Infinitives with and without to

Form

The infinitive of a verb has two forms: the to-infinitive and the infinitive without to. The to-form consists of to plus the base form of the verb:

• I want to speak to you.
• We came here to work, not to play.

The form without to consists of the base form of the verb:

• She made us wait for half an hour.
• John lets the dog sleep on the sofa.

To-infinitive

We use the to-infinitive after a number of common main verbs. These include:

agree	demand	long	pretend
aim	fail	love	promise
arrange	forget	manage	propose
ask	hate	mean	refuse
begin	help	need	remember
choose	hope	offer	try
claim	intend	plan	want
continue	learn	prefer	wish
decide	like	prepare

We arranged to see the bank manager and applied for a loan.

Mrs Harding asked us to call in on our way home.

Did you remember to post the letter to your mother?

He just wants everyone to be happy.

Some of these verbs are also often followed by -ing.

See also

• Verb patterns: verb + infinitive or verb + -ing?
• Verbs followed by a to-infinitive
• Verbs followed by an infinitive without to

We can use the to-infinitive in a clause with a verb that has no subject (a non-finite clause). The to-infinitive focuses on the idea of an action or the results of an action, rather than the action in itself:

• To work in a developing country had always been her ambition.
• To get there before lunch, you would have to take the seven o’clock train.

See also

• Finite and non-finite verbs
• Non-finite clauses
• Perfect infinitive with to (to have worked)

Infinitive without to

We use the infinitive without to after modal verbs can, could, may, might, will, shall, would, should, must:

• She can sleep in the guest room tonight.
• Will you need to rent a car during your stay?

We also use the infinitive without to after let, make and (optionally) help:

• He lets us use some of his land to grow vegetables.
• You can’t make a cat do anything it doesn’t want to do.
• I just want to help you (to) understand the situation better.

See also

• Modality: introduction
• Auxiliary verbs
• Had better
• Would rather

Typical errors

We don’t use the to-infinitive after modal verbs:

• We might buy a new sofa.
• Not: We might to buy a new sofa.

We don’t use the infinitive (with or without to) after prepositions:

• Lemon juice is useful for cleaning stained surfaces in the kitchen.
• Not: … is useful for clean … or … for to clean …

See also

• Prepositions