Using the infinitive form of verbs after a conjugated verb?
As I understand it, a verb that follows a conjugated verb in a sentence must be written in the infinitive form.
For example: Me gusta comer.
However, what happens when you have a third or even fourth verb within the sentence? Are they also written in the infinitive form?
For example: Me gusta comer y dormir.
The following example, which I found in my book, seems to suggest that the third verb in a sentence is conjugated, but what about if there was a fourth one?
Example: Ellos no tiene ganas de venir porque viven en Portoviejo.
4 Answers
When certain verbs are used, logic dictates that the infinitive be used. In Spanish you keep the infinitives coming where in English you stop using the infinitive after the first one, then just the root word.
Infinitives usually follow such verbs as:
Gustar (ex. Me gusta bailar, pescar, montar a caballo, bucear etc English would be I like to dance go fishing, horseback riding, go snorkling, etc)
Necesitar
Tener que
Desear
Querer
Ir +a
Example. Quiero hablar hebreo, practicar karate, bailar, cantar, tocar la guitarra, comer enchiladas and on and on.
English: I want to speak Hebrew, practice karate, dance, sing, play the guitar eat enchliadas, and so on.
This is just a short introduction. There is much more.
Hi there OP,
What you're proposing isn't actually a rule, but logic instead; let's look at the examples you provided:
Me gusta comer y dormir. (I like to eat(inf) and to sleep(inf). This sentence consists of 2 clauses, and EVERY CLAUSE NEEDS 1 CONJUGATED VERB (most commonly: no less no more, though there are a FEW exceptions) (main clause 1) Me gusta comer Y (main clause 2) me gusta dormir. (BUT the second clause is compressed to avoid repetition. 
) You could keep adding as many as you want and you'd still use the infinitive: Me gusta comer, beber, dormir, jugar, trabajar, estudiar y leer... :D
Good indications that a new clause is starting (within 1 sentence, that is, without a dot 
) are: 'y/e'(and), 'o/u'(or), ','(comma), ':/;"..."' (citation), 'porque'(because), 'aunque'(although) and many more, which you'll learn to recognise as you read. If you translate the sentence this usually becomes obvious.
The other example you gave is easier, because all the clauses are written out fully:
Ellos no tieneN ganas de venir, porque viven en Portoviejo.
A verb is conjugated ALWAYS AND ONLY IF it's the 'direct/finite' verb, which means it's the #1 verb to belong with the subject, and it works in largely the same way as in English! :D Ask yourself: what does the subject dó? (the answer can be a bit weird, like 'the subject can, the subject hopes, the subject will.. just make sure you don't think any of the other verbs should come before it! Let's try that: The subject here is 'ellos'. So, what do 'ellos' do?
ellos --> (no) tienen (ganas) - clause 1
&
ellos --> viven (en Portoviejo) - clause 2
It doesn't matter if each clause begins with a capital letter and ends with a dot, or if you put a comma and maybe a relative pronoun (such as 'porque'). This is why the order of the words in the sentence doesn't matter; what matters is which verb is the direct verb. Now let's do something crazy!! :D
Jugar es lo que a mí me gusta. - Playing is what I like.
As you can see, even if you say 'jugar' first, that doesn't change the fact that 'gustar' is the direct verb in this sentence. I will not explain what the functions of each of the words in this sentence are, because verbs like gustar work very differently from other verbs and it would be confusing to say the least.
There are also other types of infinite verbs that can follow a direct verb.. Can you think of any in English?
F.e.: 'I have eaten - He comido' (participle) or 'We are eating - Estamos comiendo' (gerundio) Together with the infinitive, they are the 3 infinite types of verbs in Spanish.
The participle (replace the final part of the infinitivo: -er/-ir by 'ido' and -ar by ado) is by fár most commonly used with a conjugated form of 'haber', a verb that doesn't have all that much meaning by itself. You use it for things that happened once (f.e. in your life), but of which it doesn't matter much when, or that still have an influence today. So if you say 'he comido', that implies that you are currently not hungry, and if you want to say you tried a food some time in your life, you also use it: 'he comido gambas una vez.'
The gerundio (replace the final part of the infinitivo: -er/-ir by 'iendo' and -ar by 'ando') is most easily expressed with a conjugated form of 'estar', a verb I bet you've already met. You use it for things that are going on right now (A: Podemos hablar? B: Estoy comiendo. - A. Can we talk? B. I'm eating. (which means that person has their mouth full of food ) or were going on in the past (also replaceable by the imperfecto) if you're telling a story about that time and you want to tell what was going on... when all of a sudden something happened(for the thing that happened you should use the pretérito !
F.e. Estaba comiendo cuando entró mi amigo y me preguntó si podíamos hablar. - I was eating when my friend entered and asked me if we could talk.
The infinitivo has another, very easy use that you're very likely to see if you plan on visiting a Spanish-speaking country: on signs. I don't know if you know about the imperativo yet, but that's a mood used to command, warn, advise etc, f.e. Go away! or Watch out! This is a pretty difficult mood for native speakers of English in terms of conjugations, because there are two for every person! So if you say 'Look here' to one person, you'll use a different form than if you were to say it to a group of people, and a positive command is also different from a negative one (aka Don't look here!), BUT the good news is, you won't have to worry about that when it comes to signs, because they are impersonal & general: they will simply state: 'No smoking' = 'No fumar'.
I bet this is a lot to take in, but now that you know about this (no need at all to understand it all yet, don't worry!!) you've likely been boosted ahead of the rest of the class.
Creo que si, pero la frase sería:
Ellos no tienen ganas de venir porque viven en Portoviejo.
