Infinitives Following Verbs
Are They Introduced by À, DE, or nothing?
One of the most irksome aspects of French, for someone learning to speak it, is how to introduce a dependent infinitive. The following three situations are possible:
- J’aime escalader. (I like to mountain-climb.)
- Je décide d’escalader. (I decide to mountain-climb.)
- J’hésite à escalader. (I hesitate to mountain-climb.)
That is, an infinitive can be linked to a preceding verb by the preposition à, the preposition de, or by nothing at all. A fourth possibility could be added, but it is used only to indicate intention (when, in English, “to” can be replaced by “in order to”) is the preposition pour:
- J’ai tout fait pour escalader cette montagne. (I’ve done everything [in order] to scale this mountain.)
In many, perhaps most, cases, the choice French has made for a particular verb is arbitrary and can be learned only by brute drilling. However, some groups of verbs do follow one pattern rather than another. Learning them together may ease the burden.
Table of Contents
I. Verbs Followed Directly by an Infinitive
A. Verbs Indicating a Movement (a Direction)
Verbs such as: aller, courir, descendre, entrer, monter, rentrer, retourner, revenir, venir, etc.
- Elle est rentrée préparer le dîner. (She came back home to fix dinner).
- Jésus-Christ est descendu aux enfers libérer les âmes qu’on y tenait captives. (Jesus Christ descended into Hell in order to free the souls held captive there.)
- L’aumônier viendra vous offrir le secours de la religion. (The chaplain will come to offer you the consolations of religion.)
B. Semi-Auxiliaries
Semi-auxiliaries are like English modal verbs: they give coloration to an action (a coloration of obligation, ability, desire, etc.). They are: devoir, falloir, pouvoir, savoir, vouloir, valoir, and occasionally one or two others.
Elle devrait ralentir, plutôt qu’accélérer. (She ought to slow down rather than speed up.)
C. Verbs Indicating Desire
Verbs such as: aimer, désirer, espérer, préferer, souhaiter, vouloir
- Desires-tu nous accompagner? (Do you desire to come with us?)
- « Que veux-tu, Sibylle? —Je veux mourir. » (“What do you wish, O Sibyl?” “I wish to die.”)
D. Verbs Indicating Intention (penser, compter, prétendre)
Verbs such as: penser = “to intend to (do something)” –
- « Que penses-tu faire? —Je pense revenir ce soir travailler sur mon article. » (“What do you intend to do?” “I intend to come back this evening and work on my article.”)
The verb compter can be used in the same way:
- Que comptes-tu faire? (What do you intend to do?)
Penser à + infinitif Versus a Simple Penser + infintitif
Penser à can also be used with an infinitive, in which case it means, not “to intend to do,” but “to have one’s mind filled by the thought of”:
- C’est un homme qui ne pense qu’à boire et à manger. (He’s a man who thinks only of drinking and eating.)
The verb prétendre followed by an action-infinitive has a special meaning: “to think you are capable of doing something and to intend to do it.”
- Il prétend finir l’article ce soir. (He intends to finish the article this eveing [believing that he will be able to do so].)
With a state-infinitive, prétendre means its more usual “to claim”:
- Il prétend tout savoir sur la question. (He claims to know everything about the question.)
E. Verbs of Perception
Verbs such as: écouter, entendre, regarder, sentir, voir.
- Je regarde arriver les gendarmes. (I watch the guardsmen arrive.)
- Je les vois venir. (I see them come.)
- Elle entend dire quelque chose. (She hears something [being] said.)
- Elle entend parler les gens. (She hears the people speaking.)
F. Statements Made by the Subject About Hurrimself
Verbs such as: admettre, affirmer, avouer, assurer, croire, dire, nier, penser, se rappeler, reconnaître.
- Je crois avoir déjà dit cela. (I think I have already said that.)
- Il affirme ne pas connaître le coupable. (He states that he does not know the guilty party.)
- Elle reconnaît céder trop facilement. (She recognizes that she gives way too easily.)
- Il nie avoir provoqué cet accident. (He denies having caused this accident.)
G. Faire « causatif »
The faire causatif has a file all to itself – which it fully deserves!
H. Odds and Ends
I’m afraid the following don’t constitute a group, but it’s still important to know them.
avoir beau
Tu as beau protester, je ne te laisserai pas partir. (In vain do you protest, I will not let you leave.)
envoyer (chercher)
Je l’envoie chercher le médecin. (I send hurrim to get the doctor.)
faillir, manquer = “Nearly to Do (something) Just Miss Doing (something)”
J’ai failli tomber. = J’ai manqué tomber. (I almost fell.)
But manquer de means “to fail to do something” (as, by negligence). It is quasi-equivalent to oublier de.
J’ai manqué de verrouiller la porte. (I failed to bolt the door.)
laisser
Elle laisse entrer les gymnastes. (She lets the gymnasts enter.)
oser
Tu n’oses (pas) 1 me dire la vérité. (You don’t dare to tell me the truth.)
paraître, sembler
Ce chien semble vouloir nous dire quelque chose. (This dog seems to want to tell us something.)
II. Verbs Followed by À and an Infinitive
A. Verbe + personne + à
- aider quelqu’un à (faire quelque chose)
- amener quelqu’un à…
- conduire quelqu’un à…
- encourager quelqu’un à…
- engager quelqu’un à…
- forcer quelqu’un à…
- inviter quelqu’un à…
- obliger quelqu’un à…
- pousser quelqu’un à…
Note that two of the above verbs behave differently in the passive (that is, with the verb être and the past participle):
| Active | Passive |
| On a forcé Estelle à payer ses dettes. (They forced Estelle to pay her debts) |
Estelle a été forcée de payer ses dettes. (Estelle was forced to pay her debts.) |
| On a obligé Estelle à venir à la fête. (They obliged Estelle to come to the party.) |
Estelle a été obligée de venir à la fête. (Estelle was obliged to come to the party.) |
B. To Spend Time Doing Something (passer, mettre)
- Elle a passé tout son été…des journées entières…une éternité…à tricoter ce pullover. (She spent all her summer…whole days together…an eternity…knitting this sweater.)
- Nous avons mis trois heures à monter ce diorama. (We spent three hours setting up this diorama.)
C. Verbe + à quelqu’un + à faire quelque chose (apprendre, enseigner)
The verb apprendre means both “to teach” and “to learn.” In both uses, a following infinitive is introduced by à.
- Georges apprend à nager. (George is learning to swim.)
- Estelle apprend à Georges à nager. (Estelle is teaching George how to swim.)
The verb enseigner (to teach) works similarly.
- Elle lui a enseigné à nager. (She taught hurrim how to swim.)
III. Verbs Followed by De and an Infinitive
A. Verbe + personne + de
- accuser quelqu’un de (faire quelque chose)
- admirer quelqu’un de…
- blâmer quelqu’un de…
- convaincre quelqu’un de…
- Il m’a convaincu de rester à Paris. (He convinced me to stay in Paris.)
- On l’a convaincu d’avoir tué sa femme. (They convicted him of having killed his wife.)
- empêcher quelqu’un de…
- féliciter quelqu’un de…
- persuader quelqu’un de…
Commentary: But also, in group B below, persuader à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose - prier quelqu’un de…
- remercier quelqu’un de…
B. Verbe + à quelqu’un + de faire quelque chose
This is a very important group! The person called upon to do a certain thing is always an indirect object. Thus:
| Je demande à Marie-Françoise de faire le ménage. (I ask M-F to do the housework.) |
Je lui demande de faire le ménage. (I ask hurrim to do the housework.) |
| Elle conseille à ses parents de vendre leurs actions. (She advises her parents to sell their shares.) |
Elle leur conseille de vendre leurs actions. (She advises them to sell their shares.) |
Here are a good number of the verbs that function this way:
- commander à quelque de faire quelque chose
- conseiller à quelqu’un de…
- demander à quelqu’un de…
- dire à quelqu’un de…
- écrire à quelqu’un de…
- ordonner à quelqu’un de…
- permettre à quelqu’un de…
- persuader à quelqu’un de…
- promettre à quelqu’un de…
- proposer à quelqu’un de…
Two verbs following this pattern have a rather different meaning from the usual:
- défendre à quelqu’un de…
- interdire à quelqu’un de…
– both of which mean “to forbid someone to do something.”
Also worth mentioning on its own, since it functions so differently from the corresponding English word, is:
- reprocher à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose
- On reproche aux Américains de se croire moralement supérieurs au reste de l’humanité. (People reproach Americans for believing themselves morally superior to the rest of humanity.)
- The pas is not strictly necessary to make this verb negative.[↩]
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