1. TO –INFINITIVE AND BARE
INFINITIVE, A GUIDE
By Belén
Sáez
Hernáez

2. FORMS OF THE INFINITIVE
ACTIVE FORMS
PRESENT INFINITIVE:
(TO) VERB
PRESENT CONT. INFINITIVE:
(TO) BE + -ING
PERFECT INFINITIVE:
(TO) HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
PERFECT CONT. INIFINITIVE:
(TO) HAVE + BEEN + -ING

3. INFINITIVE PASSIVE FORMS:
PRESENT INFINITIVE:
(TO) BE + PAST PARTICIPLE
PERFECT INFINITIVE:
(TO) HAVE BEEN + PAST PARTICIPLE

4. TIME REFERENCE
1. PRESENT INFINITIVE: (To) verb
Refers to the present or future.
Ex: He expects to stay here for a week.
2. PRESENT CONT. INFINITIVE: (To) be + -ing
Refers to an action happening now.
Ex. He seems to be working hard
3. PERFECT INFINITIVE: (To) have + past participle
Refers to the past and shows that the action of the infinitive
happened before the action of the verb.
Ex. He claims to have won a lot of money. (First he won the
money, then he claimed that he had won it)

5. 4. PERFECT CONT. INFINITIVE: (To) have + been+ -ing
Refers to the past and emphasises the duration of the
action of the infinitive, which happened before the
action of the verb.
Ex. He’s got a headache. He claims to have been working
on the computer all morning.
The perfect infinitive is used with verbs such as seem,
appear, believe, know, claim, expect and modal verbs.
5. PASSIVE - PRESENT INFINITIVE. (To) be + past
participle
Ex. He hopes to be offered a promotion.
6. PASSIVE – PERFECT INFINITIVE: (To) have been +
past
Participle
Ex. She is believed to have been kidnapped.

6. TO – INFINITIVE USES
1. TO EXPRESS PURPOSE:
Ex. Sam went to the bank to get some money.
2. AFTER CERTAIN VERBS (specially in reported
speech):
agree, appear, decide, expect, hope, plan, promise, refuse,
etc.
Ex. He promised to help us with the decoration
She agreed to call me later.

7. 3. AFTER ADJECTIVES which
a) Describe feelings or emotions (happy, glad, etc)
I was happy to hear
that he had left.
b)
Describe willingness or unwillingness (willing,
eager, relunctant, anxious, unwilling, etc.
I am eager/willing to
help.

8. c) Refer to a person’s character (mean, clever, etc)
I was clever not to
believe them
With these adjectives we can also use an impersonal
construction: It +be+adjective + of + noun/pronoun
It was clever of him not to believe them
d) And also with the adjectives lucky and fortunate.
They were lucky to get
away without a fine.

9. 4. AFTER CERTAIN NOUNS AND PRONOUNS such as
something, somewhere, anyone, nothing, etc. usually to
show that something is necessary or possible.
We’ve got a lot of homework to do.
Take something to drink on the bus.
5. AFTER TOO/ENOUGH
We are young enough to stay out
late.
6. WITH IT + BE + ADJECTIVE/NOUN
It is important to get there on time.
It is her ambition to open her own shop.

10. 7) To talk about an UNEXPECTED EVENT which can be
unpleasant, usually with only:
She came home to find her sister waiting for her.
They rushed to the airpot only to be informed that the flight
had been cancelled.
8) After be + the first/second,etc/next/last/best, etc.
I was the first to
arrive.
Don’t let me be
the last to know.

11. 9) After verbs and expressions such as ask, learn, find
out, wonder, want to know, decide, explain, etc,
when they are followed by question words (who,
what, where, how, etc.). *Why is followed by a subject +
verb, not by an infinitive. Specially using reported
speech.
He explained how to draw a map.
I learned what to do in an
emergency.
They wanted to know
where to take dancing
lessons.

12. 10) If two to -infinitives are joined with ‘and’ or ‘or’, the
‘to’ of the second infinitive can be omitted.
He agreed to come and
help us
I couldn’t decide
whether to stay or go.

13. THE BARE INFINITIVE
USES:
1) After MODAL VERBS (can, should, must, etc)
But * Ought is followed by to + infinitive.
You should come for a walk
with me more often.
I can swim like a
dolphin.

14. 2) After the verbs let, make, see, hear and feel.
They saw her talk
to a mysterious
man.
But * be made, be heard, be seen + to –infinitive (passive)
She was seen to talk to the manager.
When see, hear and watch are followed by an –ing form
(continuous action), there is no change in the passive.
I saw her getting into a taxi.
Can/could + see/hear + ing form.
We could see smoke coming out of the building.

15. 3) After HAD BETTER and WOULD RATHER
You had better see a a doctor.
4) Help and dare are followed by either the to – infinitive or
the bare infinitive.
Mum helps me (to) finish my
homework
Everyone thinks extreme sports
are exciting but nobody dares
(to) practise them.