Gerunds vs Infinitives: Which English Verbs Take ‘-ing’ and Which Take ‘to’

You’ve learned the tenses. You can conjugate confidently. And then a sentence like “I’m looking forward to see you” slips out, and a native speaker pauses for half a second before it clicks. The fix wasn’t grammar you forgot — it’s a pattern you never memorized: which verbs pull a gerund (-ing) after them, and which demand an infinitive (to + verb).

There’s no single rule that covers every case — English just doesn’t work that way. But there is a manageable set of patterns, and once you’ve drilled them a few times, your ear starts catching the wrong one before you even finish the sentence.

The Core Idea, in One Sentence

Some verbs are followed by a gerund (enjoy swimming), some by an infinitive (want to swim), a handful can take either with no real change in meaning, and a tiny but important group changes meaning depending on which one you pick. Let’s go through each group with examples you can actually reuse.

Verbs That Always Take the Gerund

These verbs treat the action as a thing — almost like a noun — so they take the -ing form. The most common ones to know cold:

• enjoy, love, like (in some uses) — I enjoy cooking on Sundays.
• finish, stop, quit — She finished writing the report.
• avoid, deny, risk — He avoided answering the question.
• suggest, recommend, consider — I’d suggest booking early.
• keep, continue (informal), practice — Keep practicing — you’re close.
• mind, miss, imagine — Do you mind waiting a moment?

A useful trick: most phrasal verbs and prepositional expressions also take the gerund, because grammatically what follows a preposition is treated as a noun. That’s why it’s “look forward to seeing you”, not “to see you” — to here is a preposition, not part of an infinitive. Same logic applies to give up smoking, put off leaving, and be interested in learning.

Verbs That Always Take the Infinitive

These verbs usually describe a plan, a decision, a hope, or something not yet happening — so they look ahead with to + verb:

• want, hope, wish, plan — We hope to visit next year.
• decide, agree, promise, offer — They agreed to meet on Friday.
• need, deserve, afford — You deserve to rest.
• learn, manage, fail, refuse — He refused to apologize.
• pretend, seem, appear — She seemed to know everyone.

If you’re ever unsure, ask whether the verb points toward something future or hypothetical (want, plan, decide) rather than something ongoing or already happening (enjoy, keep, finish). It’s not a perfect test, but it catches a surprising number of cases.

Verbs That Accept Either, With No Real Change

A small group genuinely doesn’t mind which form follows, and native speakers use both interchangeably: