"He insisted on seeing his daughter."

Translation: Él insistió en ver a su hija.

[Bill-Roca]

One of the things killing me with infinitives is the word before the infinitive ... sometimes 'en', sometimes 'a', sometimes 'de', sometimes nothing ... any rules or patterns to help a poor struggling level ten understand this better?

examples:
'en' in this one --
Ella intenta ver televisión. (none) --
mis amigos dejaron de beber (de) --
ellos fueron a comer sopa (a)

So what's the pattern?

Gracias!

[espanola_amanda]

It has more to do with the conjugated verb before the infinitives. Usually, you just learn the preposition that goes with that verb. So, in this example, always think of them together: 'insistir en'. 'Dejar de' and 'ir a' in your examples. Of course, a commonly-used verb like 'ir' can have multiple prepositions with it, such as 'voy de compras' (I'm going shopping) and 'fuimos por tren' (we went by train). At that point, it's just additional usage of the language that will help you sharpen those instincts.

[wwang.1]

I find this link very helpful:http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/vrbsprep.htm

[Bill-Roca]

Thanks wwang.1 ... here's another link I found after posting my complaint above several weeks ago:

http://spanishplus.tripod.com/VerbsandPrepositions.htm ... your list seems better organized though :)

[neven26]

why does EN come before VER? is it because the sentence says INSISTED ON SEEING?

[rspreng]

yep. Some verbs have to have a specific preposition after them in certain situations. "Insistir en" means "to insist on." Just the way it is.

[dwallach]

Hmm, I was marked correct without putting in the "en".

[neven26]

thank you, will try to remember this rule

[JacquiStone]

Why 'ver' and not 'viendo'?

[elizadeux]

Often the gerund in English will translate to the infinitive in Spanish. Insistir en + infinitive = to insist on doing.

[kendallwahouske]

Why ver and not viendo????

[StacyBursuk]

Why can't it be "a ver a su hija?" "A" was in the drop down for "on"

[solzy2004]

I almost put that myself, but then I used google translate (open it as a tab in Chrome as I do DuoLingo) to check. If I don't, I can't progress as fast, and by using google translate when I'm not sure, I can learn much more, since then one goes faster (way faster) through the levels. DuoLingo is not IMHO some holy thing. What it is, IMHO is the BEST most amazing facilitator and platform for learning. With google translate in tandem, you seriously increase your rate of learning. I don't use google translate all the time since of course learning is deeper if you type the answer from your own brain first. But if you have any doubts, THEN run it through google translate to increase your chances of it being right.

[Ruth611710]

Thanks, Solzy. Great suggestion !

[Dr.Beez]

I so hate Spanish prepositions paired with verbs. There seems to be no rules, only memorization.

[anton_t13]

you really think that English is better?)
I'm confused with "wait for me", but "await me".

[PerriAnn]

Why does it say that it could be either 'insistio' or 'insistia' ? sorry i don't know how to do the accent marks on my computer, but I just would like to know the difference between those two.