# Using the infinitive: after prepositions and as a noun

> id: grammar.verbs.infinitive-uses · category: grammar · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** After every preposition and as a verbal noun, Spanish uses the infinitive where English uses -ing: antes de salir, ver para creer, el saber no ocupa lugar.

Prepositions take infinitives, never gerunds: sin pagar, después de comer, para entender. Same-subject 'que clauses' compress to infinitives: espero poder ir.

As a noun (sometimes with el): fumar es caro, me encanta el cantar de los pájaros. On signs, the infinitive serves as a neutral imperative: no fumar, empujar.

Because the infinitive is Spanish's verbal noun, it can take an article and act as a full subject: el fumar perjudica la salud, su constante quejarse cansa. This is also why menu and sign language stays in the infinitive — no fumar, no tocar — where it reads as a neutral, impersonal instruction.

## Examples
- Gracias por venir. — Thanks for coming.
- No fumar. — No smoking. *(Sign-style imperative.)*
- Después de cenar salimos a caminar; el caminar de noche me relaja. — After having dinner we went out for a walk; walking at night relaxes me.

Related: conjugation.nonfinite.infinitive, grammar.verbs.gerund-uses

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