Can an Infinitive be a direct object?

Question

Rosa (aprender) a manejar.

My question is in the above sentence there are two verbs, aprender and manejar.

In this sentence, a manejar is to drive, so my question is can an infinitive be a direct object.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Yes, an infinitive can be a direct object, because infinitives can be nouns and a direct object is a noun.

Hi bandit, it's nice to see you. How are you? - Maria-Russell, Mar 5, 2013

I'm still struggling with my spanish. - Maria-Russell, Mar 5, 2013

Answer 2

Yes, and as you learn Spanish, even in the early stages, you will see this a lot.

Ella quiere hacer yoga..

Él necesita caminar.

Yo prefiero hablar.

Ustedes quieren comprender.

You´ll conjugate the first verb, and then use the infinitive for the 2nd.

Hi rogspax. I see in your examples you did not use the personal 'a', In my example, 'Rosa aprende (aprender) a manajer,' why is the personal 'a' used before manejar? - Maria-Russell, Mar 5, 2013

Answer 3

I believe in this case, the 'a' is not the personal a. The personal a is used before a direct object when the direct object is a person or an animal that is a pet. In the sentence used in the question, Maria would be the subject and I agree that 'aprende' would be a better verb form. You would not say "Maria to learn to drive." Rog covered how to handle two verbs in a sentence. However, perhaps the present progressive would be even better. Maria está aprendiendo a manejar. When it comes to driving a vehicle or learning a language should we ever stop learning?

Hi kirk, thaks for your comment, do you know why they are using the person 'a' in this sentence? I thought it was because manejar was the direct object. - Maria-Russell, Mar 6, 2013

Have you ever done the verb drills on study spanish? - Maria-Russell, Mar 6, 2013

Answer 4

I believe it can it just that you need to be careful on how you use it in a sentence. THe way you say your example sentence would be: Rose aprende (aprender) a manejar.

Hi Piano Girl, I also play the piano. - Maria-Russell, Mar 5, 2013

Have you ever done the verb drills on study spanish? - Maria-Russell, Mar 6, 2013

They give you the infinitve in a sentence and you choose the conjugation, I already know to use aprende. My question is why are they using the personal a? Is it because manejar is acting as a direct object or what? - Maria-Russell, Mar 6, 2013

Hi, Maria-Russel! That awesome (about the playing piano) and i haven't done it yet but i will. Thanks for the heads up. - PianoGirl897, Mar 10, 2013