🇫🇷 Common French verbs that are followed by à - French verbs and prepositions 🗣

[@JONLANE42]

You have given me the biggest boost in learning and wanting to learn French! Merci beaucoup!

[@lulutrucnguyen]

Thanks Alex. This video helps me a lot. Merci Alex. Ça m’aide.

[@zenbudokarateng]

'Y' stands for 'it' but only because the object ie régime has been referenced earlier.

[@jefffromclapham]

Fabulous clarity❤

[@RichardBlack-g9z]

You have been so helpful in explaining French. I have been to France many times and try to speak and do quite well, but find it very difficult to comprehend spoken French. Your comments about not being afraid to try are very helpful. Thank you.

[@digabledoug]

The y is for "it". Referring back to the diet or whatever it was you were talking about. "I am on it"

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Oui exactement !

[@Chungoman83]

Thank you for the videos. I suspect that this channel will become big in terms of subscribers. Clear, precise and to the point. Very logical the way you explain it. Merci!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I hope so Angel. Merci beaucoup !!

[@janeorson5452]

Thank you so much for this video. This is something I really struggle with. I think when I started learning French (about 5 years ago!) the importance of these little à and de words was overlooked. Or maybe someone did explain it to me and i didn't appreciate how significant they were! I've realised you've used the perfect sentence for me to understand. You've said J'apprends à parler plus courrament. I think originally I thought the à in this sentence was part of parler, as if parler means 'to speak to,' so I thought it was 'à parler,' but in fact the à goes with apprendre. It's taken me a long time to work this out. This is because recently I've had to work out when to use the pronouns 'y' and 'en' which are also related to this, aren't they? To be honest I think the subjunctive is a doddle compared to this! I hope this makes sense?!

[@marco5718]

Thank you so much for this video it has helped me lots!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You're welcome!

[@mujkocka]

Please keep this up. as your intention says native speakers have a hard time to understand our struggle. ;-)

[@camillea7697]

You’re wonderful. ..clear and direct. And so sweet!

[@camillea7697]

You’re terrific , clear and direct And very sweet!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

So, the channel is now French in Plain Sight. To celebrate you can get a bonus video on my website: frenchinplainsight.com/bonus-video. Thank you so much for your support so far. It's great for the channel to have a new name to reflect the French language that we're learning together.

[@musicdrug5837]

I like your positive energy very much!! Keep up the good work!!!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Thanks Mr/Ms Drug. I appreciate it!

[@juliangroves6875]

Nice one Alex, I almost felt that had been made especially for me after we spoke about this very subject on a Facebook page last week. You are absolutely right forget the long lists and stick to the most used verbs. I am keeping my fingers crossed that you will follow this up with a video of verbs that take "de" regards Julian.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

You certainly were the trigger for me making this one Julian, yea. But it was a reminder that it's a very common problem. How's it going since last week?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

"de" is coming next week!

[@juliangroves6875]

@@FrenchinPlainSight it's going well actually. What you said about being more efficient with learning, especially choosing what to make note of, really resonated with me. I keep a note book and have started a blank page with verbs that take à and those that take de, nothing goes on that list until I can be certain that I am likely to use it. I am listening to a lot of French podcasts at present to try and up my comprehension level.

[@Andrea-eg6ro]

Un autre bon vidéo!! Merci beaucoup Alex 😊 🙏

[@anitama4439]

Thanks very much!!!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

De rien Anita !

[@epicmissionmedia]

Thanks! Just what I needed.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Glad I could help! You have a very French name there!

[@tango398]

Hey champ , comment vas tu? Pouvez- vous faire une vidéo sur ce, ça,cela,ceci ?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Ok c'est noté ! Merci pour la suggestion. Attention : Tu m'as tutoyé (tu) et vouvoyé (vous) en même temps. "Comment vas-tu" (tutoiement). "Pouvez-vous" (vouvoiement). Choisis l'un ou l'autre. 👍

[@simonsmatthew]

As a nice wrap and review it would be great if you could list the verbs under the video or at the end of it (even better with thumbnails). But many thanks for this helpful video!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

A good reminder. Thanks!

[@sinclairsky]

shouted "THANK YOU" at my laptop screen when i saw this :)

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

haha. MERCI !

[@Mr529cp]

Quick question, so there can be a different meaning of the verbs followed by à, de and infinitive?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Absolutely. Most verbs only have one form. Imagine "talk to" in English being said as "talk from". It doesn't make any sense.

[@Mr529cp]

French in Plain Sight Thank you very much!

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Je t'en prie !

[@noobpowner6983]

The y represents the new diet?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Could you be clearer?

[@Riot076]

Is it right to use the "-ant" ending instead of this à + infinitive construction or will it be unnatural in some way? I mean like saying "J'ai passé mon temps lisant un livre" instead of "J'ai passé mon temps à lire un livre". And if I'm not mistaken "y" in "Je m'y mets" replaces the object which has "à" before it. So it's like "Je me mets à cette activité. Je m'y mets parce que..."

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Great question! No, you can't use the "gérondif" (ing) there. We use that far far more in English.

[@Riot076]

@@FrenchinPlainSight Oh,ok. So could you actually consider making a video on the subject of gérondif in the future? Like when it's appropriate to use it and in what exact circumstances it's used with "en" before it vs on its own. 'Cause I tend to use it very often,so probably many of those times when I use it,I do it incorrectly. And I believe that many other L1 and L2 English speakers fall into the same trap

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Definitely. It's a great idea. Are you in France? Sorry if I've asked before.

[@Riot076]

@@FrenchinPlainSight No,I've actually never been to France,so my only contact with the language restricts to courses,books and the internet. However I feel like the French or Quebecois people (since they are the majority of the French speaking fb goups and communities,from what I was able to observe so far) tend to be even "too" polite and not correct me if I'm making grammatical mistakes,that don't make the sentence really nonsensical,like for example this overusage of gérondif

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

I sometimes see it this way, but more and more I'm understanding that it's just because I hang out with international people, and so the French or English that we speak is littered with mistakes that go uncorrected. It's just not efficient or practical to correct them because the quality of language isn't the foundation for the friendship. Take it as a compliment that you're understood and get your corrections from those you know you can ask for them.

[@paradiselost9009]

Je m'y mets = i'm on it

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Oui! Love it

[@markhathaway9456]

Sorry for this longish response. It's curious how English speakers use "to spend time with someone". When I was young and living in the country they would often "pass the time with someone". That's the French way too. I have seen several lists of these verbs followed by à verb-infinitive. I decided to search my dictionaries to see how the French utilize à, de, or other prepositions following a verb. I haven't quite finished since life intervenes, but I noticed that those two are far and away most prevalent. They are also sometimes to be used in a particular order when there are two objects, but sometimes they might be used in either order (for the same purposes). Thankfully, it seems clear they are used more-or-less as the english "to" or "of/from". So, you would throw something to someone becomes «jeter qqch à qqun» or with some verbs «verbe à qqun de qqch.» Specifically focusing on -- verbe à infinitif -- shortens the list a lot. I haven't sorted those out yet (and my dictionaries are probably far from complete), but any list you find on the internet is probably incomplete and yet would cover the most common ones. The lists I've seen are probably 30 or so verbs. This video has 8, an even shorter list which is easy for anyone to learn.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

"à" and "de" are far and away the most popular. Especially when we're putting them before an infinitive of a verb. Then "à" is more common to introduce a person. It was hard to categorise this video. I didn't want to simply say "verbs with à that introduce verbs" because there are plenty of common ones that need to be said that don't always introduce verbs. Or have multiple uses. But my goal was to give a small list that can be used. 8's a good number.

[@Furienna]

Can you replace the noun after all of these verbs with "y"? Because I know that "penser à" will have an "y" as a pronoun.

[@iliveinacrowdedhouse368]

What you've been studying french for 5 years and you're that good ?? I've been studying for 7 years and I still can't write a proper sentence :/

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Let's try to help you move forward. Why do you think that is?

[@iliveinacrowdedhouse368]

@@FrenchinPlainSight maybe cuz I don't know a lot of vocabulary and I'm always unsure whether the placement of words is proper or not.

[@parideumfarm]

Y is the pronoun replacing à plus noun