to get somebody doing

[beachboy]

What´s the difference between she´s got me spending and she´s got me to spend ?

 

[kfredson]

What´s the difference between she´s got me spending and she´s got me to spend ?

She's got me spending: This would mean that you have now begun to spend (I presume money) more frequently than before (as opposed to "She's got me saving.")
She's got me to spend: Here spend is a transitive verb. It is missing something. Generally you would use this when you have decided to spend money on something particular. "She's got me to spend money on my car." This is more of a one time or temporary thing.
Having said that, you might occasionally hear this second sentence used to say much the same as what I described in the beginning.

 

[beachboy]

I understand that She´s got me to spend (money) is the same as she´s convinced me to spend. But I can´t understand the connection between the money spent and the girl, in the first sentence (she´s got me spending).... I mean, what she has done in order to make me spend more....

 

[sarat_106]

What´s the difference between she´s got me spending and she´s got me to spend ?

This is a case of use of causative verb ‘get’. The second sentence is correct. You can use an infinitive or bare infinitive form of the action verb (spend) It means: Your wife caused or persuaded you to spend (money). You simply acted as her agent. Look at the use of the causative form:

Subject + Causative verb+ Agent + Action verb + Object
I + got + my brother + to carry + my suitcase.
(I managed to persuade my brother to carry my suitcase.)
I got (= caused) ) him to act as a bearer

 

[beachboy]

Sorry, Sarat. It´s the first sentence that puzzles me!

 

[sarat_106]

Sorry, Sarat. It´s the first sentence that puzzles me!

The first sentence can not work structurally. If you want to use two action verbs in a sentence with one subject, the second verb should be either an infinitive or a gerund. Infinitive can be used, there are no two opinions. The gerund form can not be used, because when it is not the direct object or subject complement, it has to be preceded by a preposition. So where is the preposition here? It is preceded by a objective pronoun (me)which is incorrect.

 

[beachboy]

That´s why I don´t understand... The fact is, I´ve heard the expression in songs. Like you get me going (or maybe it gets me going), not to mention the one I posted, which can be found in a song by The Black Eyes Peas. I wonder how natives feel sentences like these...

 

[bhaisahab]

That´s why I don´t understand... The fact is, I´ve heard the expression in songs. Like you get me going (or maybe it gets me going), not to mention the one I posted, which can be found in a song by The Black Eyes Peas. I wonder how natives feel sentences like these...

You shouldn't expect to find good grammar in popular songs.

 

[Raymott]

What´s the difference between she´s got me spending and she´s got me to spend ?

This is a variant of the "What's the difference between the "verb-ing" form and the "to verb" form, which is probably the second most asked question on the site at the moment, so you might want to seek out some of those posts as well.

In this specific case, in which you've use the present perfect:
"She's got me spending every weekend with her" or
"She's got me spending a lot of money on her" both imply an ongoing situation.
"She's got me to spend a lot of money on her/time with her" does not necessarily mean that it's still happening.

However, there are a lot of idiomatic uses of "get" and "go", so don't expect "She got me going" to mean the same as "She got me to go".

 

[TheParser]

That´s why I don´t understand... The fact is, I´ve heard the expression in songs. Like you get me going (or maybe it gets me going), not to mention the one I posted, which can be found in a song by The Black Eyes Peas. I wonder how natives feel sentences like these...

***NOT A TEACHER***This is a fascinating thread. I don't know whether this will help you, but -- speaking strictly from a grammar viewpoint --"You get me going" is PROBABLY a short way of saying, "You get me TO going." E. g., many native speakers say, "Wow! That really got me thinking!" They leave out the preposition.