Infinitive after Verbs (No Preposition) | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Many Spanish verbs can be followed by another verb. When the second verb names the action you want, can, must, or plan to do, it appears in the infinitive. Some verbs link directly to that infinitive with no preposition at all. These are the easiest patterns to use, and they include most of the modal-style verbs you'll reach for every day.

The basic pattern

The structure is simply conjugated verb + infinitive. The first verb changes to match the subject; the second verb stays in its -ar / -er / -ir form.

Quiero comer algo.

I want to eat something.

No puedo venir mañana.

I can't come tomorrow.

Common verbs that take a direct infinitive

Here are the most frequent verbs that link directly to an infinitive without a preposition. Learning this list will let you build a huge number of sentences right away.

Verb	Meaning	Example
querer	to want	Quiero salir.
poder	to be able to, can	Puedo ayudarte.
deber	must, should, ought to	Debes estudiar.
saber	to know how to	Sé nadar.
necesitar	to need	Necesito dormir.
pensar	to plan, to intend	Pienso viajar en junio.
esperar	to hope, to expect	Espero verte pronto.
preferir	to prefer	Prefiero quedarme.
decidir	to decide	Decidí mudarme.
intentar	to try, attempt	Intenta hablar más despacio.
lograr	to manage to	Logré terminar a tiempo.
gustar	to like	Me gusta leer.

Saber vs. poder

Two verbs in the list above get confused often: saber and poder. Both can translate as "can," but they mean different things.

Saber
infinitive
= to know how to do something, a learned skill.
Poder
infinitive
= to be able to do something right now, given the circumstances.

Sé manejar, pero hoy no puedo: no tengo el carro.

I know how to drive, but today I can't — I don't have the car.

Pensar: to think vs. to plan

When pensar is followed directly by an infinitive, it does not mean "to think about doing." Instead, it means "to plan" or "to intend to."

Pienso comprar una casa el próximo año.

I plan to buy a house next year.

If you want to express "to think about doing something," you need a preposition: pensar en + infinitive. You'll see that on the verbs + en page.

Gustar and similar verbs

Gustar ("to be pleasing to") and its relatives (encantar, interesar, molestar) take an infinitive directly when the thing liked is an action. The infinitive behaves like a singular noun, so the verb stays in the third-person singular.

Nos encanta viajar por Latinoamérica.

We love traveling around Latin America.

💡

With gustar and friends, if you like a single action, use a single infinitive and keep the verb singular: Me gusta cocinar. If you like several actions, Spanish still usually keeps gusta singular: Me gusta cocinar y comer.

Stacking infinitives

Because these verbs take an infinitive with nothing in between, you can stack several together naturally:

Quiero poder hablar español como un nativo.

I want to be able to speak Spanish like a native.

Debería intentar estudiar más.

I should try to study more.

💡

Whenever you need to say "I want / can / must / should / need / prefer to…", reach for one of these verbs and plug the infinitive in directly. If you find yourself wanting to add a preposition, double-check — these specific verbs don't take one.

Other verbs do require a preposition before the infinitive, and those are covered on the following pages: verbs + a, verbs + de, and verbs + en.