I recommend that you/you to -inf

[Magg]

Hello,

I´m new in the forum and I´d like you to help me with my first doubt.

Time ago, talking to an American friend of mine, I used the sentence:
"I recommend you to go". He corrected me by saying: "I recommend that you go".

How can I differenciate between both structures?
Does it depend on the verb, te action...?

Thanks a lot for you comments,
Magg

[Casiopea]

Welcome.

That's right. It depends on the verb. recommend is a verb that takes a bare infinitive:

EX: I recommend that you walk, sleep, go, talk to, eat, etc.

By the way, 'that' is optional:

EX: I recommend you walk, sleep, go, talk to, eat, etc.

You can also omit "you", and if you do, you'll have to change the bare infinitive into a gerund (an -ing noun), like this,

EX: I recommend walking, sleeping, going, talking, eating, etc.

All the best,

[Magg]

Welcome.

That's right. It depends on the verb. recommend is a verb that takes a bare infinitive:

EX: I recommend that you walk, sleep, go, talk to, eat, etc.

By the way, 'that' is optional:

EX: I recommend you walk, sleep, go, talk to, eat, etc.

You can also omit "you", and if you do, you'll have to change the bare infinitive into a gerund (an -ing noun), like this,

EX: I recommend walking, sleeping, going, talking, eating, etc.

All the best,

Casiopea, thanks for such a good explanation. You helped me a lot.

Cheers,
Magg

[JJM Ballantyne]

"EX: I recommend that you walk, sleep, go, talk to, eat, etc."

If we were to lay it on heavy with traditional grammar, in the strictest sense this would be considered a subjunctive construction - most obvious when the third person singular is used:

"I recommend that the committee adopt the minutes."

There's no infinitive here, just the "base form" of the verb.

But it's a moot point: English entirely lacks a distinctive infinitive form of the verb.

Indeed, English has so few verb inflections ("be" tops the list with eight; most "regular" verbs only have three) that the base form of the verb generally serves quite handily for what would be the infinitive, indicative, imperative and subjunctive in languages with more complex verb conjugations:

We will adopt a new measure (infinitive).

They adopt the new regulations today (indicative)

Adopt the prone position! (imperative)

I recommend that the committee adopt the minutes (subjunctive)

It does tend to beg the question as to just how useful these concepts really are to English grammar.