Verbs + de + [infinitive]

Verbs followed by the preposition de plus an infinitive

Vocab

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Accepter de [faire]		To agree [to do]
Arrêter de [faire]		To stop [doing]
Choisir de [faire]		To choose [to do]
Commencer de [faire]		To start [doing]
Continuer de [faire]		To carry on [doing]
Décider de [faire]		To decide to [do]
Dire de [faire]		To tell to [do]
Essayer de [faire]		To try to [do]
Faire exprès de [faire]		To do [something] on purpose
Finir de [faire]		To finish [doing]
Oublier de [faire]		To forget [to do]
Refuser de [faire]		To refuse [to do]
Rêver de [faire]		To dream of [doing]
Se dépêcher de [faire]		To hurry [to do]
S'excuser de [faire]		To apologise for [doing]
Suggérer de [faire]		To suggest [doing]

Q&A Forum 3 questions, 4 answers

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Emre can A2Kwiziq community member

"He apologised for not bringing her glasses"

Is the sentence "Il s'est excusé pour n'apporter pas ses lunettes" a correct translation of the sentence above, if not, what is the correct one?

Asked 4 months ago

Like0Answer1

CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Emre can,

s'excuser de = to apologise for

il s'est excusé de ne pas avoir apporté ses lunettes - He apologised for not bringing his glasses

See link here (it is a little advanced - look where the negation is positioned in each example): Negating infinitives in indirect speech

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Like04 months ago

Emre can asked:View original

"He apologised for not bringing her glasses"

Is the sentence "Il s'est excusé pour n'apporter pas ses lunettes" a correct translation of the sentence above, if not, what is the correct one?

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ThaliaC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

No notebook add feature?

I'd love to add this page to my notebook but don't see the button for it. Can you please add that feature to this page? Thank you!

Asked 1 year ago

Like1Answer1

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

You can add quizzes to your notebook, not grammar lists.

Like01 year ago

Thalia asked:View original

No notebook add feature?

I'd love to add this page to my notebook but don't see the button for it. Can you please add that feature to this page? Thank you!

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JohnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

Hi,

There are lists of verbs that take à or de before an infinitive and commencer is on both lists. Can you explain when to use which construction? Thanks.

Asked 1 year ago

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CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi John,

There is a slight difference in usage between the two but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Commencer à is more used than commencer de.

You might be interested in reading my answer to Shrey on the matter in the following question which explains the difference -

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/questions/view/queries-pertaining-to-grammatical-concepts

Hope this helps!

Like11 year ago

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

It is commencer à, with commencer de being reserved for literary use.

Like11 year ago

John asked:View original

Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

Hi,

There are lists of verbs that take à or de before an infinitive and commencer is on both lists. Can you explain when to use which construction? Thanks.

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