À or De? The Question That Haunts French Learners

You’ve mastered the passé composé. You can distinguish between c’est and il est. You might even be rolling your ‘r’s with a certain Parisian flair. You’re feeling confident. And then, you hit the wall. The infamous, seemingly random, and utterly maddening question: should this verb be followed by à, de, or nothing at all?

Is it j’essaie de comprendre or j’essaie à comprendre? Why do you commence à parler but arrête de parler? If you’ve ever stared at a sentence, frozen in a state of prepositional panic, you are not alone. This is one of the most persistent hurdles for French learners, a nuance that separates the beginner from the advanced speaker. But don’t despair! While there’s no single magic formula, we can demystify this grammatical gremlin. Let’s break down the verbs, provide some handy cheat sheets, and offer a few memory tricks to finally put this ghost to rest.

The “No Preposition” Crew: The Easy Ones

Let’s start with the good news. A significant group of common French verbs requires no preposition at all before a following infinitive. These are your best friends. They are often verbs that express a desire, a feeling, a preference, or a sense of obligation (modal-like verbs). They also include verbs of perception.

The structure is simple: [conjugated verb] + [infinitive].

Je veux manger une crêpe. (I want to eat a crêpe.)

Elle préfère rester à la maison. (She prefers to stay home.)

Nous devons partir maintenant. (We must leave now.)

Cheat Sheet: Verbs Followed Directly by an Infinitive

• Aimer (to like)
• Adorer (to love/adore)
• Détester (to hate)
• Préférer (to prefer)
• Aller (to go)
• Venir (to come – but see tricky cases below!)
• Devoir (to have to/must)
• Pouvoir (to be able to/can)
• Vouloir (to want)
• Savoir (to know how to)
• Espérer (to hope)
• Sembler / Paraître (to seem)
• Laisser (to let/allow)
• Faire (in causative constructions, e.g., faire réparer – to have repaired)
• Verbs of perception: voir (to see), regarder (to watch), écouter (to listen to), entendre (to hear), sentir (to feel/smell)

Team À: Moving Towards an Action

Now we enter the realm of prepositions. The first team is sponsored by à. While there’s no foolproof rule, you can think of à as representing a movement or orientation towards a goal or action. Many of these verbs involve starting, helping, succeeding, or encouraging an action.

The structure is: [conjugated verb] + à + [infinitive].

Le bébé apprend à marcher. (The baby is learning to walk.)

Elle m’aide à peindre le mur. (She is helping me to paint the wall.)

J’ai enfin réussi à ouvrir le bocal. (I finally succeeded in opening the jar.)

Cheat Sheet: Common Verbs + À + Infinitive

• Aider à (to help to)
• Apprendre à (to learn to)
• Arriver à (to manage to/succeed in)
• Autoriser à (to authorize to)
• Chercher à (to seek to/try to)
• Commencer à (to start to)
• Continuer à (to continue to – also works with de)
• Hésiter à (to hesitate to)
• Inviter à (to invite to)
• Jouer à (to play at – figurative, e.g., jouer à être le chef)
• Se mettre à (to begin to)
• Penser à (to think about/consider doing)
• Réussir à (to succeed in)
• Tenir à (to be keen to/insist on)

Team De: Moving Away From an Action

Our second prepositional team is led by de. Conceptually, you can think of de as expressing a separation, origin, or source. Many of these verbs involve stopping, finishing, deciding, or advising *about* an action. It’s the “of” or “from” of verb constructions.

The structure is: [conjugated verb] + de + [infinitive].

S’il vous plaît, arrêtez de parler. (Please, stop talking.)

J’ai décidé de changer de travail. (I’ve decided to change jobs.)

Il a promis de m’appeler. (He promised to call me.)

Cheat Sheet: Common Verbs + De + Infinitive

• Accepter de (to accept/agree to)
• Arrêter de (to stop doing)
• Choisir de (to choose to)
• Conseiller de (to advise to)
• Craindre de (to fear doing)
• Décider de (to decide to)
• Demander de (to ask to)
• Essayer de (to try to)
• Finir de (to finish doing)
• Oublier de (to forget to)
• Permettre de (to permit to)
• Promettre de (to promise to)
• Proposer de (to propose to)
• Refuser de (to refuse to)
• Rêver de (to dream of)
• Venir de (to have just done – a very common construction!)

The Boss Level: When Verbs Change Their Minds

This is where things get truly French. Some verbs can take either à or de, and sometimes this changes the meaning, while other times it’s a subtle matter of style.

Subtle or No Change in Meaning

• Commencer à/de: Both mean “to start.” Commencer à is far more common in everyday speech. Commencer de is considered more formal or literary.
• Continuer à/de: Similar to commencer. Both mean “to continue.” Continuer à is slightly more common, but both are widely accepted.
• Forcer qqn à/de: Both mean “to force someone to.” Again, à is more standard.

Rule of thumb: When in doubt with these three, à is usually your safest bet for modern, spoken French.

Clear Change in Meaning

This is where your attention to detail really pays off. The preposition can completely alter the sentence.

• Décider
  • Décider de faire qqc = to decide to do something. (e.g., J’ai décidé de partir. – I’ve decided to leave.)
  • Décider qqn à faire qqc = to convince/persuade someone to do something. (e.g., Son discours m’a décidé à voter. – His speech convinced me to vote.)
• Venir
  • Venir de faire qqc = to have just done something (passé récent). (e.g., Je viens de manger. – I have just eaten.)
  • Venir faire qqc (no preposition) = to come to do something. (e.g., Je viens voir le match. – I’m coming to see the game.)
  • Venir à faire qqc = to happen to/end up doing something (often hypothetical). (e.g., S’il venait à pleuvoir, nous rentrerions. – If it were to rain, we would go home.)

Final Advice: Don’t Panic, Practice!

If your head is spinning, take a deep breath. You are not expected to memorize these lists overnight. The conceptual links—à for “towards” and de for “from/of”—can be a helpful guide, but they aren’t strict laws.

The real secret? Massive input and active use.

1. Read and Listen: The more you expose yourself to authentic French, the more these structures will start to feel natural. Pay attention when you see or hear a verb + preposition + infinitive construction.
2. Create Flashcards: Use a system like Anki or old-fashioned index cards. Write the verb on one side (e.g., “essayer”) and the full construction on the other (“essayer de faire qqc”).
3. Speak and Write: Use them! Make mistakes! Getting corrected on j’ai essayé à faire is a powerful learning moment. The sting of the error will cement essayer de in your memory forever.

Ultimately, don’t let the fear of choosing the wrong preposition haunt you or stop you from speaking. A French speaker will almost always understand you whether you say j’hésite de partir or j’hésite à partir. Getting it right is a sign of polish and fluency, and with time and practice, you’ll get there. Bon courage !