An infinitive question...

[bricks]

Hi, is it possible to use two infinitives in a row in a sentence?

For example:

No te puedo pedir hacer...
(I can't ask you to do...)

or:

Que puedo hacer ayudar?
(What can I do to help?)

Thank you. I have never seen this structure before, so I thought to ask here.

[Rusty]

In both of the instances you wrote, the second infinitive must be preceded by a preposition. And, the preposition is different for each sentence.

The Spanish infinitive does NOT have an automatic 'to' in front of it. Neither does the English infinitive, by the way. You need to learn what prepositions follow what verbs when there is a following infinitive, or when there is a following noun.

¿Qué puedo hacer para ayudar? = What can I do to help?
No te puedo pedir a hacer algo. = I can't ask you to do something.

[CrOtALiTo]

Escrito originalmente por bricks

Hi, is it possible to use two infinitives in a row in a sentence?

For example:

No te puedo pedir hacer...
(I can't ask you to do...)

or:

Que puedo hacer para ayudar?
(What can I do to help?)

Thank you. I have never seen this structure before, so I thought to ask here.

Corrections above.

[irmamar]

If the verb is transitive, you can write the second infinitive without prepositions, since this infinitive is the DO: poder hacer, saber pensar, poder decir, etc.

Although, in your example, I'd use the subjunctive present: no te puedo pedir que hagas...

If the verb is intransitive, you must use a preposition: hacer para ayudar, preguntar para ir, ir a comer, etc.