Detailed Guide For Learning French Prepositions

Written byAmélie Pinon

Just like English, prépositions in French are words used to connect two parts of a sentence.

The preposition connects a main word to a dependent word, qualifying the main word in some way.

Examples:

Le cheval à bascule / The rocking horse
La pièce en argent / The coin made of silver

Simple Prépositions:

French	English
à	to
après	after
avant	before
avec	with
chez	at or to
concernant	regarding
contre	against
dans or en	in
de	about, from, of
depuis	since
derrière	behind
dès	as soon as
devant	in front of
durant	during
entre	between
excepté	excepted
hors	except
malgré	despite
par	by, through
parmi	among
pendant	during
pour	for
sans	without
sauf	except
selon	according to
sous	under
sur	on
vers	toward

More examples:

Le chat sur le toit (The cat on the roof)

Il faut passer par là (One must go though there)

A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire (Vanquishing without peril, one wins without glory)

Complex prépositions

Complex prépositions in French are combinations of words (préposition + another word) that serve the same purpose as simple prépositions.

French	English
À cause de	because of
à dater de	from a certain date
à force de	by dint of, by force of
à l’abri de	sheltered by
à l’exception de	with the exception of
à l’insu de	unbeknownst to
à moins de	unless of
à partir de	from
à raison de, à travers	through
afin de	so that
au-dedans de	within of
au-delà de	beyond of
au-dessous de	below of
au-dessus de	above of
au lieu de	instead of
au moment de	at the moment of
auprès de	near of
autour de	around of
avant de	before of
d’après	according to
de peur de	from fear of
du côté de	by the side of
en dehors de	outside of
en dépit de	in spite of
en faveur de	in favor of
face à	faced to
faute de	for lack of
grâce à	thanks to
hors de	outside of
jusqu’à	until
le long de	along to
loin de	far from
près de	close to
tandis que	even though

Examples:

Nous avons raté le bus à cause du mauvais temps (We missed the bus because of bad weather)

Les magasins sont autour de la place (The stores are around the public square)

Avant de partir, il faut se préparer (Before leaving, one must be prepared)

More préposition rules:

a preposition + noun modifying another noun = adjective

Example:

Un jeu de cartes (A game of cards)

à (au, aux) + noun = function, characteristic of the main word

Example:

Une fille aux cheveux blonds (A girl with blond hair)

à + verb = function of main word

Example:

Une machine à coudre (A sewing machine)

de, en + noun = (made of, or for)

Examples:

Une bague en or (A ring made of gold)

Un chien de chasse (A hunting dog)

préposition + noun modifying verb = adverb

Example:

Je suis parti en retard (I left late)

Whereas English is lax when it comes to the need for a preposition before an indirect object, French is stricter.

As a result, the following verbs take the à préposition before an indirect object:

French	English
appartenir à	belong to
apprendre à	learn to
donner à	give to
enseigner à	teach to
obéir à	obey
pardonner à	forgive
penser à	think about
répondre à	answer
ressembler à	resemble

Examples:

Elle pense à lui (She thinks of him)

Nous apprenons à parler anglais (We are learning to speak English)

When two verbs follow each other, in French as in English, the second verb is an infinitive.

Example:

J’aide à faire la lessive (I’m helping to do the laundry)

Except of course for compound tenses.

Whereas in English, the preposition to is used to denote the infinitive, several prepositions serve the same function in French depending on the leading verb:

a) verb + à + verb:

French	English
aider	help
s’amuser	have fun
apprendre	learn to
commencer	begin
consister	consist
continuer	continue
se décider	decide
encourager	encourage
enseigner	teach to
s’habituer	get used to
se mettre	begin
persister	persist
renoncer	renounce
réussir	succeed
servir	serve
songer	think about

Examples:

Il se met à cuire le gâteau (He begins to bake the cake)

Le prince a renoncé au trone (The prince has renounced the throne)

b) verb + de + verb:

French	English
décider	decide
se dépêcher	hurry
empêcher	prevent
essayer	try to
mériter	deserve
s’occuper	take care of
oublier	forget to
parler	speak about
persuader	persuade
promettre	promise
refuser	refuse
regretter	regret
rêver	dream
se souvenir	remember
*venir + de + verb	have just

*venir + de + noun (come from)

Examples:

Il nous empêche de finir nos devoirs (He’s preventing us from finishing our homework)

Il a refusé de confesser (He has refused to confess)

c) verb + à + (noun or pronoun) + de + verb:

French	English
commander	order
conseiller	advise
défendre	forbid
demander	ask
dire	tell
interdire	forbid
ordonner	order
permettre	permit
promettre	promise

Examples:

Le général commande aux soldats d’attaquer (The general orders the soldiers to attack)

Les parents défendent à leurs enfants de dire des gros mots (The parents forbid their kids to swear)

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Detailed Guide For Learning French Prepositions

Want to learn how to say all the French prepositions? They're easier than you think. This guide will teach you how to use them.

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