Which prepositions go with which verb in French?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

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[@patscott8612]

Dont get avec le programme.

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

I could not agree more. It took me a long time to realise that verbs should be learnt with the preposition, or prepositions, since different prepositions can go along with different meanings. I also believe that verbs are best learnt in context, as it’s too hard to explain how to use them. Thus demander, réclamer and exiger all mean to ask, but they have quite different nuances. Learning German has forced me to look closely at my learning methods. Good luck with Danish. What an odd choice for someone living in France.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

My body may be in France but my mind is all around the world at all times :)

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

@@FrenchinPlainSight 🤣🤣 👍🏻

[@lisaahmari7199]

​@@FrenchinPlainSightSo is mine....but mine is because I have A.D.D.!!

[@azy090]

Thank you for this video! I was just telling my French hubby the other day that the most difficult thing about French isn't even the conjugations; it's the prepositions! His response was, "Even we get confused about which ones to use." So at the point, I was thinking, "If they can't get them right, then what hope do I have?" But, considering that they make similar mistakes, it's probably not worth beating myself up for.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Absolutely spot on at the end there. If you're someone who prides yourself on precision then I doubt that the discomfort you feel will ever entirely go away (I went to a doctor's appointment today and still got annoyed with my inability to be as specific as I'd like to have been). It's about bringing it down as low as possible and having the ability to reframe things positively and see the big picture. A language is so incredibly complex. It's ridiculous to beat ourselves up over such small things as prepositions, yet we do it because in the moment it's very hard if not impossible to see the big picture. With mindset training every day it gets easier and seeing everything in perspective is easier too. Keep going and don't lose track of how far you've come.

[@nicholasrhodes8705]

I have a great idea for a video. There are lots of circonstances where French requires an « en » when a direct translation does not. J’en tremble for example. I find this very difficult, how should I know when to stick in the en? It’s not some or of them. It’s without translation as far as I know.

[@lisaahmari7199]

This is why so many french and spanish learning apps are so bad. We should be learning the article of every noun WITH the noun....ALWAYS. And we should be learning the preposition of every verb WITH every verb.....ALWAYS. Otherwise you have to backtrack and re-learn! Zut☹️

[@AudreyVMbala]

Subscribing because my home language is French but I live in an English speaking country so I don’t want to forget the only way I can communicate with family.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Bienvenue !

[@olelain]

It's crazy how , thanks to you, I always learn something about my own language, which I didn't realise. You should be a french teacher, I mean a teacher who teach french to francophones. Merci Alex !

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Oof no I woudn't want that job, haha.

[@DMAF]

Thanks for a wonderful video Alex! This is something I've been wrestling with for a while in french and you really articulated the whole subject so clearly and well :) great to hear the point of view of another English person who is confronting these challenges in french! I have an idea for a video that is related to something in french that I find tough as an English speaker. It's the difference between how the imparfait is used in french and English. For example, I'm often wanting to say things like 'i didn't know that', or 'i thought that' or 'i wanted to do something ', and I instinctively reach for the passé composé - je j'ai pas connu ça, but im starting to realised that in french there are many occasions when the imparfait is used when the passé composé is used in english - je ne connais pas ça. Perhaps you already have a video on this? Or maybe an idea for something in the future? Anyway, thanks again for the video, I always connect and find super helpful your content. Thomas (British adult attempting to live and workin Bruxelles in french, who only started with french during COVID!)

[@andrewrobinson2565]

Great explanation. "It's built with French learners like you and ME in mind." Mastery of one's first language is not necessary for learning another language. Excellent video +1. 😊

[@JenniferA886]

Cheers for this 👍👍👍

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

No problem 👍

[@MrUndersolo]

This was actually very helpful. - from an Anglo in Montréal

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Glad to hear it :)

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Bonjour Alex. C'est genial. Votre canal est trés interessant. Merci beaucoup

[@FRENCHFAIRE]

Oui oui oui. Merci. Très utile pour moi. Debra

[@jamed63]

At school I never got to grips with grammar, I learned to speak and write by just listening and speaking and writing. Working in a multi-lingual environment I often converse in English with people from different nationalities, they have broken English and they often structure a sentence like Yoda! However we understand each other, grammar comes over time, suffice to say when we analyse the structure of language it all gets very complicated. Thanks for you guidance in the maze.

[@PaulMCCORMICK-t7k]

This is how we learned French when I was at school in the 1960s. The words were always taught in combination. Not sure if they still do?

[@mybestideas1]

OMG still leaves on the trees there. Chilly there? Try -1C and snow coming up tomorrow (Canada) LOL

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Getting cooler but had a wave of autumn warmth this week. It's nice:)

[@mybestideas1]

@@FrenchinPlainSight I need to move to south of France : ) Enjoy!

[@gillianomotoso328]

Ooh this’ll be a good one. Prepositions are such a grey area

[@fabricejaouen378]

Pour la musique, ça dépend du contexte. J'écoute de la musique, de manière générale, j'aime écouter de la musique. Une musique passe en ce moment et je l'écoute, "j'écoute la musique qui passe en ce moment"

[@mireillevillemaire8191]

Alex, you are so good at it. Do you also teach the opposit, hence French to English?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Thank you. No, I don't teach English. It isn't my passion. :)

[@mariaatared4553]

Bonjour cher professeur, pourriez vous m'expliquer la différence entre "essayer"et "tenter"svp? Merci

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Je ne suis pas sûr à 100%. Tu peux utiliser "Essayer" dans presque tous les cas où tu peux utiliser "tenter", mais ce n'est pas pareil dans le sens inverse. Pour moi "essayer" = try mais "tenter" = attempt/try. La meilleure manière de conquérir des paires de mots dont les sens sont proches c'est de passer beaucoup de temps à écouter et à lire. Ton cerveau va remarquer dans quels contextes se trouvent chaque mot et à un moment donné sera capable de choisir instinctivement, comme tu le fais en anglais. Tu ne penses pas "do I choose this or that?", tu le sens.

[@yohanannatanson4199]

Ton français toujours remarquable ! Ce niveau de maîtrise n'est pas atteint par bon nombre d'écoliers français... Une petite erreur cependant. "Dans quel contexte se trouve chaque mot" puisque "chaque mot" est le sujet (singulier) de "se trouve"...😊 Bravo pour tes super vidéos !

[@syntheretique385]

Tenter comes with a connotation of risk, where essayer doesn't. See expressions like "tenter sa chance" or "tenter le diable".

[@FRENCHFAIRE]

I've tried and tried to add Duocards but I can't. Not as simple as shown in your video. Désolé.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hey :) If you tell me exactly at what point in the setup it went wrong, I can try and help. - Create an account. - Make sure you're logged in. - Get the Chrome browser extension. - Highlight words.

[@FRENCHFAIRE]

Merci. Alex. I will try again.@@FrenchinPlainSight

[@richardbrinkerhoff]

Why then is learning the verb with its preposition never taught at school or university?

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Beats me. But nothing is perfect. I think those institutions find change harder to implement since they have a lot of complexity and are rigid. Whereas I can make a video and a course on whatever I want, whenever the demand arises.

[@syntheretique385]

It's not different with English really. We don't learn "to look at" exclusively because then you ignore "to look for" or "to look forward to" etc... For "essayer" it's similar: both direct object and indirect object can be used. It's difficult to prioritize one over the other.

[@richardbrinkerhoff]

Even more reason to learn the possibilities.@@syntheretique385

[@catboy721]

Hi. Loving the a French content but have a comment on the English. In many of your videos you say “For French learners like you and I.” Not so. These are objects of the preposition “for.” Just as in French you would say “pour les apprenants de français comme vous et MOI” it should be you and ME in English.

[@FrenchinPlainSight]

Hehe thanks. Others have pointed this out and I must admit that I had no knowledge of my mistake. It doesn't "feel" wrong when I say it so I guess I've never been corrected my whole life. An interesting discovery, since, when we acquire language rules through immersion we develop an intuition for them. We feel them. However, this one slipped through for 36 years ;)

[@eohippusone]

Make the French correct you. It's their penalty for not doing this right in the first place!😂