te + infinitive: when a Dutch verb needs te

When one Dutch verb is followed by a second verb, that second verb often needs the little word te in front of it — much like the English to in I try to sleep: Ik probeer te slapen. Which first verbs demand te is something you learn as a set, because a different set of verbs takes no te at all (see the bare infinitive).

Keep the first verb in its normal place, send the second verb (the infinitive — the plain dictionary form ending in -en) to the end of the clause, and put te directly in front of it: Ik probeer (first verb) ... te slapen (te + infinitive at the end).

1. The first (conjugated) verb stays in second position: Ik probeer elke avond op tijd te gaan slapen. (I try to go to sleep on time every evening.)
2. te comes immediately before the infinitive; nothing else slips between them: Hij hoopt volgend jaar te verhuizen. (He hopes to move next year.)
3. With a separable verb, te wedges between the prefix and the verb: opbellen → op te bellen, uitkijken → uit te kijken. Ze vergat mij op te bellen. (She forgot to phone me.)

There is no rule that predicts it from meaning — you memorise the te-verbs. These are the ones you meet most often.

Two more groups also take te:

• hoeven (to need to / to have to), which is only used in a negative sentence — with niet, geen, nooit: Je hoeft niet te komen. (You do not have to come.) It is the one modal-like verb that keeps te; the true modal verbs kunnen, moeten, mogen, willen, zullen take no te.
• The position verbs staan, zitten, liggen, lopen + te, which describe an action in progress: Ik sta op de bus te wachten. (I am waiting for the bus.) This is the positional continuous.
• After the linking words zonder (without), door (by), na (after), om (in order to): Hij stak over zonder uit te kijken. (He crossed without looking.) The om ... te case has its own page.

The hardest part is telling te-verbs apart from the verbs that take a plain infinitive with no te. Modals and a few others take no te: Ik kan zwemmen (I can swim), not ik kan te zwemmen. So it is Ik probeer te zwemmen but Ik wil zwemmen. When two such verbs meet, only the te-verb keeps its te: Ik hoop te kunnen komen. (I hope to be able to come.)

In the perfect tense with hoeven and durven, the second verb turns back into an infinitive and te is normally dropped: Je had niet hoeven wachten. (You needn't have waited.) The te-variant Je had niet hoeven te wachten is also heard and counts as correct.