Gerund vs Infinitive
Check the verb before the gap: some verbs (enjoy, mind, finish) always take -ing, others (want, decide, promise) always take to + verb, and a handful (stop, remember, try) change meaning depending on which one you choose.
Formula
Examples
Usage
- •Gerunds: used as nouns
- •Infinitives: after certain verbs and with purpose
- •Verbs that take both with different meanings
Studying is free forever on Budling — no account needed to try it.
Try 5 cards free — no signup →Which verbs are followed by gerund and which by infinitive?
There's no single rule — high-frequency verbs simply have to be learned individually. Common gerund-only verbs: enjoy, mind, finish, suggest, avoid, consider, admit. Common infinitive-only verbs: want, decide, promise, hope, plan, agree, refuse. A third group takes either with no meaning change: like, love, hate, start, begin, continue.
One reliable pattern: after any preposition, only the gerund works — "interested in doing", "look forward to meeting", "good at cooking" — never "to do" after a preposition, even when "to" is part of the phrase itself (as in "look forward to").
Does the verb form change the meaning?
For a small set of verbs — stop, remember, forget, try, regret, mean — the gerund and infinitive give genuinely different meanings, not just a style choice. "I stopped smoking" (I quit the habit) vs "I stopped to smoke" (I paused another activity in order to smoke) describe opposite actions.
"Remembered locking the door" recalls a past action already done; "remembered to lock the door" means the person didn't forget to do it. Getting these pairs right is one of the highest-value things to memorize at B2, since the sentences look almost identical but mean different things.
Comparison Table
| Form | + gerund (-ing) | + infinitive (to + verb) |
|---|---|---|
| stop | Ends an activity/habit — "stopped smoking" | Pauses to do something else — "stopped to smoke" |
| remember | Recalls a past action — "remembered locking the door" | Didn't forget to do it — "remembered to lock the door" |
| forget | Forgets a past action happened — "never forgot meeting her" | Fails to do something needed — "forgot to call her" |
| try | Experiments/tests something — "tried restarting the computer" | Makes an effort to do something hard — "tried to open the jar" |
| regret | Feels sorry about a past action — "regret saying that" | Formal announcement of bad news — "regret to inform you" |
Save this comparison chart
More Examples
I stopped smoking last year.
Gerund: stopped an activity
I stopped to smoke.
Infinitive: stopped in order to smoke (different meaning)
She remembered locking the door.
Gerund: recalls a past action
She remembered to lock the door.
Infinitive: didn't forget to do it
Tips
- ✓Gerund = subject/object; infinitive = purpose or after specific verbs.
- ✓With "try", "stop", "remember", "forget" — the form changes the meaning dramatically.
Verb Forms Reference
Which verbs take -ing, to-infinitive, or both
| Verb | Takes | |
|---|---|---|
| + -ing only | ||
| admit | verb + -ing | |
| avoid | verb + -ing | |
| can't help | verb + -ing | |
| consider | verb + -ing | |
| delay | verb + -ing | |
| deny | verb + -ing | |
| enjoy | verb + -ing | |
| feel like | verb + -ing | |
| finish | verb + -ing | |
| give up | verb + -ing | |
| imagine | verb + -ing | |
| involve | verb + -ing | |
| keep | verb + -ing | |
| mention | verb + -ing | |
| mind | verb + -ing | |
| miss | verb + -ing | |
| postpone | verb + -ing | |
| practise | verb + -ing | |
| put off | verb + -ing | |
| risk | verb + -ing | |
| suggest | verb + -ing | |
| + to-infinitive only | ||
| afford | to + verb | |
| agree | to + verb | |
| aim | to + verb | |
| appear | to + verb | |
| arrange | to + verb | |
| choose | to + verb | |
| dare | to + verb | |
| decide | to + verb | |
| demand | to + verb | |
| deserve | to + verb | |
| expect | to + verb | |
| fail | to + verb | |
| happen | to + verb | |
| help | to + verb | |
| hope | to + verb | |
| learn | to + verb | |
| manage | to + verb | |
| need | to + verb | |
| offer | to + verb | |
| plan | to + verb | |
| pretend | to + verb | |
| promise | to + verb | |
| refuse | to + verb | |
| seem | to + verb | |
| tend | to + verb | |
| want | to + verb | |
| wish | to + verb | |
| would like | to + verb | |
| Both (same meaning) | ||
| begin | both (same) | |
| can't bear | both (same) | |
| continue | both (same) | |
| hate | both (same) | |
| like | both (same) | |
| love | both (same) | |
| prefer | both (same) | |
| start | both (same) | |
| Both (meaning changes) | ||
| forget | both (↑ meaning) | |
| go on | both (↑ meaning) | |
| mean | both (↑ meaning) | |
| regret | both (↑ meaning) | |
| remember | both (↑ meaning) | |
| stop | both (↑ meaning) | |
| try | both (↑ meaning) | |
64 of 64 verbs shown
Advanced Notes
The gerund/infinitive split is partly historical — no single rule covers all cases, so high-frequency verbs must be memorized. After prepositions, only gerunds work ("interested in doing", "look forward to meeting" — never "to meet" here). The meaning-change verbs (stop, remember, forget, try, regret, mean, go on) are a high-yield area for exams and natural speech. With "like/love/hate", British English slightly prefers gerunds for general preferences, American English uses either freely. "Need" has a special passive gerund: "The car needs washing" = "The car needs to be washed".
FAQ
What's the difference between "stop doing" and "stop to do"?
"Stop doing" means quitting an activity — "I stopped smoking" = I no longer smoke. "Stop to do" means pausing one activity in order to start another — "I stopped to smoke" = I paused what I was doing to have a cigarette. The gerund ends the habit; the infinitive states a purpose for stopping.
What's the difference between "remember doing" and "remember to do"?
"Remember doing" recalls a memory of a past action already completed — "She remembered locking the door" = she has a memory of doing it. "Remember to do" means not forgetting an upcoming or required action — "She remembered to lock the door" = she didn't forget to do it.
Why does "interested in doing" use -ing, not "to do"?
Because "in" is a preposition, and only the gerund follows a preposition in English — never the to-infinitive. This applies to every preposition + verb combination: "look forward to meeting", "good at cooking", "afraid of flying" — the "to" in "look forward to" is a preposition here, not part of an infinitive.
Is gerund vs infinitive related to modal verbs?
Not directly, but they interact: modal verbs (can, must, should) are always followed by the bare infinitive without "to" ("must go", not "must to go" or "must going"), which is a separate rule from the gerund/infinitive choice after ordinary verbs like want or enjoy.
How is gerund/infinitive related to passive voice?
The verb "need" has a special passive-meaning gerund: "The car needs washing" means the same as the passive "The car needs to be washed" — the gerund form implicitly carries a passive sense here, which is unusual since gerunds are normally active.
Practice
- 1.I enjoy (read) novels in the evening.
- 2.They want (leave) early tomorrow.
- 3.She stopped (smoke) five years ago.
- 4.He stopped (buy) some milk on his way home.
- 5.She's interested in (learn) French.
Compare With
Other B2 Topics
Past Perfect
Used for the earlier of two past events to show sequence
Future Perfect
Used for actions completed before a specific future point
Conditionals (0, 1, 2, 3)
Forms real, hypothetical, and impossible conditions across all time frames
Reported Speech
Used for converting direct speech to indirect speech with tense and pronoun shifts
Causative Have
Used for arranging for someone else to do something for you
Past Perfect Continuous
Used for an ongoing action that continued up to a past event
Future Perfect Continuous
Used for duration of an ongoing action up to a future point
Modal Perfects: Deduction About the Past
Expresses deductions about past events using must/can't/might + have
Participle Clauses
Used for reducing clauses using -ing or past participle for concise formal style
Dependent Prepositions
Fixed prepositions that always follow certain verbs, adjectives, and nouns.