Ron's ESL Blogs

Infinitives are used in a common sentence pattern:

ask somebody to do something
I asked my brother to get me a dictionary.
want somebody to do something
The professor wanted John to come to his office.
expect somebody to do something
Her parents expect her to be a doctor.

For some verbs, we don’t use it this way. For example:

I let him borrow my bike. (correct)
I let him to borrow my bike. (incorrect)

Here we use an infinitive without “to.” It is called a zero infinitive. There are a few verbs used this way.

Let

Dad let me drive his car.
Let’s go shopping together.

Make

The mother made her son clean his own room.
The movie made him cry.

Have

I had my brother carry my suitcase.

See

I saw the thief run away.
You can also say “see somebody doing something,” but you don’t say “see somebody to do something.”

Hear

I heard her sing in the room.

Help

My friend helped me fix my car.
My friend helped me to fix my car.

“Help” is a special verb. It can be used with or without “to.”