Infinitives in English function differently from infinitives in many other languages. And some languages don’t have infinitives at all! That means that this topic can be tricky if you’re a learner.

With this guide to English infinitives, you'll be ready to use them no matter your first language!

In this post:

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What are infinitive verbs in English?

Have you ever noticed an English verb ending in -ed or -s? These endings tell us something about the verb, like whether it happened in the present or past, and sometimes also who did the action. 

On the other hand, infinitives don’t specify a particular subject or time of an action. English infinitives have the word to before the base form of the verb:

BARE FORM INFINITIVE
eat to eat
read to read

Infinitives vs. bare forms in English

The only thing that the English infinitive tells us is the basic meaning of the verb itself—so the infinitive appears after another verb that carries this information.

For example, infinitives can occur after a main verb.

I tried to call you.
He wants to leave now.

There are also certain cases where the infinitive marker to is omitted. We call such an infinitive the bare form of a verb, or the bare infinitive. The bare form is the verb by itself, without the word to. For example, the bare form of to eat is eat.

You'll use the bare form after modal verbs, so you won't use to!

We can be quiet.
You should invite him.

To negate infinitives, add not before to and the main verb. To negate bare forms, like after modal verbs, add not before the bare form.

I decided not to sell the house.
It should not be difficult.

In somewhat less formal English, negative infinitives can also be formed by inserting not between to and the main verb instead.


I decided to not sell the house.

When to use infinitives in English

When do we need a verb form that doesn’t specify details like person or tense? Common uses of infinitives include:

1. To show a reason or purpose:
I called to talk.
They're going to the store to buy bread.
She left to do some work.

2. Following adjectives:
I'm sorry to leave so soon.
He's always happy to try new things.
It's great to live so close to family.

3. Following certain verbs:
The table below shows common verbs that are often followed by an infinitive. These verbs don’t have to appear with another verb, but when they do, the second verb will be the infinitive form with to:
MAIN VERB EXAMPLE
agree Zari agreed to babysit tomorrow.
appear He appears to be hungry.
ask I asked to stay here.
claim Eddy claims to run the fastest.
decide They decided to eat now.
demand I demand to leave immediately.
deserve They deserve to be happy.
expect We're expecting to have a good time.
fail Junior failed to call his dad.
forget I always forget to lock the door.
hope He hoped to win the race.
learn Bea learned to read very young.
need I need to drink some water.
promise We promised to call every night.
try They are trying to finish their homework.
want He will want to watch TV.

Some English verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund. In English, gerunds also don't show tense, and they are formed by adding -ing to the base form of the verb. (There are some important spelling rules to know about them, too.)

The table below shows common verbs that can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund:

MAIN VERB EXAMPLE WITH INFINITIVE EXAMPLE WITH GERUND
hate She hated to run. She hated running.
like You like to dance. You like dancing.
love He loves to sleep. He loves sleeping.
prefer They preferred to stay here. They preferred staying here.
start I like to start my day early. I like starting my day early.

When to use bare forms in English

Some common uses of bare verbs include:

1. After causal verbs, like let, make and have. With these verbs, the subject of the sentence causes someone to do or be what is indicated by the bare form:
Let her sit on the couch, please.
She made them be quiet.
We had them watch the kids for the weekend.


2. In sentences with sensory verbs, like see, hear, and feel:
I often see a child jump over the fence.
They will hear a dog bark.
He felt the spider crawl up his leg. 

3. With the word why when used to make a suggestion:
Why sleep on the floor when you can sleep on the bed?
Why wait?
Why not go to a restaurant tonight? 

4. After modal verbs:

MODAL VERB EXAMPLE
can I can see the moon.
could They could run really fast.
may Oscar may bring a friend.
might We might see a movie.
must You must be quiet.
should I should study tonight.
will She will cook dinner.
would They would prefer to stay here.
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Examples of infinitives and bare forms in English

Here is a list of common infinitives and their bare forms:

INFINITIVE BARE FORM
to argue argue
to ask ask
to be be
to become become
to begin begin
to believe believe
to bite bite
to blow blow
to break break
to bring bring
to build build
to burn burn
to buy buy
to call call
to carry carry
to catch catch
to change change
to choose choose
to clean clean
to climb climb
to come come
to continue continue
to cook cook
to cost cost
to cry cry
to decide decide
to die die
to do do
to draw draw
to drink drink
to drive drive
to drop drop
to dry dry
to eat eat
to enjoy enjoy
to fall fall
to feed feed
to feel feel
to fight fight
to find find
to finish finish
to forget forget
to fly fly
to get get
to give give
to go go
to grow grow
to hang hang
to hate hate
to have have
to hear hear
to help help
to hit hit
to hurt hurt
to invite invite
to join join
to jump jump
to keep keep
to kick kick
to kill kill
to kiss kiss
to know know
to laugh laugh
to lay lay
to lead lead
to learn learn
to leave leave
to lend lend
to let let
to lie lie
to like like
to live live
to look look
to lose lose
to love love
to make make
to marry marry
to mean mean
to meet meet
to mix mix
to move move
to melt melt
to miss miss
to need need
to open open
to pass pass
to pay pay
to play play
to promise promise
to put put
to read read
to remember remember
to return return
to ride ride
to ring ring
to rise rise
to run run
to say say
to see see
to seem seem
to sell sell
to send send
to shake shake
to shout shout
to sing sing
to sink sink
to sit sit
to sleep sleep
to smell smell
to smile smile
to speak speak
to spell spell
to start start
to stay stay
to steal steal
to stick stick
to stop stop
to study study
to swim swim
to take take
to talk talk
to teach teach
to tell tell
to think think
to throw throw
to touch touch
to travel travel
to try try
to turn turn
to understand understand
to use use
to wake wake
to want want
to watch watch
to wear wear
to win win
to wish wish
to work work
to write write

To learn is to love English!

To use the infinitive or not to use the infinitive? 😉 Now you can answer with confidence!