Max M. answered • 07/30/19
Harvard Literature major with 20 years of coaching writers
An infinitive is the un-conjugated form of a verb. In other words, it doesn't have a subject--no one is doing it, and it doesn't have a tense--it's not happening in the past, present, or future. In English, it's usually the "to" form of the verb. "To run," "to laugh," "to express," etc., though sometimes it's interchangeable with the "ing" form of the verb.
For example:
I like to hike.
I like hiking.
They both mean the same thing.
However, I would not say that another verb usually follows it. In fact, off the top of my head, I can't think of any example where a verb does, without at least a word or two in between. If anything, a conjugated verb usually comes BEFORE the infinitive.
I like (verb) to hike (inf.).
He wanted (verb) to say (inf.) something to her.
Your mission is (verb) to find (inf.) the criminal mastermind.
Though we do sometimes switch word order:
To be or not to be, that is the question.
Note, though, the pronoun "that" in between the infinitive "to be" and the verb "is."
