Sunday, March 8, 2020
How to Use the French Preposition ÃÂ
How to Use the French Preposition Despite its diminutive size,  is a hugely important French preposition and one of the most important words in the French language. Its meanings and uses in French are many and varied, but at its most basic, generally means to, at or in. Compare  to de, meaning of or from, with which its often confused.  Contractions When  is followed by the definite articles le and les,  contracts with themas a single word. le  au (au magasin)   les aux (aux maisons) But  does not contract with la or l.   la  la ( la banque) l  l ( lhà ´pital) In addition,  is not contracted with le and les when they are direct objects. Common Uses of 1. Location or destination Jhabite Paris.  I live in Paris.Je vais Rome.  Im going to Rome.Je suis la banque.  Im at the bank. 2. Distance in time or space Jhabite 10 mà ¨tres de lui.  I live 10 meters from him.Il est 5 minutes de moi.  He is 5 minutes from me. 3. Point in time Nous arrivons 5h00.  We arrive at 5:00.Il est mort 92 ans.  He died at the age of 92. 4. Manner, style, or characteristic Il habite la franà §aise.  He lives in the French style.un enfant aux yeux bleus  blue-eyed child; child with blue eyesfait la main  made by handaller pied  to go on / by foot 5. Possession un ami moi  a friend of mineCe livre est Jean  This is Jeans book 6. Measurement acheter au kilo  to buy by the kilogrampayer la semaine  to pay by the week 7. Purpose or use une tasse thà ©Ã‚  teacup; cup for teaun sac dos  backpack; pack for the back 8. In the passive infinitive louer  for rentJe nai rien lire.  I have nothing to read.             9. With Certain Verbs, Phrases Followed by an Infinitive The French preposition is required after certain verbs and phrases when they are followed by an infinitive. The English translation may take an infinitive (to learn how to do something) or a gerund (to stop eating).   aider   to help to    samuser   to amuse oneself ___-ing   apprendre   to learn how to   sapprà ªter   to get ready to   arriver   to manage / succeed in ___-ing   sattendre   to expect to   sautoriser   to authorize / allow to   avoir   to have to / be obliged to   chercher   to attempt to   commencer   to begin to / ___-ing   consentir   to consent to   continuer   to continue to / ___-ing   dà ©cider (quelquun)   to persuade (someone) to   se dà ©cider   to make up ones mind to   encourager   to encourage to    sengager   to get around to   enseigner   to teach to   shabituer   to get used to   hà ©siter   to hesitate to   sintà ©resser   to be interested in   inviter (qu elquun)   to invite (someone) to   se mettre   to start, set about ___-ing   obliger   to oblige to   parvenir   to succeed in ___-ing   passer du temps    to spend time ___-ing   perdre du temps   to waste time ___-ing   persister   to persist in ___-ing   se plaire   to take pleasure in ___-ing    pousser (quelquun)   to urge/push (someone) to    se prà ©parer   to prepare oneself to    recommencer   to begin ___-ing again   rà ©flà ©chir   to consider ___-ing    renoncer   to give up ___-ing    rà ©sister   to resist ___-ing   rà ©ussir   to succeed in ___-ing   rà ªver   to dream of ___-ing   servir   to serve to   songer   to dream of ___-ing   tarder   to delay / be late in ___-ing    tenir   to hold (someone) to / insist on ___-ing   venir   to happen to 10. With Verbs That Need an Indirect Object The French preposition is required after many French verbs and phrases that need an indirect object, but there is often no equivalent preposition in English.      acheter   to buy from    arracher    to grab, tear away from   assister (la rà ©union)  to attend (the meeting)    conseiller   to advise    convenir (quelquun) / la situation  to please; to be suitable for someone / the situation   croire   to believe something   demander (quelque chose) (quelquun)  to ask someone (something)   dà ©fendre   to forbid    demander (quelquun)  to ask (someone) to    dà ©plaire   to displease; to be displeasing to   dà ©sobà ©ir   to disobey    dire   to say; to tell   donner un stylo (quelquun)  to give (someone) a pen   emprunter un livre (quelquun)  to borrow a book from (someone)   envoyer (qqch) (quelquun)  to send (something) to (someone)    à ªtre   to belong to   faire attention Â à ‚ to pay attention to   se fier (quelquun)  to trust (someone)   goà »ter (quelque chose)  to taste (something)   shabituer   to get used to   interdire (quelque chose) quelquun  to forbid someone (something)   sintà ©resser   to be interested in    jouer   to play (a game or sport)   manquer   to miss someone   mà ªler   to mingle with; to join in   nuire   to harm   obà ©ir   to obey   sopposer   to oppose   ordonner   to order   pardonner   to pardon; to forgive   parler   to talk to   penser   to think of / about   permettre   to permit   plaire   to please; to be pleasing to   profiter   to benefit; to be profitable to   promettre   to promise   rà ©flà ©chir   to consider; to reflect upon   rà ©pondre   to answer   rà ©sister   to resist   ressembler   to resemble    rà ©ussir lexamen to pass the test   serrer la main (quelquun)  to shake hands with someone   servir   to be used for / as   songe r   to dream; to think of   succà ©der   to succeed; to follow   survivre   to survive   tà ©là ©phoner   to call   voler (quelque chose) quelquun  to steal (something) from someone Notes Remember that plus an inanimate noun can be replaced by the adverbial pronoun y. For example, je my suis habituà ©Ã‚  I got used to it. plus a person can usually be replaced by an indirect object pronoun that is placed in front of the verb (e.g., Il me parle). However, a few verbs and expressions do not allow a preceding indirect object pronoun. Instead, they require that you keep the preposition after the verb and follow it with a stressed pronoun (e.g., Je pense toi). Additional Resources Passive infinitive: a grammatical structure in which something other than a verb needs to be followed by  infinitive.
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