Infinitive of purpose

Do you know how and when to use an infinitive to talk about purpose? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we use infinitives of purpose.

He went to the shops to buy some shoes.
I'm writing to ask for your help.
My father runs every day to keep healthy.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1: Grammar A1-A2: Infinitive of purpose: 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

When we want to answer the question why?, we can use an infinitive of purpose. Most of the time, we use the to-infinitive.

Why do you have the LearnEnglish Grammar app?
To improve my grammar.
Why do we always eat at home?
We eat at home to save money.
Why do you have a bicycle?
I use it to go to work.
Why does she run every morning?
She runs to keep fit.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2: Grammar A1-A2: Infinitive of purpose: 2

Language level

A1 Elementary

A2 Pre-intermediate

I'm going to play the piano at wedding.
I decided to take a course to improve my English.

Excellent practice!

thank you for this lessons

He's learning english to get a well-paid job, but they are learning it to travel around the world and to meet new people.
She practices singing daily to sing beautifully.