French verbs with two different usages - Use of prepositions - Speed Up Your French: Strategies to avoid common errors (2016)

Speed Up Your French: Strategies to avoid common errors (2016)

Chapter 8. Use of prepositions

French verbs with two different usages

1 Croire (to believe)

Distinguish carefully between the following:

Croire + direct object means ‘to believe’ a fact or a person, e.g.

Il faut le voir pour le croire.

(It has to be seen to be believed.)

Je veux bien vous croire, mais …

(I’d like to believe you, but …)

Croire + à or croire + en means ‘to believe in’, in the sense of ‘having confidence or faith in’, e.g.

Croyez-vous à l’amour?

(Do you believe in love?)

Je crois en Dieu.

(I believe in God.)

Il faut croire en soi.

(You have to believe in yourself.)

2 Penser (to think)

This verb is somewhat treacherous for an English speaker, because ‘to think of’ has two meanings and each is translated into French in a different way.

Penser à means ‘to have something or someone in mind’, e.g.

À quoi peut-il bien penser?

(What can he be thinking of?)

Elle pense aux enfants tout le temps.

(She is thinking about the children the whole time.)

Penser de means ‘to have an opinion about something or someone’, e.g.

Que pensez-vous de cette idée?

(What do you think about this idea?)

Il m’a demandé ce que je pensais de sa cravate?

(He asked me what I thought about his tie.)

Image

Mnemonic device

Remember that penser à means ‘to turn your thoughts to’, whereas penser de means to have an opinion of’.

3 Jouer (to play)

Jouer + à + definite article (contracted before a masculine noun to au, aux) + sport, game, e.g.

Il joue au football. Elle préfère jouer aux échecs.

(He plays football. She prefers playing chess.)

Jouer + de + definite article (contracted before a masculine singular noun beginning with a consonant or aspirate ‘h’ to du) + musical instrument, e.g.

Il joue du violon. Elle joue du hautbois. Leur cousin joue de la clarinette.

(He plays the violin. She plays the oboe. Their cousin plays the clarinet.)

4 Manquer (to miss, mess up; to be short of; to fail in; to miss)

With a direct object, manquer means ‘to miss’ or ‘mess up’, e.g.

Le footballeur a manqué le but.

(The footballer missed the goal.)

Je ne sais quoi faire, j’ai tout manqué.

(I don’t know what to do, I’ve made a mess of everything.)

With de, manquer means ‘to be short of’ or ‘to be lacking in’, e.g.

Nous manquons d’argent.

(We are short of money.)

With à + noun, manquer means ‘to fail in’ or ‘not to respect’, e.g.

Elle a manqué à son devoir.

(She failed in her duty.)

Elle a manqué à sa parole.

(She broke her word.)

With à + person or with an indirect object pronoun, it means ‘to be away / absent’ from someone and therefore ‘to be missed’ by them, e.g.

Aurélie manque à son fiancé.

(Aurélie is away from her fiancé and therefore he misses her.)

Elle lui manque.

(She is away from him and therefore he misses her.)

See also Chapter 7 on misused expressions (manquer).

Image

Exercises

EXERCISE 5. Complete the following sentences with the appropriate preposition, preposition + article, or leave a blank where appropriate.

1 Tu penses déjà ___ la rentrée?

2 Les Romains ont cru ___ la victoire.

3 Il manque ____ expérience.

4 Savez-vous jouer ___ tennis?

5 Ils ne croient pas ____ Dieu.

6 Qu’est-ce que tu penses ____ l’université?

7 Elle a manqué _____ sa vie.

8 Je voudrais apprendre à jouer ____ violoncelle.

9 Les enfants manquent _____ leur père quand il est en voyage d’affaires.

10 Je ne crois pas _____ ce qu’on m’a raconté.