SMART GRAMMAR #10 EL INFINITIVO Y EL INFINITIVO SIN ‘TO’
SMART GRAMMAR 10 – El infinitivo y el infinitivo sin’to’.
¡Hola a [email protected] y bienvenidos a Smart grammar #10!
Hoy nos centraremos en la forma infinitiva de los verbos.
Hay dos formas principales de verbos infinitivos.
Se llaman:
El infinitivo con ‘To’ y el infinitivo sin ‘to’.
En esta sección veremos la estructura de frases más complicadas donde los verbos
infinitivos son usados después de un verbo principal.
También miraremos como las formas infinitivas que son usadas después de determinados
verbos: Prefer (Preferir), ask (Preguntar) and let (Dejar).
Mirad las siguientes frases:
– Michael prefers to watch a film at the cinema, rather than to rent a DVD from the
video store.
(Michael prefiere mirar una película en el cine en lugar de alquilar un DVD en una tienda).
-Michael prefers to watch a film at the cinema, rather than rent a DVD from the video
store.
(Michael prefiere mirar una película en el cinema en lugar de alquilar un DVD en una
tienda).
No hay ninguna diferencia entre el significado de estas frases. Ambas son correctas.
Daros cuenta de que el verbo principal es ‘Preferir’ y está seguido por el infinitivo del verbo
‘Watch’
Naturalmente la primera frase utiliza el infinitivo con ‘To’ (‘To rent’) mientras que la segunda
frase utiliza el infinitivo sin ‘to’ (‘Rent’).
Hay algunos verbos y estructuras en la lengua inglesa que permiten hacer esto.
Miremos ahora un ejemplo más:
-Michael prefers to talk about his problems, rather than to keep silent about them.
(Michael prefiere hablar de sus problemas en lugar de mantenerse en silencio sobre ellos).
-Michael prefers to talk about his problems, rather than keep silent about them.
(Michael prefiere hablar de sus problemas en lugar de mantenerse en silencio sobre ellos).
Como el anterior ejemplo no hay diferencias en el significado de estas frases. Ambas son
correctas.
En ambas frases podemos utilizar ambas formas.
Naturalmente hay muchos casos en inglés donde puedes utilizar solamente uno de los dos.
Mirad los siguientes ejemplos:
-Michael prefers watch movies at the cinema.
(Michael prefiere ver películas en el cine).
-Michael prefers to watch movies at the cinema.
(Michael prefiere ver películas en el cine).
La primera frase, que utiliza la forma del infinitivo sin ‘to’ suena como algo que diría un
aprendiz de inglés no-nativo y en efecto muchos de nuestros estudiantes a menudo
cometen este error.
La segunda frase utiliza la forma verbal infinitiva ‘To’ y pronunciando esta frase en voz alta,
te das cuenta que suena correctamente.
Aquí tenemos otro ejemplo que muestra la importancia de decidir si utilizar la forma infinitiva
‘To’ o la forma verbal infinitiva sin ‘To’.
-Michael asked his son to put his toys away.
(Michael pidió a su hijo que recogiese sus juguetes).
-Michael asked his son put his toys away.
(Michael pidió a su hijo recogiese sus juguetes).
La primera frase, que utiliza la forma infinitivo con ‘To’ es la forma correcta.
La segunda frase que utiliza la forma verbal infinitiva sin ‘to’ no es la correcta.
Pronuncia las dos frase en voz alta… ¿Cuál te suena mejor?
Miremos otro ejemplo:
-The teacher let the students to leave school early today.
(El maestro dejó que lo estudiantes salieran temprano hoy).
-The teacher let the students leave school early today.
(El maestro dejó que lo estudiantes salieran temprano hoy).
La primera frase utiliza la forma infinitiva ‘To’ y no es la forma correcta. ¿Por qué?
¡Pronunciarla en voz alta! Suena mal para los habladores nativos. La segunda frase utiliza la
forma del verbo infinitiva sin ‘to’ y como puedes ver pronunciandola en voz alta, ¡es la forma
correcta!
¡Por hoy es todo!
Espero haberos ayudado,
¡Nos vemos en el próximo SMART GRAMMAR post!
Smart Academy Staff.
SMART GRAMMAR 10 – ‘To’ infinitive and ‘Bare’ infinitive.
Hello to everybody and welcome to Smart Grammar #10!
Today we are going to focus on the infinitive forms of the verbs!
There are two main types of infinitive verbs.
These are called:
The ‘To’ infinitive verb form and the ‘Bare’ infinitive form.
In this section we will look at more complicated sentence structures where infinitive verbs
are used following a main verb.
Also we will see how infinitive forms are used after the following verbs: Prefer, ask and let.
Look at the following examples:
-Michael prefers to watch a film at the cinema, rather than to rent a DVD from the
video store.
-Michael prefers to watch a film at the cinema, rather than rent a DVD from the video
store.
There is no difference in the meaning of these two sentences. They are both correct.
Notice that the main verb is ‘prefers’ and this is followed by the infinitive verb ‘Watch’.
However the first sentence uses the ‘To’ infinitive (‘To rent’) while the second sentence uses
the ‘Bare’ infinitive (‘Rent’). There are some verbs and structures in the English language
that allow to you to do this.
Let’s look at another example
-Michael prefers to talk about his problems, rather than to keep silent about them.
-Michael prefers to talk about his problems, rather than keep silent about them.
Just like the previous example there is no difference in the meaning of these sentences.
They are both correct. In both of these sentences you can use either the ‘To’ infinitive or the
‘Bare’ infinitive form of the verb. (‘Keep’).
However there are many occasions in English when you can use only one of the two.
Look at the examples again. Which can’t you say:
-Michael prefers watch movies at the cinema.
-Michael prefers to watch movies at the cinema.
The first sentence, which uses the ‘bare infinitive’ verb form sounds like something your
non-native English learner would say and indeed many of our students often make this
mistake.
The second sentence uses the ‘To infinitive’ verb form and by saying this sentence out loud,
you know it sounds correct.
Here is another example which shows that it is important to decide whether to use ‘To
infinitive’ form or the ‘Bare infinitive’ form of the verb:
-Michael asked his son to put his toys away.
-Michael asked his son put his toys away.
The first sentence, uses the ‘To infinitive’ verb form and this is the correct form.
The second sentence uses the ‘Bare infinitive’ verb form which is not correct.
Say the two sentences out loud… Which feels better for you?
Look at another example:
-The teacher let the students to leave school early today.
-The teacher let the students leave school early today.
The first sentence uses the ‘To infinitive’ verb form and this is not the correct form. Why?
Say it out loud! It sounds wrong to native speakers. The second sentence uses the ‘Bare
infinitive’ verb form and as you can see by reading it out loud, this the correct form!
That is everything for today!
I hope this has helped you,
See you in the next SMART GRAMMAR post!
Smart Academy Staff.
