À vs De with Verbs

	Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French prepositions

The prepositions à and de are found in many verbal constructions that look very similar, but the choice of preposition makes all the difference.

À and de with verbs

The prepositions à and de can be particularly challenging when it comes to using them with verbs.

1) à ≠ de

These eight verbs have different meanings depending on which preposition follows.

décider qqun à	to persuade, convince		décider de	to decide (to do)
demander à qqun	to ask (for permission)		demander de	to ask (to do)
jouer à	to play a game or sport		jouer de	to play an instrument
manquer à qqun	to miss (someone)		manquer de	to neglect (to do)
parler à qqun	to talk to		parler de	to talk about
penser à	to think about (imagine)		penser de	to think about (opinion)
profiter à	to benefit		profiter de	to make the most of
venir à	to happen to		venir de	to have just (done)

Par exemple…

J’ai décidé de voyager.		I decided to travel.
J’ai décidé ma sœur à me rejoindre.		I convinced my sister to join me.

2) à + de

Nine verbs can use à and de together in the following construction:

verb + à + quelqu’un + de + infinitive

For eight of these verbs, à indicates who is to do something, while de precedes whatever that something is.

			à qqun	de faire
commander		to order	someone	to do	something
conseiller		to advise	"		"
défendre		to forbid	"		"
demander		to ask	"		"
dire		to tell	"		"
interdire		to forbid	"		"
ordonner		to order	"		"
permettre		to allow	"		"

So for the above verbs, the "someone" after à (or replaced by an indirect object pronoun) is the person who is supposed to perform the action after de.

Il a conseillé à Ana de partir immédiatement.		He advised Ana to leave immediately.
Je te dis de manger les épinards.		I’m telling you to eat the spinach.

The ninth verb, promettre, is a little different: the person doing the action after de is the same as the subject. À precedes the person who is promised that action.

Elle a promis à Paul de dire la vérité.		She promised Paul that she’d tell the truth.
Je te promets de finir mes devoirs.		I promise you I’ll finish my homework.

3) à = de

After these verbs, either preposition can be used with no real difference in meaning.

commencer à commencer de		to start (doing)
continuer à continuer de		to continue (doing)
prendre garde à prendre garde de		to be careful to
rêver à rêver de		to dream of, about

À and de in phrases

A few phrases look similar but have different meanings depending on the preposition.

à côté	nearby, next to		de côté	sideways
à côté de	next to, beside		du côté de	from (direction)
à la hauteur	at the level		[un mètre] de hauteur	[one meter] tall

 À vs de Quizzes

Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on verbs with à and de with these fill-in-the-blanks exercises:

• Le Clown
• Dispute entre frère et sœur
• Réunion de classe de Terminale

Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless French account to take these tests. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!

 Related lessons

• All about à  |  Verbs that require à
• All about de  |  Verbs that require de
• À vs de after adjectives
• Infinitives

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!