A short summary for gerunds and infinitives

INFINITIVE OR GERUND?

we use the INFINITIVE with to:

• after adjectives
• to express reason or purpose
• after certain verbs (see list below)

we use the INFINITIVE without to:

• after most modal and auxiliary verbs
• after make and let

we use the GERUND:

• after prepositions
• as the subject of a sentence (NOMINALIZATION)
• after certain verbs (see list below)