By the end of this lesson you'll know which verbs need à or de before an infinitive, and which don't need anything.
Three groups of verbs
When one verb follows another, the second one is an infinitive. Between the two, French has three possibilities: à, de or nothing. It depends only on the first verb.
Verbs with à
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| commencer à | koh-mahn-SAY ah | to start to, to start …ing |
| apprendre à | ah-PRAHN-druh ah | to learn to |
| réussir à | ray-ew-SEER ah | to manage to, to succeed in |
| aider quelqu'un à | eh-day kel-KUHN ah | to help someone to |
| continuer à | kohn-tee-new-AY ah | to carry on …ing |
Je commence à comprendre.
I'm starting to understand.
Anne apprend à nager.
Anne is learning to swim.
Il continue à pleuvoir.
It's still raining.
Continuer de also exists, with the same meaning, but stick to continuer à for now.
With aider, the person comes first, and à follows: J'aide Paul à ranger (I'm helping Paul to tidy). With a pronoun, it goes before aider: Je l'aide à ranger (I'm helping him to tidy), as in the lesson on direct object pronouns.
Verbs with de
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| essayer de | eh-seh-YAY duh | to try to |
| décider de | day-see-DAY duh | to decide to |
| arrêter de | ah-reh-TAY duh | to stop …ing |
| finir de | fee-NEER duh | to finish …ing |
| oublier de | oo-blee-AY duh | to forget to |
| refuser de | ruh-few-ZAY duh | to refuse to |
J'essaie de dormir.
I'm trying to sleep.
Il a décidé de partir.
He decided to leave.
Arrête de manger le chocolat !
Stop eating the chocolate!
Elle a fini de travailler.
She's finished working.
J'ai oublié de fermer la porte.
I forgot to close the door.
One more verb from that last example:
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| fermer | fehr-MAY | to close |
You've already seen avoir envie de and avoir besoin de, in the lesson on en. They take de too: J'ai envie de sortir (I feel like going out).
Verbs with nothing
Many of the most common verbs go straight to the infinitive. Don't add anything here.
- aimer, adorer and détester, from the lesson on likes and dislikes
- préférer, from the lesson on comparatives
- vouloir, pouvoir and devoir, from the lesson on modal verbs
- savoir, from the lesson on savoir and connaître
- aller, from the lesson on the near future
- il faut, from the lesson on il faut and simple advice
J'adore danser.
I love dancing.
Tu peux venir samedi ?
Can you come on Saturday?
Apprendre with a noun
Apprendre changes with what follows it. Before a noun, there's no preposition. Before an infinitive, you need à.
- J'apprends le français. (I'm learning French.)
- J'apprends à nager. (I'm learning to swim.)
Spelling and the past
Two spellings are worth a look.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| j'essaie / j'essaye | zheh-SEH / zheh-SEH-y | I tryBoth spellings are correct. |
| nous essayons | noo zeh-seh-YOHN | we try |
| nous commençons | noo koh-mahn-SOHN | we start |
Essayer has a choice of spelling in je, tu, il and ils. Commencer takes a cedilla before o, for the same reason it does before a, which you saw in the lesson on the imparfait.
In the passé composé, the auxiliary and the participle come first, and the little word and the infinitive follow them.
J'ai commencé à travailler.
I started working.
The whole list
Here are the three groups in one place. It's a good list to come back to.
- À: commencer à, apprendre à, réussir à, aider quelqu'un à, continuer à
- De: essayer de, décider de, arrêter de, finir de, oublier de, refuser de, avoir envie de, avoir besoin de
- Nothing: aimer, adorer, détester, préférer, vouloir, pouvoir, devoir, savoir, aller, il faut
There's no rule that tells you which group a verb belongs to. So learn each verb and its word as one block: not essayer, but essayer de.
En français
- Tu as commencé à apprendre la guitare ? (Have you started learning the guitar?)
- Oui, mais j'ai oublié de la prendre aujourd'hui ! (Yes, but I forgot to bring it today!)
- Tu continues à travailler ce soir ? (Are you carrying on working this evening?)
- Non, j'ai décidé d'arrêter. Je veux dormir. (No, I've decided to stop. I want to sleep.)
What's next
Next, the lesson on polite requests shows you how to ask for things politely. Much later, the lesson on tricky prepositions looks at verbs that change meaning with the preposition.