French grammar - Verbs + preposition à + infinitive

Verbs + preposition à + infinitive

There are many French verbs that require a preposition between itself and the second verb.

Many prepositions are used but in this topic we will look at verbs with à.

Examples of common verbs that take à include:

• apprendre à - 'to learn to'

• commencer à - 'to start to'

• continuer à - 'to continue to'

• s'épuiser à - 'to exhaust oneself (doing)'

• s'habituer à - 'to get used to'

• se préparer à - 'to prepare to'

• réussir à - 'to succeed at (doing)'

• participer à - 'to participate (doing)'

And there are several others in the examples.

Examples:
	Ma fille est en train d'apprendre à nager. My daughter is learning to swim. apprendre à means 'to learn to (do something)'
	Elle a commencé à l'apprendre la semaine dernière. She started learning it last week. commencer à means 'to start to (do something)'
	Elle veut continuer à l'apprendre. She wants to keep learning it. continuer à means 'to continue to (do something)'
	Elle veut vraiment continuer à apprendre à nager. She really wants to continue learning to swim. continuer à means 'to continue to (do something)'
	aujourd'hui, elle s'est épuisée à nager. Today she exhausted herself swimming. s'épuiser à means 'to get tired (from doing something)'
	Elle s'habitue à nager sans aide. She is getting used to swimming without help. s'habituer à means 'to get used to (doing something)'
	Elle se prépare à participer à une compétition de natation. She is preparing to participate in a swimming competition. préparee à means 'to prepare (to do something)' natation (f) means 'swimming'
	Elle est presque sur le point de réussir à nager comme son frère. She on the verge of succeeding at swimming like her brother. réussir à means 'to succeed (in doing something)'
	Elle ne renonce jamais à apprendre. She never gives up learning. renouncer à means 'to give up (doing something)'
	Elle persiste à s'entraîner tous les jours. She persists in training every day. persiste à means 'to persist (in doing something)' s'entraîner means 'to train'
	On ne la pousse pas à continuer. We are not pushing her to continue. pousser à means 'to push (someone) to (do something)'
	Elle se plaît à réussir. She likes to succeed. se plaire à means 'to take pleasure (doing something)'
	Elle est en train de s'apprêter à nager en compétition. She is getting ready to swim competitively. s'appreter à means 'to prepare oneself to (do something)' en compétition (adv) means 'competitively'
	Elle est arrivée à gagner et elle est très contente. She managed to win and she is very happy. arriver à means 'to manage to' or 'to succeed in (doing something);
	En fait, maintenant elle arrive à gagner tout le temps. In fact now she manages to win all the time. arriver à means 'to manage to' or 'to succeed in (doing something);
	Elle s'est plu à réussir. She was happy to succeed. plaire à means 'to be pleased (to do something)' plu is the past participle of plaire
	Ma fille s'est décidée à aller aux Jeux olympiques à l'avenir. My daughter has made up her mind to go to the Olympics in the future. s'décidé à means 'to make up one's mind to (do something)' or 'to decide to (do something)' Jeux olympiques (m.pl) means 'Olympic Games' à l'avenir means 'in the future'
	Elle est parvenue à réaliser son rêve. She has managed to realize her dream. parvenir à means 'to manage to (do something)'. It is a verb of motion due to the venir root réaliser (verb) means 'to fulfil' or 'to carry out' or 'to realise (make real)'
	Toute la journée, elle songe à gagner l'or. All day she thinks about winning the gold. songer à means 'to think about (doing something)'