has to be learned as vocabulary rather than derived.
Every preposition takes a gerund too, and that covers more ground than the verb list: interested in working, instead of waiting, after finishing, without asking. If you can see a preposition, the choice is already made.
Would you mind opening the window?
Mind always takes -ing.
He suggested taking the train.
Not “suggested to take”.
She’s good at explaining things.
After the preposition at.
Verbs that take the infinitive
After want, decide, hope, agree, promise.
Want, need, decide, hope, agree, promise, offer, refuse, learn, manage, afford, pretend, seem and expect take to. Several of them describe intention or a future step, which is a loose pattern rather than a rule you can rely on.
Make and let are the exception that catches people: they take a bare infinitive with no to at all. He made me wait, she let him go. Help takes either: help me carry and help me to carry are both correct.
They agreed to postpone the meeting.
Agree takes to.
I can’t afford to take a week off.
Afford takes to.
My boss made me rewrite it.
Made, not made to.
NBIn the passive it regains the to: I was made to rewrite it.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
I’m looking forward to meet you.
I’m looking forward to meeting you.
The to in look forward to is a preposition, not an infinitive marker, so it takes -ing. The same applies to be used to, get used to and object to, a small group that accounts for a disproportionate share of the errors.
He suggested me to take the train.
He suggested taking the train. / He suggested that I take the train.
Suggest takes a gerund or a that-clause, and never an object plus infinitive. Recommend behaves the same way, and both are common enough that the wrong pattern gets reinforced by other learners.
I remembered locking the door, so I went back to check.
I remembered to lock the door, so I didn’t need to go back.
Remember doing is recalling something you already did. Remember to do is not forgetting to do it. The sentence above contradicts itself, which is exactly how this error usually surfaces.
I enjoy to read before bed.
I enjoy reading before bed.
Enjoy takes -ing, always. There is nothing about its meaning that tells you so, like and love take either, and enjoy does not, which is why these belong on a list rather than in a rule.
Now use it
Gerunds vs infinitives
Which verbs take -ing, which take to-, and which change meaning. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- Which verbs change meaning with each form?
- Six matter. Stop doing is quitting, stop to do is pausing. Remember doing is recalling, remember to do is not forgetting. Forget works the same way. Try doing is experimenting, try to do is attempting. Regret doing is being sorry about the past, regret to do is delivering bad news. Go on doing is continuing, go on to do is moving to a new stage.
- What about like, love and hate?
- Both forms work with almost no difference. I like swimming and I like to swim are interchangeable in most contexts, with a faint tendency for -ing to mean enjoyment and to to mean habit or preference. Would like is the exception: it always takes to.
- Is there any way to predict which group a verb is in?
- Not reliably. Some tendencies exist, verbs about intention lean towards to, verbs about ongoing activity lean towards -ing, but there are enough counterexamples that trusting them will cost you. Learning each verb with its pattern, the way you learn a noun with its article, is faster than looking for a rule.