Aan het, Te, and Om...Te: Choosing the Infinitive Frame | Dutch Grammar

Dutch attaches a second verb to a first in four different ways, and choosing the wrong one is one of the most persistent intermediate errors. The good news is that the four frames divide cleanly by function, not by feel — once you can name what the second verb is doing in the sentence, the frame is decided for you. This page lays all four side by side on a single verb, lezen ("to read"), so the contrast is unmistakable, and ends with a decision tree you can run in your head.

The four frames on one verb

Frame	Example	Function
aan het + infinitive	Ik ben aan het lezen.	Progressive — an action in progress right now
bare infinitive	Ik kan lezen.	After a modal / motion / perception / laten verb
te + infinitive	Ik probeer te lezen.	After most other governing verbs
om ... te + infinitive	Ik heb tijd om te lezen.	Purpose ("in order to") / after evaluative adjectives & nouns

Four sentences, one verb, four jobs. Hear them once as a set and the rest of the page is just filling in when each applies.

Ik ben aan het lezen, kun je zo terugkomen?

I'm in the middle of reading, can you come back in a bit?

Mijn dochter van vier kan al lezen.

My four-year-old can already read.

Ik probeer dit hoofdstuk voor morgen te lezen.

I'm trying to read this chapter before tomorrow.

Heb je nog tijd om iets te lezen voor het slapen?

Do you still have time to read something before bed?

Frame 1 — aan het + infinitive: action in progress

Use aan het + infinitive to say something is happening right now, at this moment — the equivalent of the English "-ing" progressive. The pattern is zijn + aan het + a bare infinitive at the end of the clause. It answers "what are you doing (right now)?"

Stil even, de baby is aan het slapen.

Quiet a moment, the baby's sleeping.

Waar ben je mee bezig? — Ik ben de keuken aan het schoonmaken.

What are you up to? — I'm cleaning the kitchen.

The giveaway is the present-moment, in-progress meaning. If you can insert "right now / at the moment" in English, aan het is your frame. Dutch also has positional progressives (Ik zit te lezen, Hij staat te wachten) for the same idea with a posture; those live on Positional Verbs + te. For the full progressive picture, see The aan het Progressive.

Frame 2 — bare infinitive: after the closed list

Use a bare infinitive (no te, no aan het) when the governing verb belongs to the small closed list: the modals (kunnen, mogen, moeten, willen, zullen), the motion/causative verbs (gaan, komen, laten, blijven, doen), and the perception verbs (zien, horen, voelen). These verbs grab the next verb directly, with no marker between them.

Ik ga vanavond koken, blijf je eten?

I'm going to cook tonight, are you staying for dinner?

Laat me die foto eens zien.

Let me see that photo.

Ik hoor de buren al de hele dag boren.

I've been hearing the neighbours drilling all day.

This is the frame English speakers under-use, because English keeps "to" after some of these ("I want to read"). In Dutch willen takes a bare infinitive: Ik wil lezen, never Ik wil te lezen. The closed list is fully covered, with the reasoning behind it, on the Te-infinitive Overview — memorising that list is the single highest-value thing you can do for this whole area.

Frame 3 — te + infinitive: the default everywhere else

Use te + infinitive after every governing verb not on the bare list. This is the default, covering verbs of trying, hoping, promising, deciding, forgetting, refusing, beginning, and so on (proberen, hopen, beloven, besluiten, vergeten, weigeren, beginnen). If you don't know whether a verb takes te, assume it does — you'll be right far more often than not.

Ze besloot een jaar in het buitenland te gaan wonen.

She decided to go and live abroad for a year.

Vergeet niet de planten water te geven terwijl ik weg ben.

Don't forget to water the plants while I'm away.

Hij begon te lachen toen hij het hoorde.

He started laughing when he heard it.

There is also the modal-passive te (Het is te koop, Dat is niet te doen) where zijn/vallen + te + infinitive means "can/must be ...-ed" — a related but distinct use covered on Staan/Zijn te: the Modal Passive. Don't confuse the governing-verb te (probeer te lezen) with that passive te (is te lezen = "can be read / legible").

Frame 4 — om ... te: purpose and evaluation

Use om ... te when the infinitive expresses purpose — the answer to "what for? / why?" — translatable as "in order to." It also appears after evaluative adjectives (te moe om te werken, leuk om te doen) and after nouns expressing enough/too much/time/reason (tijd om, reden om, geen zin om).

Ik ben naar de winkel gegaan om brood te halen.

I went to the shop to get bread.

Het is veel te koud om buiten te zitten.

It's far too cold to sit outside.

Ze heeft geen zin om mee te gaan vanavond.

She doesn't feel like coming along tonight.

The classic test: can you say "in order to" in English without changing the meaning? Ik bel om te vragen... = "I'm calling in order to ask..." → om te. If you only mean a flat "to" after a governing verb (I'm trying to read), it's plain te, not om te. Full treatment on Om...te: Purpose and Beyond.

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The cleanest discriminator between Frame 3 and Frame 4: om te is removable-with-a-comma in thought — it adds a purpose you could drop ("I went to the shop [in order] to get bread"). Plain te is grammatically demanded by the verb and can't be dropped ("I'm trying _ read" is broken). If the infinitive answers "why?", use om te; if it's just the object of a verb, use bare te.

The decision tree

Run these questions in order and stop at the first "yes":

Is the action happening right now, in progress? → aan het + infinitive (Ik ben aan het lezen).
Is the governing verb a modal, or one of gaan/komen/laten/blijven/doen/zien/horen/voelen? → bare infinitive (Ik kan lezen, Ik ga lezen).
Does the infinitive express purpose — does it answer "what for?" — or follow an evaluative adjective/noun (te moe om..., tijd om..., geen zin om...)? → om ... te (tijd om te lezen).
Otherwise (any other governing verb). → te + infinitive (Ik probeer te lezen).

That ordering matters: check the progressive first (it overrides everything when the meaning is in-progress), then the closed bare list, then purpose, and treat plain te as the catch-all default. Four questions, and the frame is settled.

Ik zit op de bank een boek te lezen omdat ik te moe ben om iets anders te doen.

I'm sitting on the couch reading a book because I'm too tired to do anything else.

That last sentence stacks three of the frames — positional te (zit ... te lezen), evaluative om te (te moe om ... te doen) — in one breath, which is exactly how they appear in real Dutch.

Common Mistakes

Almost every error here is reaching for the wrong frame: adding te after a modal, using plain te where purpose needs om te, or building a clunky paraphrase instead of aan het.

❌ Ik ben lezen nu.

Incorrect — the present progressive needs the aan het frame.

✅ Ik ben nu aan het lezen.

I'm reading right now.

❌ Ik wil te lezen.

Incorrect — willen is a modal and takes a bare infinitive.

✅ Ik wil lezen.

I want to read.

❌ Ik ga naar de winkel te brood halen.

Incorrect — purpose requires om ... te, and word order is off.

✅ Ik ga naar de winkel om brood te halen.

I'm going to the shop to get bread.

❌ Ik probeer om dit boek te lezen.

Incorrect — proberen takes plain te, not om te (no purpose meaning here).

✅ Ik probeer dit boek te lezen.

I'm trying to read this book.

❌ Het is te koud te buiten zitten.

Incorrect — after an evaluative adjective (te koud) you need om te.

✅ Het is te koud om buiten te zitten.

It's too cold to sit outside.

Master the four-question tree and you've tamed the single most error-prone corner of Dutch verb syntax. When in genuine doubt between Frame 3 and Frame 4, ask "does this answer why?" — that one question resolves the great majority of cases.

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