When two verbs stack in Dutch, the first one decides how the second one is marked: bare (no marker, Ik ga eten), te (Ik probeer te eten), or om ... te (Ik heb geen tijd om te eten). There is no deep rule that predicts which marker a given verb wants — membership is lexical, a property you memorise per verb, the way English speakers simply know that "enjoy" takes -ing ("enjoy swimming") while "want" takes to ("want to swim"). Because it's a memory problem, not a logic problem, the most useful thing this page can be is a clean, frequency-ordered lookup list. The overview page (verbs/te-infinitive/overview) explains the intuition behind the split; this page is the reference you come back to when you need to check a specific verb.
The three patterns at a glance
Ik ga eten.
I'm going to eat. — bare infinitive after 'gaan'.
Ik probeer te eten.
I'm trying to eat. — te-infinitive after 'proberen'.
Ik heb geen tijd om te eten.
I don't have time to eat. — om...te after a noun expressing the lack/reason.
These three are the templates. Everything below sorts the common governing verbs into which template they trigger.
List 1 — Bare infinitive (no te)
This is the closed, learnable group — the verbs that grab a plain infinitive with nothing in front of it. If a verb is on this list, putting te in front of its infinitive is an error. Memorise the list as a block.
| Group | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Modals | kunnen, mogen, moeten, willen, zullen | Ik wil slapen. |
| Motion / causative | gaan, komen, laten, doen, blijven | Ze komt eten. |
| Perception | zien, horen, voelen | Ik hoor hem zingen. |
| Helping / teaching | helpen, leren | Ik leer zwemmen. |
Laat me even nadenken.
Let me think for a moment. — 'laten' takes a bare infinitive 'nadenken'.
Blijf maar lekker zitten, ik pak het wel.
Just stay sitting comfortably, I'll get it. — 'blijven' + bare 'zitten'.
Hij leerde zijn dochter fietsen toen ze vijf was.
He taught his daughter to cycle when she was five. — 'leren' + bare 'fietsen'.
Two notes on the edges of this list. First, helpen and leren are the wobbly members: in careful or written Dutch you'll also see them with te (Ik help je te verhuizen, Ik leer je te koken), and both versions are accepted. The bare form is more common in speech. Second, hoeven — semantically a modal ("need to") — is the odd one out among the modals and takes te: Je hoeft niet te komen. So it lives in List 2, not here.
Ik help je wel even afwassen.
I'll help you do the dishes. — bare 'afwassen', the everyday spoken form with 'helpen'.
Je hoeft je geen zorgen te maken.
You don't need to worry. — 'hoeven' is the modal that takes te.
List 2 — Te-infinitive (needs te)
This is the default group, and it's open-ended — far too long to memorise as a list, which is exactly why you learn it as "everything not on List 1." Below are the highest-frequency members, the ones worth recognising on sight. They are verbs of trying, hoping, promising, deciding, beginning, refusing, daring, and forgetting — actions about another action.
| Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| proberen | to try | Ik probeer het te begrijpen. |
| hopen | to hope | Ze hoopt snel te komen. |
| beloven | to promise | Hij belooftte helpen. |
| vergeten | to forget | Ik vergatte bellen. |
| beginnen | to begin | We beginnente eten. |
| weigeren | to refuse | Hij weigertte betalen. |
| durven | to dare | Ik durf het niet te vragen. |
| besluiten | to decide | Ze beslootte blijven. |
| hoeven | to need (negated) | Je hoeft niet te komen. |
| proberen, weten, vergeten, durven, weigeren, besluiten, hopen, beloven, beginnen | — the core nine to drill first. | |
Ik probeer al een week hem te bereiken, maar hij neemt niet op.
I've been trying to reach him for a week, but he doesn't pick up. — 'proberen' + te.
Ze besloot uiteindelijk niet te verhuizen.
In the end she decided not to move. — 'besluiten' + te.
Vergeet niet de planten water te geven terwijl ik weg ben.
Don't forget to water the plants while I'm away. — 'vergeten' + te, with a separable verb splitting around te.
Hij durfde haar eindelijk mee uit te vragen.
He finally dared to ask her out. — 'durven' + te; note te wedged inside the separable 'uitvragen'.
A few of these are worth a caution. Durven and helpen straddle the line — durven is overwhelmingly te in modern Dutch (ik durf niet te springen), but you'll occasionally meet a bare durven in older or regional usage (ik durf niet springen); prefer the te form. And remember that whenever a List-2 verb governs a separable verb, te wedges between the particle and the stem: opbellen → op te bellen, meegaan → mee te gaan (see verbs/separable/te-insertion).
List 3 — Om ... te (purpose and after adjectives)
The third pattern, om ... te, isn't triggered by a governing verb in the same way — it's triggered by purpose ("in order to") and by certain adjective frames. Use it when the infinitive clause answers why?, when it follows a noun phrase expressing a reason or lack, and after evaluative or degree adjectives.
Purpose ("in order to"): the meaning is goal-directed. If you can paraphrase the English with "in order to," Dutch wants om ... te.
Ik ga naar de markt om verse vis te kopen.
I'm going to the market to buy fresh fish. — purpose: 'in order to buy'.
Hij belt om te vragen hoe laat we afspreken.
He's calling to ask what time we're meeting. — om...te after a verb, expressing purpose.
After a noun phrase of reason, time, or lack (tijd, zin, reden, manier, kans...):
Ik heb geen tijd om te koken vanavond.
I don't have time to cook tonight. — om...te after 'tijd'.
Heb je zin om mee te gaan naar de bioscoop?
Do you feel like coming along to the cinema? — om...te after 'zin'.
After degree adjectives with te ("too ... to") and evaluative adjectives (leuk, moeilijk, belangrijk om te...):
Ik ben te moe om nog te werken.
I'm too tired to keep working. — 'te moe om te' = too tired to.
Dit is een lastig woord om uit te spreken.
This is a tricky word to pronounce. — evaluative adjective + om...te, separable verb splitting inside.
The full ruleset for om — including the cases where it can legitimately be dropped — lives at verbs/te-infinitive/om-te. For this reference, the takeaway is: purpose, reason-nouns, and adjective frames pull om ... te.
Quick decision summary
| If the first verb is... | Use... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a modal (kunnen/mogen/moeten/willen/zullen) | bare | Ik wil gaan. |
| gaan / komen / laten / doen / blijven | bare | Ik kom helpen. |
| zien / horen / voelen | bare | Ik zie hem lopen. |
| helpen / leren | bare (te also possible) | Ik help koken. |
| hoeven | te | Je hoeft niet te gaan. |
| proberen, hopen, beloven, vergeten, beginnen, weigeren, durven, besluiten (and most others) | te | Ik probeer te gaan. |
| expressing purpose / after reason-noun / after adjective | om ... te | Te moe om te gaan. |
Common Mistakes
The errors are all marker mismatches — using te with a bare-list verb, dropping te with a default verb, or leaving out om in a purpose clause.
❌ Ik kom te helpen met de verhuizing.
Wrong — 'komen' is on the bare list; no te.
✅ Ik kom helpen met de verhuizing.
I'm coming to help with the move.
❌ Ik hoop zien je morgen.
Wrong — 'hopen' is a default verb and needs te (and the word order is off).
✅ Ik hoop je morgen te zien.
I hope to see you tomorrow.
❌ Je hoeft niet komen.
Wrong — 'hoeven' is the modal that takes te.
✅ Je hoeft niet te komen.
You don't have to come.
❌ Ik ga naar de winkel te kopen brood.
Wrong — a purpose clause needs 'om ... te', with the infinitive at the end.
✅ Ik ga naar de winkel om brood te kopen.
I'm going to the shop to buy bread.
❌ Ik ben te moe te werken.
Wrong — the 'too ... to' frame requires om: 'te moe om te werken'.
✅ Ik ben te moe om te werken.
I'm too tired to work.
Key Takeaways
- The marker is a lexical property of the governing verb — memorise, don't reason. Learn the bare list; treat te as the default.
- Bare list: modals + gaan/komen/laten/doen/blijven
- zien/horen/voelen
- helpen/leren (the last two also allow te). Hoeven is the modal that takes te.
- zien/horen/voelen
- Te list: proberen, hopen, beloven, vergeten, beginnen, weigeren, durven, besluiten — and essentially everything not on the bare list.
- Om ... te: purpose ("in order to"), after reason-nouns (tijd, zin), and after adjective frames (te moe om te, leuk om te).
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- The Te-Infinitive: OverviewB1 — When a second verb takes the infinitive marker te and when it stays bare — modals and gaan/komen/laten/zien/horen/blijven take a bare infinitive, most other governing verbs require te.
- Om ... te: Purpose and BeyondB1 — The om...te construction for purpose ('in order to'), plus its obligatory uses after degree adjectives (te moe om te werken) and evaluative adjectives (leuk om te zien).
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — A map of the six Dutch modals — kunnen, mogen, moeten, willen, zullen, hoeven — and the one pattern they share: modal + bare infinitive at the end of the clause.
- Modals Used as Full Verbs (Ik wil koffie, Ik moet weg)B1 — Dutch modals don't always need a following infinitive — they happily govern a bare noun (Ik wil koffie), a direction (Ik moet weg / naar huis), or stand completely alone (Dat mag niet; Ik kan het). The 'missing' infinitive is simply understood, an ellipsis English handles with do/go/have instead.