đŸ‡«đŸ‡· Lesson 9: Verbs + à / de / Bare Infinitive

You already know je veux partir and je commence Ă  travailler. But why does commencer take Ă , dĂ©cider take de, and vouloir take nothing at all? There is no perfectly tidy rule — but there are strong patterns, and once you see them, hundreds of verbs sort themselves.

đŸ—‚ïž The Three Patterns

PatternExampleTypical meaning
verb + infinitiveJe veux partir.modals, motion, perception, opinion
verb + Ă  + infinitiveJe commence Ă  comprendre.starting, moving toward, engaging
verb + de + infinitiveJ'ai décidé de partir.stopping, separating, completing

1ïžâƒŁ Bare Infinitive — No Preposition

The shortest list, and the most frequent verbs in the language.

GroupVerbsExample
Modalsvouloir, pouvoir, devoir, savoir, falloirJe sais nager.
Motionaller, venir, partir, rentrer, monter, descendreJe vais chercher du pain.
Perceptionvoir, entendre, Ă©couter, regarder, sentirJe l'ai vu partir.
Opinion / intentespérer, penser, compter, préférer, désirerJ'espÚre venir.
Othersfaire, laisser, oser, sembler, paraĂźtre, valoir mieuxIl semble dormir.

⚠ Watch aller and venir

Bare aller + infinitive is the futur proche or a real movement: Je vais manger. But venir de + infinitive is the recent past: Je viens de manger — "I've just eaten". Same verb, and the little de changes the tense completely.

2ïžâƒŁ Verbs With Ă 

Think of Ă  as an arrow: movement toward something, engagement with it, a process getting under way.

FrenchPronunciationMeaning
commencer Ă ko-mahn-say AHto begin to
se mettre Ă suh metr AHto start (suddenly)
continuer Ă kohn-tee-nĂŒ-ay AHto continue to
apprendre Ă ah-prahndr AHto learn to
rĂ©ussir Ă ray-ĂŒ-seer AHto manage to
arriver Ă ah-ree-vay AHto manage to, to succeed in
hésiter àay-zee-tay AHto hesitate to
chercher Ă shair-shay AHto seek to
penser Ă pahn-say AHto think of (doing)
s'habituer Ă sah-bee-tĂŒ-ay AHto get used to
aider quelqu'un Ă ay-day kel-kuhn AHto help someone to
inviter quelqu'un Ă an-vee-tay kel-kuhn AHto invite someone to

3ïžâƒŁ Verbs With de

De carries the opposite feel: separation, completion, ceasing — or a mental act about something.

FrenchPronunciationMeaning
décider deday-see-day DUHto decide to
essayer deay-say-yay DUHto try to
finir defee-neer DUHto finish (doing)
arrĂȘter deah-ray-tay DUHto stop (doing)
oublier deoo-blee-ay DUHto forget to
refuser deruh-fĂŒ-zay DUHto refuse to
Ă©viter deay-vee-tay DUHto avoid (doing)
accepter deak-sep-tay DUHto agree to
choisir deshwah-zeer DUHto choose to
venir devuh-neer DUHto have just
avoir besoin deah-vwahr buh-zwan DUHto need to
ĂȘtre obligĂ© deetr o-blee-zhay DUHto have to

đŸ‘„ The Two-Object Pattern

Verbs of asking, telling and permitting take a person with Ă  and the action with de. Both prepositions in one sentence.

StructureExampleMeaning
demander à qqn de faireJ'ai demandé à Paul de venir.I asked Paul to come.
dire Ă  qqn de faireDis-lui de partir.Tell him to leave.
permettre Ă  qqn de fairePermets-moi de t'aider.Allow me to help you.
conseiller Ă  qqn de faireJe lui conseille d'attendre.I advise him to wait.
interdire Ă  qqn de faireOn nous interdit de fumer.We're forbidden to smoke.

Compare with aider, which takes a direct object plus Ă : Je l'aide Ă  dĂ©mĂ©nager. The person is direct, the action takes Ă . The preposition on the person and the preposition on the action are independent — check both.

🔁 Why the Preposition Matters for Pronouns

This is not a bookkeeping detail: the preposition decides which pronoun replaces the complement.

VerbFull sentencePronoun
penser Ă Je pense Ă  mon travail.J'y pense.
parler deJe parle de mon travail.J'en parle.
dire à qqnJe dis à Paul
Je lui dis

aider qqnJ'aide Paul.Je l'aide.

And in Lesson 8, the same preposition decided the relative pronoun: à → auquel, de → dont. Learning a verb's preposition pays off three times over.

🎭 When the Preposition Changes the Meaning

FrenchMeaning
décider de partirto decide to leave
se décider à partirto make up one's mind to leave (at last)
penser Ă  quelqu'unto think about someone
penser de quelqu'unto have an opinion of someone
manquer de tomberto nearly fall
venir de tomberto have just fallen
finir de travaillerto finish working
finir par travaillerto end up working

đŸ‡«đŸ‡· France

Continuer Ă  and continuer de are both correct; Ă  dominates in speech. Watch for commencer par ("to start by") versus commencer Ă  ("to start to") — Commençons par le dĂ©but is fixed. Written French also likes s'efforcer de, veiller Ă  and tenir Ă , all of which are worth adding at B2.

🇹🇩 Canada

Same prepositions. QuĂ©bĂ©cois adds a few constructions of its own, notably ĂȘtre aprĂšs + infinitive for an action in progress — Je suis aprĂšs manger ("I'm in the middle of eating"), where France says Je suis en train de manger. You will also hear avoir de la misĂšre Ă  + infinitive for "to have trouble doing", where France uses avoir du mal Ă .

✍ Practice

Exercise 1 — à, de, or nothing?

Write Ă , de, or rien.

  1. J'ai commencé _____ travailler à huit heures. (Answer: à|a)
  2. Elle a décidé _____ partir. (Answer: de|d')
  3. Je veux _____ rentrer. (Answer: rien)
  4. Nous avons réussi _____ finir à temps. (Answer: à|a)
  5. Il a oublié _____ fermer la porte. (Answer: de|d')
  6. Tu dois _____ lui téléphoner. (Answer: rien)

Exercise 2 — More of the same

Exercise 3 — The two-object pattern

Fill in the missing preposition.

  1. J'ai demandé _____ Marie de venir. (Answer: à|a)
  2. Je lui ai dit _____ attendre. (Answer: de|d')
  3. Il m'a conseillé _____ accepter. (Answer: de|d')
  4. Je l'aide _____ préparer le repas. (Answer: à|a)

Exercise 4 — y or en?

🧠 Check Your Understanding

1. Which verb takes no preposition before an infinitive?

2. Je viens de manger means:

3. Why is it worth learning a verb's preposition?