Verbs followed by Prepositions before an Infinitive
Many Spanish verbs need no preposition before an infinitive: Merecen ser libres: They deserve to be free. However, some do. The following list shows the prepositions needed to link some common verbs with the infinitive, e.g. Sueño con viajar: I dream about traveling. Verbs marked with an asterisk (*) take a for all direct objects, not just the usual “personal” a (e.g. Ayudan al desarrollo). Verbs of motion such as ir, bajar, entrar, etc., always use a before an infinitive for destination, and de for origin: Vengo de hacer compras. Subió a ver al médico.
*animar a (algo) - encourage to acusar de - accuse of *ayudar a (algo) - help to cesar de - cease from *condenar a (algo) - condemn to comenzar a - begin to consentir en - consent to convenir en - agree to consistir en - consist of depender de - depend on *contribuir a (algo) - contribute to empezar a - begin to cuidar de - take care to forzar a - force to *desafiar a (algo) - challenge to impulsar a - urge on to dudar en - hesitate over insistir en - insist on enseñar a - show how to; teach to llevar a - lead to *incitar a (algo) - incite to invitar a - invite to *obligar a (algo) - oblige to mandar a - send to persistir en - persist on pasar a - go on to *persuadir a (algo) - persuade to terminar de - finish presumir de - boast about tratar de - try to quedar en - agree to (used informally) soñar con - dream about *renunciar a (algo) - renounce *tender a (algo) - tend to volver a (hacer) - (do) again acabar de: acabo de estar ahí - I’ve just been there dejar de - leave off, stop doing something
