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I'm trying to help a German friend with their English, why is it "I began to look around" and not "I began to looked around" And I'm unsure how to explain it to her simply. Thank you.

Edwin Ashworth
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Tim
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  • It's an infinitive. – alphabet Jan 10 '24 at 04:42
  • The infinitive form is marked by the particle "to" e.g. "It began TO RAIN" "We began TO TALK about the weather" "They sat down and began TO PRAY.... – Mari-Lou A Jan 10 '24 at 06:12
  • You need not try too hard. The same "to" is used in German: I began to look around. = Ich fing an, mich umzusehen. It is necessary to lift the lid = Es ist notwendig, den Deckel anzuheben. – Greybeard Jan 10 '24 at 11:14
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    'Begin' often catenates and can take either an ing-form ('Jo began singing') or a to-infinitive ('Jo began to sing'), with only nuanced differences in meaning. Compare/contrast 'stop', where 'Jo stopped singing' and 'Jo stopped to sing' are both correct but have different meanings. Other verbs take a bare infinitive, and some take a DO before the catenating verb. Behaviours of individual verbs are idiosyncratic. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 10 '24 at 12:56

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Because after “to” you can only use infinitive form of a verb

acb90
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    Not always: "He looked forward to going to the beach", and many other constructions. Can you clarify your answer and add some examples. – Stuart F Jan 10 '24 at 13:22