French verbs requiring a preposition
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A number of French verbs require the preposition à in front of a noun or infinitive.
Verbs + à + noun
acheter à | to buy from | |
arracher à | to grab, tear away from | |
aller à | to suit (someone) | |
assister à (la réunion) | to attend (the meeting) | |
s’attendre à | to expect (something) | |
conseiller à | to advise | |
convenir à qqun / qqch | to please, be suitable for s.o. / s.t. | |
croire à | to believe something |
défendre à | to forbid | |
se délecter à | to take delight in | |
demander (qqch) à qqun | to ask someone (something) | |
déplaire à | to displease / be displeasing to | |
désobéir à | to disobey | |
dire à qqun | to say / tell | |
donner qqch à qqun | to give someone something | |
écrire à quelqu’un | to write to someone | |
emprunter qqch à qqun | to borrow something from s.o. | |
envoyer qqch à qqun | to send something to someone | |
être à | to belong to | |
faire attention à | to pay attention to | |
faire confiance à | to trust (someone) | |
faire mal à | to hurt | |
faillir à | to fail in / at / to | |
se fier à (quelqu’un) | to trust (someone) | |
goûter à quelque chose | to taste something | |
s’habituer à | to get used to | |
interdire (qqch) à qqun | to forbid someone (something) | |
s’intéresser à | to be interested in | |
jouer à | to play (a game or sport) | |
manquer à | to miss someone | |
mêler à | to mingle with / to join in | |
nuire à | to harm | |
obéir à | to obey | |
s’opposer à | to oppose | |
ordonner à | to order | |
pardonner à | to pardon, forgive | |
parler à | to talk to | |
penser à | to think of / about* | |
permettre à | to permit | |
plaire à | to please / be pleasing to | |
prendre à quelqu’un | to take from someone | |
prendre garde à | to be careful of, watch out for | |
procurer à quelqu’un | to obtain for someone | |
profiter à | to benefit / be profitable to | |
promettre à | to promise | |
raconter à qqun | to tell someone | |
rappeler à | to remind (someone) | |
réfléchir à | to consider / reflect upon | |
rendre visite à quelqu’un | to visit someone | |
répondre à | to answer | |
reprocher à | to criticize | |
résister à | to resist | |
ressembler à | to resemble | |
réussir à l’examen | to pass the test | |
rêver à | to imagine, dream of | |
serrer la main à quelqu’un | to shake hands with someone | |
servir à | to be used for/as | |
songer à | to dream / think of | |
sourire à | to smile at | |
succéder à | to succeed, follow | |
survivre à | to survive | |
téléphoner à | to call | |
voler (qqch) à qqun | to steal (something) from someone |
Replacing à + noun
À plus an inanimate noun can be replaced by the adverbial pronoun y.
J’ai répondu à la question.![]() |
I answered the question.![]() |
À plus a person can usually be replaced by an indirect object pronoun.
J’ai parlé à David.![]() |
I talked to David.![]() |
However, some verbs / expressions don’t allow this replacement, instead requiring that the preposition be kept after the verb, followed by a stressed pronoun.
J’ai pensé à David.![]() |
I thought about David.![]() |
Verbs + à + infinitive
Note that this construction may be equivalent to an English infinitive (e.g., to do) or a gerund (doing).
aider à | to help to | |
s’amuser à | to amuse oneself ___-ing | |
apprendre à | to learn how to | |
s’apprêter à | to get ready to | |
arriver à | to manage / succeed in ___-ing | |
aspirer à | to aspire/yearn to | |
astreindre (qqun) à | to compel / force (someone) to | |
s’attendre à | to expect to | |
s’autoriser à | to authorize / allow to | |
avoir à | to have to / be obliged to | |
chercher à | to attempt to | |
commencer à** | to start to / ___-ing | |
consentir à | to consent to | |
continuer à** | to continue to / ___-ing | |
contraindre (qqun) à | to force / compel (someone) to | |
décider (quelqu’un) à | to persuade (someone) to | |
se décider à | to make up one’s mind to | |
encourager à | to encourage to | |
s’engager à | to get around to | |
enseigner à | to teach to | |
s’épuiser à | to exhaust oneself ___-ing | |
forcer à | to force to | |
s’habituer à | to get used to | |
hésiter à | to hesitate to | |
s’intéresser à | to be interested in | |
inviter (quelqu’un) à | to invite (someone) to | |
se mettre à | to start, set about ___-ing | |
obliger (qqun) à | to oblige/force (someone) to | |
parvenir à | to succeed in ___-ing | |
passer du temps à | to spend time ___-ing | |
perdre du temps à | to waste time ___-ing | |
persister à | to persist in ___-ing | |
se plaire à | to take pleasure in ___-ing | |
pousser (quelqu’un) à | to urge/push (someone) to | |
prendre garde à | to be careful to | |
se préparer à | to prepare oneself to | |
rechigner à | to grudge ___-ing | |
recommencer à | to begin ___-ing again | |
réfléchir à | to consider ___-ing | |
renoncer à | to give up ___-ing | |
se résigner à | to become resigned to ___-ing | |
résister à | to resist ___-ing | |
réussir à | to succeed in ___-ing | |
servir à | to serve to | |
songer à | to dream of ___-ing | |
tarder à | to delay / be late in ___-ing | |
tenir à | to hold (someone) to / insist on ___-ing | |
venir à | to happen to |
** Can also be followed by de with exactly the same meaning – see Verbs with à and / or de.
Also see Passive infinitive
Related lessons
- Lesson on à
- Introduction to prepositions
- Introduction to verbs
- Nouns
- Infinitives
- Adverbial pronoun y
- Indirect object pronouns
- Verbs with other prepositions
En español
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Hi, I recently got my head around unmodified nouns with verbs fixed by de. Do verbs fixed by à have the same rule with unmodified nouns? Thank you
No, they don’t. Verbs that need à are typically followed by modified nouns.
Wow, this is overwhelming! This is why I tend to struggle with prepositions so much! Over the time, I started to notice that some words tend to be most of the time followed with the same prepositions. That’s why an idea to create a list comes naturally to mind. I appreciate your work collecting all those pesky adjectives / verbs and their prepositions!
As someone who struggles with prepositions, I noticed there are seven instances in which the same verb + preposition combination appears under both the infinitive and noun lists:
s’habituer à
s’interesser à
(se) plaire à
réflechir à
resister à
servir à
songer à
I would have thought it would be one or the other. Could you please expand on the reason they are in both lists?
These 7 verbs can be followed by a noun or an infinitive; either way they need à.
Par exemple :
Je m’habitue à ce bruit – I’m getting used to this noise.
Je m’habitue à travailler tous les jours – I’m getting used to working every day.
Thanks for the helpful response 🙂