Here’s a sentence almost every learner produces at least once, usually with total confidence: “I enjoy to read.” It feels tidy. It’s also broken in a way a native speaker hears before you’ve finished saying it.
The annoying truth is there’s no master rule to memorise. English verbs each decide, more or less arbitrarily, whether the verb that follows them should be a gerund (the -ing form) or an infinitive (the to form). So you don’t learn the logic. You learn the patterns, because the logic mostly went missing centuries ago.
The two forms, quickly
A gerund is a verb dressed up as a noun: swimming, reading, waiting. An infinitive is the base verb with to bolted on the front: to swim, to read, to wait.
Either can follow another verb. The whole game is that the first verb decides which one is allowed, and it never tells you why.
“I want to leave.” is fine. “I want leaving.” is not. Flip the verb and the rule flips with it: “I avoid leaving.” works, “I avoid to leave.” doesn’t. Same meaning, opposite grammar.
Verbs that take -ing
One big family of verbs only ever accepts the gerund. Notice what they have in common: most are about how you feel toward something, or about starting, repeating, and stopping it.
The ones worth knowing first
enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, miss, practise, imagine, deny, consider, keep, admit
“I enjoy cooking on Sundays.”
“She finished writing the report well past midnight.”
“Would you mind closing the window?”
“He kept interrupting the meeting.”
Look at keep there. It means doing something over and over, and it locks onto -ing without exception. “He kept to interrupt” is the sort of slip that makes the whole sentence fall over.
Verbs that take “to”
The opposite family insists on the infinitive. Read the list out loud and you’ll hear the theme: a lot of these are about the future. Wanting, planning, hoping, agreeing — things that haven’t happened yet.
The ones worth knowing first
want, decide, hope, plan, agree, promise, refuse, learn, offer, expect, manage, afford
“We decided to take the early train.”
“They can’t afford to wait any longer.”
“I’m learning to drive, badly.”
“She refused to apologise.”
The forward-looking feel is a real handle to hold. These verbs tend to point at an intention or a plan, and the infinitive points the same way. It’s a tendency, not a law, but it’ll guide you far more often than it’ll mislead you.
After a preposition, always -ing
This one genuinely is a rule, and it’s worth keeping somewhere permanent. When a verb comes straight after a preposition — in, on, at, of, about, for, after, before, without — it goes to -ing. No exceptions.
“She’s good at spotting other people’s mistakes.”
“He left without saying goodbye.”
“Thanks for waiting.”
“I’m interested in learning Portuguese.”
The trap is the word to. Sometimes to is a preposition; sometimes it’s the front half of an infinitive. Compare “I want to learn” (infinitive, base verb) with “I look forward to learning” (here to is a preposition, so you need -ing).
Quick test: if you can drop a noun in after to — “I look forward to the weekend” — then to is a preposition, and any verb that follows takes -ing.
The verbs that change meaning
Now the part that actually matters most. A handful of verbs accept both forms, but the form you pick changes what you’re saying. Choose wrong here and you don’t just sound off — you tell someone the opposite of what you meant.
stop
“He stopped smoking.” means he quit the habit for good.
“He stopped to smoke.” means he paused whatever he was doing so he could have a cigarette.
The gerund is the thing you stopped. The infinitive is the reason you stopped. One man quit; the other just took a break.
remember and forget
With these two, -ing looks over your shoulder and to looks ahead.
“I remember locking the door.” — the locking already happened, and I can picture it.
“I remembered to lock the door.” — I had a job to do, and I didn’t let it slip.
Same split with forget: “I’ll never forget meeting her” (a memory you keep) versus “Don’t forget to call your mum” (a task you mustn’t miss).
try
“Try to open the window.” means make the effort, even if it’s stuck.
“Try opening the window.” means test it as a fix — maybe that’s what’ll cool the room down.
Verbs that take both, no harm done
It isn’t all booby traps. With begin, start, continue, like, love, hate, prefer, both forms are fine and mean the same thing.
“It started raining.” and “It started to rain.” are both natural. Pick either.
One soft preference: native speakers dodge two -ing words back to back. That’s why “It’s starting to rain” slides past more smoothly than “It’s starting raining.” You’ll feel that one in your ear long before any rule explains it.
How to actually make this stick
Don’t sit down and try to swallow the lists whole — they’ll be gone by morning. Learn the verbs inside short phrases, the way they turn up in real sentences: “want to go,” “finished eating,” “no good at lying.”
Every time you meet a new verb, note which form trails behind it and store the pair together as one chunk. Give it a few weeks and the pattern stops being a rule you recall and becomes a feel you trust — and you’ll catch “I enjoy to read” before it ever leaves your mouth.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a rule that tells me which verbs take -ing and which take “to”?
Not a reliable one. There are loose tendencies — future-leaning verbs often take “to,” and verbs about feelings or stopping often take “-ing” — but the only dependable method is to learn each verb’s pattern as you meet it.
After “to” should I always use the infinitive?
No, and this is the most common trap. When “to” is part of an infinitive (want to go), use the base verb. When “to” is a preposition (look forward to, used to, object to), use the -ing form. Test it by trying a noun after “to” — if a noun fits, it’s a preposition.
Does “like” take -ing or “to”?
Both work and mean nearly the same. “I like cooking” and “I like to cook” are both correct. A subtle difference survives in some dialects, where the infinitive can hint at a choice or habit, but you don’t need to lose sleep over it.
Why is “I am used to working late” correct but “I used to work late” also correct?
They’re different structures. “I used to work” describes a past habit and takes the base verb. “I am used to working” means “I’m accustomed to it,” where “to” is a preposition, so it takes -ing.