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.