Please help explain "I heard the phone ring."

The main verb (past tense) is "heard."
"Ring" is the bare infinitive.
"I heard the phone [to] ring." It has no tense. It's a non-finite form ("verbal").

Because 'ring' is the infinite. 'Hear' is the finite verb in the sentence.

I heard the phone ring.
I saw the truck crash into the wall.
I felt the earth shake under my feet.

This is how verbs of perception work.

Thank you for the replies, but I don't understand.

"I heard the phone [to] ring." I don't understand this sentence because it does not sound correct. Can you explain the non-finite form?

No 'to'.

Object + bare (no 'to') infinitive occurs with coercive verbs, perceptual verbs and a few others. Here are examples of each:

I made her wash the car.
I watched them steal his wallet.
She helped them clean their closet.

Here are most of the verbs involved: have, let, make, feel, hear, overhear, see, watch, notice, observe

These forms are correct:

I heard the phone ring. (I heard the phone. It rang.) No "to"!
I heard the baby cry.

More common is the participle (continuous) form. The structure is the same:

I heard the phone ringing. (I heard the phone. It was ringing.)
I saw a man reading the newspaper.

The infinitive (to + base verb) can also be used, but the structure i

The "phone ring" is a compound noun.Sometimes they appear as two separate words

AnonymousThe "phone ring" is a compound noun.Sometimes they appear as two separate words

No. In this sentence, phone is a noun, and ring is a verb.

In other sentences, these words can be different parts of speech.

Mary phoned me. (Phone as verb)

The ring of the bell is loud. (Ring as noun)

The word "phone" can be used as grammatical modifier without the endings with -ing and -ed : according to the Oxford dictionary. For example, " a phone number".I think the "ring" is a "head" and the "phone" is a grammatical modifier. You version looks correct too. It is a interesting question.

Excuse me for any typos. I use a mobile phone for Internet posting.

AnonymousThe word "phone" can be used as grammatical modifier without the endings with -ing and -ed : according to the Oxford dictionary. For example, " a phone number".I think the "ring" is a "head" and the "phone" is a grammatical modifier. You version looks correct too. It is a interesting question.

An infinitive phrase (reduced clause) follows verbs of per