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'Sehen', 'hören', 'lernen' and 'helfen' with an infinitive but no 'zu'

Most German verbs that link up with a second verb need zu: Ich versuche, zu schlafen. A small group of very common verbs skips it. Verbs of perception such as sehen, hören and fühlen, plus lernen, lehren and helfen, take the second verb as a plain infinitive at the end of the sentence.

English speakers trip over this because English uses -ing (I hear the children playing) or to (she is learning to swim). Learners copy that pattern and add a zu or reach for a long dass clause when a short, bare infinitive is exactly what a German speaker would say.

Word list
fühlenA1 to feel Sie fühlte ihr Herz schlagen helfenA1 to help Ich helfe dir tragen hörenA1 to hear Ich höre ihn lachen hörenA1 to listen jemanden sprechen hören lernenA1 to learn schwimmen lernen sehenA1 to see jemanden kommen sehen lehrenA2 to teach jemanden lesen lehren spürenB1 to feel Ich spürte den Boden zittern
How it works

The structure is simple. The main verb stands in its usual place. The person or thing you perceive, teach or help follows it. The second verb goes to the end as a bare infinitive, with no zu and no -ing form.

  • Perception: verb + who/what + infinitive, as in Ich höre die Kinder spielen.
  • Learning: lernen + infinitive, often with no object at all, as in Sie lernt schwimmen.

Rule of thumb: where English says I see him doing, I hear her do, or learning to do, German just puts the infinitive at the end.

Ich höre die Kinder im Garten spielen.
(I hear the children playing in the garden.)
Meine Tochter lernt gerade Fahrrad fahren.
(My daughter is learning to ride a bike.)
The words
Seeing, hearing and feeling

With sehen, hören and fühlen, the accusative object is also the one doing the action of the infinitive. The train leaves, the heart beats. Hören works in both of its senses: hearing a sound and listening to someone. The related verb spüren behaves the same way.

Wir sahen den Zug abfahren.
(We saw the train leave.)
Ich höre ihn im Nebenzimmer lachen.
(I can hear him laughing in the next room.)
Ich höre gern meinen Opa Geschichten erzählen.
(I love listening to my grandpa telling stories.)
Sie fühlte ihr Herz schnell schlagen.
(She felt her heart beating fast.)
Learning, teaching and helping

Lernen takes a bare infinitive for skills: schwimmen lernen, lesen lernen. The everyday verb kennenlernen (to get to know) is itself this pattern frozen into one word. Lehren means to teach and takes a person plus the skill. Helfen takes a dative person plus the infinitive.

Mein Sohn lernt jetzt lesen.
(My son is learning to read now.)
Sie lehrt die Kinder schwimmen.
(She teaches the children to swim.)
Hilfst du mir kochen?
(Will you help me cook?)
Watch out
The perfect tense

With sehen and hören, the perfect usually uses a second infinitive instead of the participle. Say Ich habe dich singen hören, not gehört. In casual speech you will also hear gehört and gesehen, but the double infinitive is the standard form. Lernen keeps its normal participle: Ich habe schwimmen gelernt.

Ich habe dich gestern singen hören.
(I heard you singing yesterday.)
Longer phrases with lernen and helfen

When the second part grows longer, lernen and helfen often switch to a comma plus zu. Short: Ich helfe dir tragen. Long: the version below. Perception verbs never take zu.

Er hat mir geholfen, die ganze Wohnung aufzuräumen.
(He helped me tidy up the whole flat.)
The typical mistake

Ich sehe ihn zu kommen is wrong. Drop the zu: Ich sehe ihn kommen. A dass clause such as Ich habe gesehen, dass er kommt is not wrong, but it sounds more like reporting a fact than describing what you actually watched.

Summary

After sehen, hören, fühlen, lernen, lehren and helfen, put the second verb at the end as a plain infinitive with no zu: Ich sehe die Kinder spielen, Er lernt schwimmen. In the perfect, perception verbs usually use two infinitives (habe ihn kommen sehen). Only lernen and helfen switch to zu when the phrase gets long.