Some Spanish verbs are so closely tied to a second verb that they refuse the usual que-clause: they take a bare infinitive as their complement, with no preposition between them. Quiero ir. Puedo ayudar. Sabe nadar. Suelo madrugar. These are the daily workhorses of spoken Spanish — modal verbs, aspectual verbs, verbs of intention and ability — and they all share one rule: when the subject of both verbs is the same, you string the infinitive straight after the conjugated verb. No que, no preposition, nothing in between.
The rule
When a verb expresses ability, desire, obligation, habit, preference, intention, attempt or knowledge-how and the action it modifies has the same subject, Spanish links the two with a bare infinitive.
Puedo ayudarte mañana por la tarde.
I can help you tomorrow afternoon.
Quiero aprender a tocar la guitarra.
I want to learn to play the guitar.
Suelo desayunar tostadas con tomate y aceite.
I usually have toast with tomato and oil for breakfast.
No sé conducir, pero estoy en clase.
I can't drive, but I'm taking lessons.
In every case, the conjugated verb (puedo, quiero, suelo, sé) tells you who and when; the infinitive tells you what action that person is able to / wants to / habitually does / knows how to perform. The two verbs act as a single semantic unit.
The core list
These are the verbs that take a direct infinitive — no preposition required. Memorise them as a closed list, because the next group of verbs (verbs + a, verbs + de, verbs + en) needs a preposition, and the difference is not predictable from meaning.
| Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| poder | to be able to, can | Puedo venir mañana. |
| querer | to want to | Quiero salir esta noche. |
| deber | must, should, ought to | Debes descansar más. |
| saber | to know how to | Sabe cocinar muy bien. |
| soler | to usually do | Suelo madrugar entre semana. |
| necesitar | to need to | Necesito hablar contigo. |
| preferir | to prefer to | Prefiero quedarme en casa. |
| intentar | to try to | Intentaré llamarte luego. |
| conseguir / lograr | to manage to, succeed in | Conseguí terminar el libro. |
| decidir | to decide to | Hemos decidido mudarnos. |
| esperar | to hope / to wait to | Espero verte pronto. |
| desear | to wish to (formal) | Deseo presentar una queja. |
| pensar (= plan) | to plan to, intend to | Pienso ir a la playa. |
| parecer | to seem to | Pareces estar muy cansada. |
| recordar | to remember to | Recuerda apagar la luz. |
| olvidar | to forget to | Olvidé cerrar la puerta. |
| odiar | to hate to | Odio madrugar los lunes. |
| gustar | to like to | Me gusta cocinar. |
| encantar | to love to | Nos encanta viajar. |
These verbs cluster into a few semantic groups. Recognising the groups will help you generalise.
Modal verbs (ability, possibility, obligation)
No puedo abrir el bote de mermelada, ¿me ayudas?
I can't open the jam jar — can you help?
Debéis presentar el documento antes del viernes.
You must submit the document before Friday.
Poder and deber are pure modals: they shift the modality (possibility, necessity) of the infinitive without describing a separate action.
Aspectual / habitual verbs
Solemos cenar bastante tarde en España.
We usually have dinner quite late in Spain.
Mi abuelo suele echarse una siesta después de comer.
My grandfather usually has a nap after lunch.
Soler is one of the most distinctively Spanish verbs in this list. It conjugates only in the present and imperfect (no future, no preterite) and packages habitual aspect into a single word. Suelo madrugar is far more natural than normalmente me levanto pronto.
Volition and preference
Prefiero ir andando, hace una tarde estupenda.
I'd rather walk — it's a beautiful afternoon.
¿Quieres tomar algo antes de cenar?
Do you want to have a drink before dinner?
Mental verbs of decision, hope, plan
Pienso quedarme un rato más, vete tú si quieres.
I'm planning to stay a bit longer — go ahead if you want.
Espero llegar a tiempo a la reunión.
I hope to get to the meeting on time.
A subtle point: pensar + infinitive means to plan / intend to do, not "to think about doing." For the latter you need pensar en + infinitive (see the verbs + en page). The two are distinct meanings.
Knowledge-how
Sabe hablar tres idiomas con fluidez.
She can speak three languages fluently.
No sé montar en bici, nunca aprendí de niño.
I can't ride a bike — I never learned as a child.
Saber + infinitive is knowledge-how ("knowing how to do something"), distinct from poder + infinitive ("being physically/circumstantially able to"). Sé nadar pero hoy no puedo, tengo la pierna escayolada — I can swim, but I can't today, my leg is in a cast.
The same-subject condition
This is the linchpin of the rule. The bare-infinitive construction works only when the subjects of both verbs are the same.
Quiero ir al cine. (= I want — I go)
I want to go to the cinema.
The "wanter" and the "goer" are both yo. So Spanish uses an infinitive: quiero ir.
The moment the subjects differ, Spanish abandons the infinitive and switches to que + subjunctive:
Quiero que vayas al cine. (= I want — you go)
I want you to go to the cinema.
This pivot is so important it deserves a whole separate page (see Subjuntivo vs infinitivo: cuando el sujeto coincide). For now, internalise the test:
Why English speakers stumble: the que trap
English has two patterns for verb + verb: I want to go (infinitive) and I want you to go (with an explicit subject before the second infinitive). Both feel similar in English. But Spanish refuses the second pattern entirely — there is no Quiero ti ir, no Quiero a ti ir. The only way to express "I want you to go" is Quiero que vayas.
❌ Quiero ti ir al cine.
Wrong — no such construction in Spanish.
❌ Quiero que yo voy al cine.
Wrong — same subject must use infinitive.
✅ Quiero ir al cine.
I want to go to the cinema.
✅ Quiero que vayas al cine.
I want you to go to the cinema.
Another seductive error is dropping a que between the conjugated verb and the infinitive, by analogy with English I hope that…. Don't.
❌ Espero que ir pronto.
Wrong — bare infinitive takes no que.
✅ Espero ir pronto.
I hope to go soon.
Pronoun placement with infinitive complements
When the infinitive has its own object pronouns, Spanish allows two positions: before the conjugated verb, or attached to the infinitive. Both are correct.
Quiero verte mañana.
I want to see you tomorrow.
Te quiero ver mañana.
I want to see you tomorrow.
Both forms are everyday and grammatical. Speakers in Spain use them interchangeably; the attached-to-the-infinitive form (quiero verte) is slightly more formal in writing, and the pre-verbal form (te quiero ver) is slightly more conversational.
No puedo decírselo todavía.
I can't tell him/her yet.
No se lo puedo decir todavía.
I can't tell him/her yet.
Note that when the pronouns attach to the infinitive, you may need a written accent to preserve the original stress: verlo needs no accent (the stress was already on ver), but two object pronouns push it back, so decir → decírselo.
Chained infinitives
You can stack multiple infinitives — even a chain of three — when the subject stays the same. This is normal in spoken Spanish.
Quiero poder dormir hasta tarde el domingo.
I want to be able to sleep in on Sunday.
Espero poder ir a verte en agosto.
I hope to be able to come see you in August.
No suelo querer salir entre semana.
I don't usually want to go out during the week.
Each verb in the chain takes the next as a bare-infinitive complement, exactly as it would on its own. There is no limit in principle, though three is about as many as a Spanish speaker will produce without rephrasing.
A note on gustar-class verbs
Verbs like gustar, encantar, molestar, interesar, apetecer — the ones that take indirect-object pronouns and put their grammatical subject on the right — take a bare infinitive when the subjects match.
Me gusta leer antes de dormir.
I like to read before sleeping.
A mis padres les encanta viajar en autocaravana.
My parents love travelling by camper van.
No me apetece salir esta noche, estoy reventado.
I don't feel like going out tonight, I'm shattered.
Apetecer is a particularly peninsular touch — me apetece is the everyday Spanish way to say "I feel like." A Mexican speaker would more likely say tengo ganas de.
Spanish vs English: a structural mismatch
English allows three patterns where Spanish allows essentially one:
| English pattern | Example | Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| verb + to-infinitive | I want to go. | Quiero ir. |
| verb + gerund | I like swimming. | Me gusta nadar. |
| verb + object + to-infinitive | I want you to go. | Quiero que vayas. |
The English -ing gerund after a verb (I like swimming, I enjoy reading) tempts learners to reach for the Spanish gerund (-ando/-iendo) by analogy — and that is wrong. Spanish uses the infinitive as its verbal-noun form in nearly every position where English uses the -ing form. You will see this rule again on the infinitive as a noun page; here, just register that me gusta nadar, not me gusta nadando.
Common Mistakes
❌ Quiero que ir al cine contigo.
Wrong — bare infinitive, no que.
✅ Quiero ir al cine contigo.
I want to go to the cinema with you.
❌ Me gusta nadando en el mar.
Wrong — Spanish uses the infinitive as a verbal noun, not the gerund.
✅ Me gusta nadar en el mar.
I like swimming in the sea.
❌ Quiero tú venir a la fiesta.
Wrong — different subjects need que + subjunctive.
✅ Quiero que vengas a la fiesta.
I want you to come to the party.
❌ Sé a nadar muy bien.
Wrong — saber + infinitive takes no preposition.
✅ Sé nadar muy bien.
I can swim very well.
❌ Suelo a desayunar tostadas.
Wrong — soler takes a bare infinitive, no a.
✅ Suelo desayunar tostadas.
I usually have toast for breakfast.
Key takeaways
- A specific set of verbs — modals (poder, deber), volition (querer, preferir), habit (soler), intention (pensar, decidir), attempt (intentar, conseguir), hope (esperar), knowledge-how (saber) and the gustar-class — take a bare infinitive with no que and no preposition.
- The construction works only when both verbs share a subject. Different subjects switch to que
- subjunctive.
- Object pronouns may sit before the conjugated verb or attach to the infinitive — both are standard.
- English -ing after a verb (I like swimming) is not a gerund in Spanish: use the infinitive (me gusta nadar).
Now practice Spanish
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- El infinitivo: visión generalA2 — The Spanish infinitive in one place — its three forms (simple, compound, reflexive), its three endings (-ar / -er / -ir), and the full menu of jobs it does in a sentence.
- Verbos seguidos de 'a' + infinitivoB1 — Verbs that lexically require 'a' before an infinitive — empezar a, aprender a, ayudar a, atreverse a — usually involve motion, initiation, learning or commitment toward an action.
- Verbos seguidos de 'de' + infinitivoB1 — Verbs that demand 'de' before an infinitive — acabar de, dejar de, tratar de, acordarse de — cluster around stopping, completing, remembering, and trying.
- Subjuntivo vs infinitivo: cuando el sujeto coincideB1 — When the main and subordinate clauses share the same subject, Spanish uses the infinitive — not 'que' + subjunctive.
- Errores: traducciones literalesB1 — The constituent words map but the construction doesn't. 'I'm good' (no, thanks) is NOT 'estoy bueno'. 'My name is Juan' is more naturally 'me llamo Juan'. The high-frequency calque traps for English speakers in everyday peninsular Spanish.