Verbs to nouns (spanish)

Open Forum
1

I read that one can turn verbs into nouns just by using the infinitive? Kind of like in english -ing (gerund) changes verbs into nouns or the act of something. But then why do words like aprendizaje and limpiezaje exist (are they like the irregulars)? Are these sentences correct?
Conducir sin una placa es un delito en este condado.
Danzar es peligroso con caderas así.
Hablar así te pondrá en la carcel.
Embraigarse en la parque no es algo que te lo recomendarías.
Limpiar inodoros es mas divertido que payosear en un casino. Te puedo prometer eso.
How does it work with pronouns?

Corregirme si es necessarío
Decirnos la verdad aun asi es dificil
Are these wrong?

Also in english one can say (to verb) but in spanish this is just done with the infinitive?
Pensar que el acaba de dejar su trabajo.
This could be translated as to think he just quit his job or thinking that he just quit his job . But is based on context (i think)?

Ni is shorthand for ni siquiera? Cierto o falso? Es correcto para decir lo siguiente
Ni yo pudiera una cosa así
Ni aún and ni aunque mean not even?

Como si always followed by imprft subj?
Yo siento que es como si puesto a prueba estoy. (is this wrong?)
Also unrelated to the above but is this wrong?
Es dificil para hacer eso
Es facil para beber esa cantidad de agua.
Is the para wrong to be there?

Gracías muchas por ayudarme!

2

To use a verb as a subject (or attribute), English can use either a gerund (ing form) or an infinitive:
To talk about that is difficult.
As subject and attribute:
And the ing form is probably more frequent in most cases.
In Spanish we always use the infinitive, as you say.
So, you are correct. We never use the gerund in those cases.

It is “limpieza”. Well it’s the same in English: you can often choose a verb or a noun, which changes the exact meaning. The confusion comes because in English the ing form is sometimes a verb but sometimes a noun. You can see more clearly the difference when the noun is created in a different way:

House construction [no -ing] in English.

What do you want to say in English? As an example of an infinitive used as a subject the sentence is incomplete. We do say sentences like that (even more frequently using y):
To express a particular emotion but this is not directly related to your question about the use of infinitive where English might use a gerund. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll explain it to you. An example that would be relevant might be
which, again, may be translated into English using either infinitive (to form) or gerund (ing form).

The general strategy is correct: you just add the pronouns, but the first example would be understood differently
The “si” here makes the sentence sound as if you were using the infinitive as an imperative, as an command, which does happen in practice, (again, I can elaborate on this if you’re interested).
So we’d understand this example as
On the other hand, a good example for your question would be:
or
As for the second example, it is correct but it would be more usual to say
Yes, “ni” can be used in this sense. I give you a couple of examples that may help you remember this. First, a mean saying:
Meaning: don’t give the enemy even water.
Don’t even think about that, in the sense that "there’s no way you can (or I’ll allow you to) do that.
Your example should include the verb “hacer” to be complete:

Not always but most of the time: either imperfecto or pluscuamperfecto [pasta perfect] de subjuntivo
Yo siento que es como si puesto a prueba estoy. (is this wrong?)
It is wrong, a correct version (with imperfecto de subjuntivo) could be:
An example with pluscuamperfecto (referring to the past) would be:

It is wrong, you can tell when it is wrong if you try to use “in order to” or “o as to” in English:
It is difficult in order to do that [incorrect!]
In general “to + verb” in English may be just an infinitive, as in your examples, or it may express a goal.
In the first case there’s no “para” in Spanish but in the second there is one. Trying an explicit indication of goal, such as “in order to” helps you tell one case from the other.

They are not bad at all. They are grammatical and would be understood, however I’ll give you more idiomatic alternatives:
The first one is essentially correct but, at least in Spain, we say “matrícula” instead of “placa”. “Placa de matrícula” would be the whole expression but we usually just say “matrícula”. It is very possible that “placa” would be the most frequent word in other countries. In any case, every speaker would understand it.

Second one: correct, this would be a more idiomatic version:
The third one is, again, correct but “te llevará a la cárcel” would be more idiomatic.
Fourth one: there are a couple of typos:
More idomatic:

3

dios mios muchas gracias por tu respuesta me has dado mucha informacion pero algunas preguntas han sugerido en el processo. si tienes ganas de hacer eso podrias trear a la luz la preguntas siguientes?
i really need to get spanish spell check for the accents it doesnt feel like spanish without them lol.

What do you want to say in English? As an example of an infinitive used as a subject the sentence is incomplete. We do say sentences like that (even more frequently using y):
To express a particular emotion but this is not directly related to your question about the use of infinitive where English might use a gerund. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll explain it to you. An example that would be relevant might be
which, again, may be translated into English using either infinitive (to form) or gerund (ing form).

this was a bit cloudy if you could elaborate like the specific differences if my observations dont make sense below. english has the problem that -ing is nouns but also ing like the verbs, but spanish has the problem as its either to verb or the act of verbing but that y before the infinitive makes it obvious that its to think y pensar (and to think) versus and thinking (act of thinking) is that y thing a rule or thats just how natives say it most the time? either are good imma start using the y infinitive eso es oro! also with your ideomatic examples they are just like the native/natural way to say them right? not like they are weird phrases that dont make sense like me tomas el pelo o te saca el quicio (technically they make sense but not like literally if you know what i mean).

Ni yo podría [better than “pudiera”] hacer una cosa así. also the podria vs pudiera does it depend on when one could not do the thing? like i couldn’t do a thing in a story would be pudiera vs something that just happened or is podria always better?

I noticed all your examples did not start with an infinitive verb is it more natural to put them later in the sentences or am I just noticing randomness and missing a point also your word choice is more spanishy which makes them more natural? also thanks again for the examples!

es dificil danzar/es dificil hacer eso are correct? no need for para since in order to doesnt work? like i need to work more in order to se dan de comida a mis hijos is para ready like
yo necesito trabajar mas para se dan de comer a mis hijos.

Yo siento que es como si puesto a prueba estoy. (i stole this from a translation of a song i have seen this thing before. Now that i know the rule i think its the spanish speakers lack of english not the other way around. like estando lejos de ti was from a spanish native but thats wrong it should be estar lejor de ti since estar is like a noun here and estando is just like the english version transposed into spanish.

do people actually use infinitives as imperatives in speech? i see it on signs but never thought about someone saying darme/decirme eso instead of damelo/dimelo. how natural/common is it to use infinitive imperatives?
also my corregirme si necessario example this could be infinitive command or noun/attribute of corregir how does one know, is context the only determiner? also both can just throw pronouns on the end if need be?

do you as an andalusian use the -ais ending or -d vosotros imperative ever or is that a northern thing?
gracias muchas de nuevo!! me das mucha ayuda realamente es irreemplazable!!

4

Yes, I know it was cloudy because I didn’t want to confuse you by adding another topic. What happens is that there are expressions such as this:
It’s something like “I can’t believe that he didn’t even greet me”. It shows regret, sadness, blame, …
As I said, this is a special set expression, separate from the general rule of using infinitive to use a verb as a subject in the sentence.

Both variations “ni yo podría/pudiera” mean the exact same thing. In principle, it should be a conditional (“podría”) because you use this form for main clauses and “pudiera” mostly for subordinate on, for example:
Yo podría hacerlo si él pudiera ayudarme.
In contrast, this would sound a bit old-fashioned/dialectal, at least to my ears, although it’s not incorrect:
However, it is possible to use the “pudiera” form instead of “podría”. Nowadays it sounds a bit old-fashioned (at least in my way of speaking). For the “pluscuamperfecto” form, on the other hand, it’s absolutely normal to replace “habría hecho”, and so on, with “hubiera hecho” (but not the other way around). E.g.
Lo habría hecho si hubiera podido
Lo hubiera hecho si hubiera podido
are both possible and frequent.

Some of my examples do use infinitives at the beginning of the sentence and it’s quite possible and frequent.

As for infinitives instead of imperatives, this is a bit complex because there are differnt tendencies.
First, using a “real” infinitive in a positive command is, as you point out, a bit formal. It is used for instructions: cooking recipes, formal instructions in signs and so on, as you mention, …
On the other hand, negative infinitives as a command are more frequent and less formal.
It still sounds as if it had been written but it could be an informal sign, for example.

However, there’s another phenomenon which makes “fake infinitives” very frequent to express commands. This is possibly unique to Spain. As you know many speakers (not all!) in Spain use “vosotros/as” instead of “ustedes” when addressing people they know. The imperative form for “vosotros” end in “d”
Hablad conmigo
Well, colloquially it is very usual for people to change the “d” into “r” and pronounce it as if it were an infinitive:
When there are pronouns the correct form would me:
But you hear “callaros” very often.
In some areas speakers even use the negative form:
Those forms sound vulgar, the last one even more than the previous ones but you can hear them, and the first two very often, to the point that the “Real Academia” has recently accepted them as colloquial variants.
Notice that all the cases refer to several people, never to one single person. Even the example of formal instructions addresses more than one person, at least implicitly.
In your example it is the “si” part that makes it impossible to understand “corregirme” as an infinitive, so the imperative is the only possible interpretation. Consider a literal translation into English:
Notice that it doesn’t make sense in English as a complete sentence, either, whereas
would be awkward in English but it does make sense.

Correct!

The “para” is correct but the sentence should be:
…

It’s simply a bit awkward for everyday conversation but it is not incorrect. It may be used in a song to keep the rhyme, for example.

and this is an english question why does this sound horrible to me It is necessary to correct me and this sounds natural > correct me if it is necessary?
I think English only uses “it is necessary” for absolute, universal rules and it sounds awkward if you express a suggestion that way. It seems to be a rather formal, stilted way of speaking as well.
In Spanish “es necesario” also sounds too formal for many situations. English prefers to use “you” in informal conversation to express general statements or rules, rather than impersonal expressions, such as “it is necessary”. This is true even when “you” doesn’t refer to anyone in particular:
In Spanish, in contrast, impersonal expressions are more common in informal speech:
[I’ve added an example of “ni” in the sense of “not even”.]
Another common impersonal expression is “hay que”
Informal English would, once again, prefer an “impersonal you”