GERUND oder INFINITIVE? 2 Regeln, 2 Ausnahmen erklärt

Wow, welcome to the absolute pinnacle of English grammar. One of the most difficult topics of all: When do you use a gerund, and when the to-infinitive? It's not so easy, because there are just as many exceptions as rules. This video contains all the information you need, and with a little practice, you'll ace your next test! 0:00 Welcome to hell 0:13 Why does it have to be so complicated? 0:50 Never make THIS mistake! 1:09 The gerund has reserved the place 1:45 Exclusively for the infinitive 2:18 Test your skills 2:53 Use whatever you want, it doesn't matter. 3:11 Or does it? 3:40 Here we go, buckle up... 4:02 REMEMBER, remember, never FORGET... 4:41 Don't STOP beliiiiiiiiiieving 5:02 TRY this... 5:27 No REGRETs 5:50 MEAN Bean Machine 6:10 GO ON without me, friend... Verbs that are always followed by a gerund: avoid, celebrate, consider, contemplate, defer, delay, detest, dislike, dread, enjoy, entail, escape, excuse, finish, forgive, involve, keep, loathe, mind, miss, pardon, postpone, prevent, resent, resist, risk, save Verbs that are always followed by a to-infinitive: afford, agree, aim, appear, arrange, bother, care, claim, condescend, consent, decide, demand, determine, endeavour, fail, guarantee, happen, hasten, have (in the sense of must), hesitate, hope, learn long, manage, offer, prepare, pretend, proceed, promise, propose, prove, refuse, resolve, seek, seem, strive, swear, tend, threaten, trouble, undertake, volunteer, vow* After some verbs, it doesn't matter whether you use a gerund or a to-infinitive. He begins learning for the test. Or He begins to learn for the test. They are therefore synonymous. The verbs to which this applies include begin, like, love, prefer, start, hate, and continue. Theoretically, there is no difference in meaning whether you use the gerund or the to-infinitive. In practice, however, the gerund is often used for general statements – “I love eating ice cream” – and the to-infinitive for specific situations – “I love to eat ice cream on hot summer days.” Don't worry too much about it; both are correct. But you might want to keep this little rule in mind. Now we come to the crux of the matter: verbs that can be followed by either a gerund or a to-infinitive. Depending on which you use, the meaning of the sentence changes. These verbs are forget, go on, mean, regret, remember, stop, and try. Good news: That's all of them. Bad news: You have to memorize them. Let's start with the basics: With remember, the gerund recalls a past situation and therefore always refers to the past. The to-infinitive, on the other hand, describes an action that you should remember in the future. In German, it's often translated as "denke daran" (think of it). So, things you would write on a to-do list. Forget follows the same rule and is often used in negative sentences. With the gerund, a past situation is forgotten—or rather, not forgotten. The to-infinitive—"vergiss nicht" (don't forget) in German—refers to a future action that you should forget, or rather, not forget. Stop Stop is similarly simple. The gerund indicates that an action is stopped. This often refers to bad habits like "stop smoking" or "stop drinking." With the to-infinitive, however, another activity is stopped so that the action can be carried out. In our example, the walk home is interrupted to buy milk. Try When you use a gerund with the verb "try," you want to try something out. It's a suggestion. "I should try running sometime." With the to-infinitive, it's about attempting something difficult. "I try to run every morning." I know this all sounds quite overwhelming, especially since you can't directly translate most of it into German. But you're doing great so far. And I know you'll manage the rest too. Regret With regret, things get a bit more complicated. With the gerund "sprech," you're describing an action you regret. "I regret having smoked during my teenage years." With the to-infinitive, you regret carrying out the action. “I’m sorry to say you didn’t pass the test.” This form is often used in combination with bad news. Mean With “mean,” the gerund indicates that the action must be performed in order to achieve the goal. “I want to lose weight. That means going for a run every morning.” The to-infinitive, on the other hand, indicates whether the action was intentional. “I didn’t mean to call you. I pressed the button by mistake.” Go on With “go on,” the gerund indicates that an action should be continued. “Please continue reading the text.” The to-infinitive describes a change in activity. “Please start your math homework now.”