Infinitive or Gerund? (NI1 y NI2)

The use of gerund or infinitive is rather hard for Spanish speakers although we have a similar construction. Pay attention to the difference in meaning between these two sentences:

Vi a tu hermano jugar al futbol           ------            Vi a tu hermano jugando al futbol

The problem is that after certain verbs we use infinitive (with or without TO) or gerund. And there are some which can be followed by both, with or without change of meaning. 

It’s difficult to explain the rules for using one or the other but in general you might say that infinitive has a certain idea of future, potential action while gerund is usually referred to present or past ; e. g.: Remember to buy some bread but I remember buying some bread at the baker’s when I was a child.

Here you have a link which is quite useful to understand how to use these two no personal verbal forms: http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/part_1.htm and then you should see this http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/part_2.htm; but if you want to have a larger explanation you can go to http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/ 

Apart from the links above, there are many lists of verbs you can find on grammar books or on the internet. This page is another example :  http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/structure/structure1/gerinfvbs.html

It’s hard and difficult to learn ths list by heart so you’d better do some exercises with a context to practice with this. Some possible exercises are about filling in the gaps or multiple choice. There are quite a lot if you use the internet like these ones:

• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/gerund_infinitiv.htm
• http://a4esl.org/q/h/9801/el-to-ing.html
• http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/index.htm with different levels of difficulty
• http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/test1-exercise1/
• http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/test1-exercise2/
• http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/test1-exercise3/
• http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/test2-exercise1/
• http://www.e-grammar.org/infinitive-gerund/test2-exercise2/

If you want to do something different to learn this prompt of grammar, go to

http://anasuarezingles.blogspot.com/2009/04/infinitive-vs-gerund.html : you have two videos about the use of infinitive or gerund.