Is it possible to use two verb? one after one

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“he started use skype” , “he started using skype”
is it possible to use two verb? or we must add ing to make the second verb a noun, I mean one after one, not compound verbs.

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Hi :slight_smile: If you want to combine to verbs, you cannot just put them together. You could either say “He started TO use skype” so just put the second one in the infinitive form. Or you can say - like you did - “He started using skype”, turning the second one NOT into a noun but into its progressive form. Those are use for things going on over a longer period of time. Does that help?

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VERB 1 + VERB 2, assuming that VERB 1 is not an auxiliary verb for VERB 2, normally VERB2 will be the infinitive form and VERB 1 will be conjugated in any tense. However there are many exceptions and not all exceptions involve ing endings.

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@ Nia - none of that makes any sense to me! (said with a friendly tone). I have no clue why my native English is constructed the way it is:))

My generation (at least those in my State) didn’t have any formal grammar lessons. I heard grammar terms for the first time from my two eldest when they were in high school, and later in my university studies of Japanese.

I do fondly remember, though, that my primary school teacher in grade 7 often asked me to mark/correct the other students’ essays for him. He would give me stacks of class papers to mark with a smile on his face:) Ah, the good ol’ school days…

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Thanks Chsoskind, very helpful.

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Thanks Nia.

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  1. He started to use Skype. (to-infinitive)
  2. He started using Skype. (gerund)
  3. He went shopping. (present participle)