Verbs followed by the infinitive

CONTINUED FROM >> PAGE 1The Spanish infinitive is used quite frequently after conjugated verbs, and sometimes in a way that has no direct equivalent in English. Although the Spanish infinitive is sometimes translated as an infinitive in English, it isn't always, as the following examples show:

Examples: Quiero salir. (I want to leave.) Él evita estudiar. (He avoids studying.) Necesito comprar dos huevos. (I need to buy two eggs.) El que teme pensar es esclavo de la superstición. (He who fears thinking is a slave to superstition.) Dudo tener la habilidad. (I doubt I have the ability.) Intentó ganar el control. (He tried to gain control.)

Note that in the above examples, both verbs (the conjugated verb and the infinitive that follows) refer to action by the same subject. This is usually the case when infinitives follow other verbs; the main exceptions are listed below. Thus a sentence such as dice ser católica (she says she herself is Catholic) doesn't have the same ambiguity that a sentence such as dice que es católica would have (it could mean that the Catholic person is someone other than the subject of the sentence).

As discussed in the previous lesson, the infinitive has characteristics of both a verb and a noun. Thus, when an infinitive is used after a verb, some grammarians view the infinitive as an object of the conjugated verb, while others see it as a dependent verb. It doesn't matter much how you classify it — just note that in either case both the conjugated verb and the infinitive normally refer to action taken by the same subject. (Exceptions are discussed in the following lesson.) If another person is performing the action, the sentence needs to be recast, usually by using que. For example, María me aseguró no saber nada (she assured me she knows nothing), but María me aseguró que Roberto no sabe nada (María assured me that Roberto knows nothing).

In many cases, either the infinitive or a sentence using que can be used when the person is performing the action of both verbs. Thus sé tener razón (I know I'm right) is basically the equivalent of sé que tengo razón, although the second sentence construction is less formal.

Following is a list of some of the verbs that most commonly are followed directly by an infinitive, along with sample sentences.