to propose + gerund or infinitive? (2025)

Hello:
according to my book, the verb propose can be followed by -ing or by to-infinitive:
- he proposed to come
- he proposed coming

When do you use it either way?

Thank you.

I have found it too.

HERE IT IS !!!!

Propose is followed by the gerund when it means 'suggest':
John proposed going to the debate
but by the infinitive when it means 'intend':
The Government proposes bringing in new laws..

bego88 said:

I have found it too.

HERE IT IS !!!!

Propose is followed by the gerund when it means 'suggest':
John proposed going to the debate
but by the infinitive when it means 'intend':
The Government proposes bringing in new laws..

Click to expand...

The Government proposes bringing... THIS IS THE GERUND ALSO
As a native, I almost always use propose with the gerund.
The only time I use it with the infinitive is in the following structure:
The governor made/introduced a proposal to outlaw guns in high schools.
(but this 'proposal' is a noun followed by the infinitive with the idea of "para (que)" as an intention)

World Calling said:

The Government proposes bringing... THIS IS THE GERUND ALSO
As a native, I almost always use propose with the gerund.
The only time I use it with the infinitive is in the following structure:
The governor made/introduced a proposal to outlaw guns in high schools.
(but this 'proposal' is a noun followed by the infinitive with the idea of "para (que)" as an intention)

Click to expand...

The Corpus of Contemporary American English (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/) has about 4500 hits for the word "propose" and 650 for the "propose to" combination. The big half of these 650 hits are followed by verbs.

Why will you not use propose to for intentions? Is it just a peculiarity of the region, or world-wide custom now?

yoliyoli said:

Hello:
according to my book, the verb propose can be followed by -ing or by to-infinitive:
- he proposed to come
- he proposed coming

When do you use it either way?
Thank you.

Click to expand...

Our WR dictionary explains it:

Puedes emplear el infinitivo con to (I propose to do it myself, tengo la intención de hacerlo yo mismo) o, en situaciones más formales, un gerundio: I propose doing it myself (la forma negativa sería I do not propose to do it myself). Si to propose tiene un complemento directo, debes añadir that más el infinitivo sin to: The shareholders proposed that a new chairman be nominated. Los accionistas propusieron que se nombrase un nuevo presidente. En realidad, no se trata de un infinitivo, sino de subjuntivo (que tiene la misma forma). Sin embargo, es muy formal (especialmente en la tercera persona del singular) y muchos anglohablantes prefieren sustituirlo por el verbo auxiliar should (the shareholders proposed that a new chairman should be nominated). Los verbos to recommend yto suggest se construyen de la misma manera.

I find it most helpful to understand "I propose doing it myself" not as more formal (since "propose" is always formal, at least in American English) but as "I suggest to the group that I be the one to do it", so propose + gerund still means "suggest" here.

Whereas "I propose to do it myself" means "I plan to do it myself", that's my plan and I'm not asking for your approval, it's not a proposal for other people to consider, it's just my personal plan.

The distinction is a very fine one but it allows us to have a rule that I think works well.

propose to do or doing

According to Cambridge E.D. (from which the below examples are drawn), this is used with a noun, gerund or ‘that +SV' pattern when suggesting a plan or action

, or nominating someone:

[ + that ] I propose that we wait until the budget has been announced before committing ourselves to any expenditure.

[ + -ing verb ] He proposed dealing directly with the suppliers.

To be nominated for union president you need one person to propose you and another to second you.

When the person considering the action is the same as the proposer, such that one could also render it as ‘intend’ or ‘plan’, this changes slightly. In formal contexts like diplomacy, you may see it with an infinitive. In informal usage many will use it with a gerund, but this can sometimes sound odd to my ear, and even more often it will be replaced with ‘intend’, ‘plan’ or e.g. ‘how are you going to’.

[ + to infinitive ] How do you propose to complete the project in such a short time? (formal and very slightly antiquated)

[ + -ing verb ] How do you propose tackling this problem? (informal but sounds odd to me)

I do not propose to reveal details at this stage. (formal and very slightly antiquated)