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L'infinitif présent
You will come across the infinitif, the infinitive mood, on many occasions. It is used more frequently in French than in English. The infinitif can be used as the subject of a verb. (Note that the present participle is used in English instead.)
Faire la cuisine est son passe- temps favori.
Cooking is his favorite pastime.
Suivre des cours de cuisine est amusant.
Taking cooking classes is fun.
Voyager par le train est rapide.
Traveling by train is fast.
Apprendre une langue étrangère est très utile.
Learning a foreign language is very useful.
The infinitif is also used for general instructions, prescriptions, public notices, and proverbs (where the imperative is oft en used in English).
Prendre une fois par jour.
Take once a day.
Ne pas se pencher par la fenêtre.
Do not lean out of the window.
Ne pas marcher sur la pelouse.Keep off the lawn.
Lire le mode d’emploi avant utilisation.
Read the instructions before using.
Since a verb in the infinitive mood is not conjugated, the negation (ne… pas) does not surround the verb but rather precedes it, and is not separated.
Il a promis de ne pas ajouter trop d’ail.
He promised not to add too much garlic.
Je lui ai demandé de ne pas faire frire le poisson.
I asked her not to fry the fish.Elle m’a dit de ne pas mettre d’huile.
She told me not to put any oil in.
Je lui ai conseillé de ne pas mettre le gâteau au four avant midi.
I advised her not to put the cake in the oven before noon.
Although nowadays French household magazines tend to use the imperative mood in recipes and other instructions, the infinitif présent is often used in professional cookbooks and otherinstruction manuals. Hacher le persil.Chop the parsley.
Farcir la dinde.
Stuff the turkey.
Râper une demi-livre de fromage.
Grate half a pound of cheese.
Pocher le poisson.
Poach the fish.
The infinitive is used after verbs of perception (where the present participle is used in English). J’ai vu les moutons traverser la route.
I saw the sheep crossing (cross) the road.
Elle a entendu le coq chanter.She heard the rooster crowing (crow).
On entendait le chef fredonner une chanson.
We could hear the chef humming (hum) a song.
Elle a vu la biche sauter par-dessus la clôture.
She saw the doe jumping (jump) over the fence.
The infinitive is used in the interrogative infinitive.
Que répondre?
What can I (can we) answer?
Comment le lui expliquer?
How to explain it to him?
Pourquoi protester?
Why protest?Que dire?
What is there to say?
Quoi faire?
What can we do?
You learned faire in Chapter 4. This causative form with faire is used to express the idea of having something done by someone or of causing something to happen.
Il a fait macérer la viande vingt-quatre heures.
He macerated the meat twenty-four hours.
Elle a fait rôtir le poulet.
She roasted the chicken.
J’ai fait griller le pain.
I toasted the bread.
J’ai fait tremper les pruneaux.
I soaked the prunes.
The infinitive is used after expressions of spending time.
Elle passe son temps à créer de nouvelles recettes.
She spends her time creating new recipes.
Il passe ses vacances à lire des livres de cuisine.
He spends his vacation reading cookbooks.
Il a gaspillé sa vie à ne rien faire.
He wasted his life doing nothing.
Je passe mon temps à chercher de nouvelles épices.
I spend my time looking for new spices.
The infinitive is used after expressions of position. The preposition à precedes the infinitive. (Note the present participle equivalents in English.)
Il est debout à éplucher des carottes.
He is standing peeling carrots.
Elle est assise à écosser des petits pois.
She is sitting shelling peas.
Il est accroupi dans le jardin à cueillir des fraises.
He is squatting in the garden picking strawberries.
Elle est à genoux à arracher les mauvaises herbes.
She is kneeling pulling out weeds.
The infinitif passé
The infinitif passé (past infinitive) is used to mark anteriority. It is formed with the infinitive of avoir or être and the past participle of the main verb. (Note that, for verbs conjugated with être, the past participle of the infinitif passé agrees with the subject of the sentence.)
Les hôtes ont remercié le chef d’avoir préparé un si bon repas.
The guests thanked the chef for having prepared such a good meal.
Nous nous sommes excusés d’être partis avant le dessert.
We apologized for leaving before dessert.
Il a regretté d’avoir oublié l’anniversaire de Clara.
He regretted having forgotten Clara’s birthday.
Comment pouvait-il avoir brûlé tout le dîner?
How could he have burnt the whole dinner?
One common occurrence of the infinitif passé is after the preposition après (after), while the infinitif présent follows avant de (before).
Gérard fait mariner la viande avant d’éplucher un oignon.
Gérard marinates the meat before peeling an onion.
Gérard fait mariner la viande après avoir épluché un oignon.
Gérard marinates the meat after peeling an onion.
Elle se lave les mains avant de décortiquer les crevettes.
She washes her hands before shelling the shrimp.
Elle se lave les mains après avoir décortiqué les crevettes.
She washes her hands after shelling the shrimp.
Je fais la cuisine avant d’aller au cinéma.
I cook before going to the movies.
Je fais la cuisine après être allé au cinéma.
I cook after going to the movies.
Elle lit le journal avant de se lever.
She reads the paper before getting up.
Elle lit le journal après s’être levée.
She reads the paper after getting up.
Verbs with their prepositions
When a verb is followed by another verb in the infinitive (j’aime danser), the first thing to ask is whether or not it is followed by a preposition. There is no magic recipe, you need to learn them byheart as you go along. Some verbs are not followed by a preposition, others are followed by à, de, sur, etc., before an infinitive, and sometimes before a noun or pronoun.
Verbs not followed by a preposition
Let’s start with verbs that are not followed by a preposition:
Aimer - to like, to love
aller - to go
avouer - to admit
compter - to intend, to plan
désirer - to desire, to wish
détester - to hate (to)
devoir - must, to have to
écouter - to listen to
espérer - to hope to
faire - to do
falloir - must, to be necessary to
laisser - to let, to allow
oser - to dare (to)
paraître - to appear, to seem
penser - to think
pouvoir - can, to be able to
préférer - to prefer
prétendre - to claim
savoir - to know (how to)
sembler - to seem to
sentir - to feel, to think
souhaiter - to wish to
venir - to come
voir - to see
vouloir - to want to
Les Corbin aiment manger au restaurant.
The Corbins love to eat out.
Elle voudrait devenir traiteur.
She would like to become a caterer.
J’avoue ne pas comprendre son but.
I admit I do not understand his goal.
Il sait faire la sauce béchamel.
He knows how to make béchamel sauce.
In the above examples, the subject of the first verb is the same as the one for the second verb; that’s why the infinitive form is used.When the subjects are different, a dependent clause introducedby que is required. Depending on the verb in the main clause, the dependent clause can be in the indicative or the subjunctive.
J’espère obtenir ce poste.
I am hoping to get this position.
J’espère qu’elle obtiendra ce poste.
I am hoping she’ll get this position.
Tu veux apprendre ce métier.
You want to learn this craft.
Tu veux qu’il apprenne ce métier.
You want him to learn this craft.
In some cases, a French verb does not need a preposition even though its English equivalent requires one. Elle attend le train. She is waiting for the train.Il a abandonné le projet. He gave up the project.Nous écoutons la conférence.We are listening to the lecture.Soudain, ils sont entrés.Suddenly they walked in.
Verbs followed by the preposition à
Many verbs are followed by the preposition à when they precede an infinitive. You have already encountered quite a few in previous chapters. These will also need to be memorized.
s’accoutumer à - to get accustomed to
aider à - to help to
s’amuser à - to enjoy
apprendre à - to learn to, to show how to
arriver à - to manage to
aspirer à - to aspire to
s’attendre à - to expect to
autoriser à - to authorize to
chercher à - to try to, to attempt to
commencer à - to start to
consentir à - to agree to, to consent to
continuer à - to continue to, to keep on
se décider à - to make up one’s mind to
encourager à - to encourage to
se faire à - to get used to
faire attention à - to pay attention to
s’habituer à - to get used to
hésiter à - to hesitate to
inciter à - to encourage to
s’intéresser à - to get interested in
inviter à - to invite to
se mettre à - to start to, to begin to
parvenir à - to manage to
préparer à - to get ready to
renoncer à - to give up
se résigner à - to resign oneself to
réussir à - to succeed in
songer à - to think about
tenir à - to insist on, to be eager to
viser à - to aim at
Il commence à travailler à huit heures.
He starts to work at eight o’clock.
Ils se préparent à partir.
They are getting ready to leave.
Elle l’a encouragé à s’inscrire.
She encouraged him to sign up.
Tu as réussi à obtenir un prix.managed to get an award.
Verbs followed by the preposition de
Now that you have memorized some of the à verbs, let’s look at some verbs followed by the preposition de when they precede an infinitive.
accepter de - to accept, to agree to
accuser de - to accuse (of)
s’arrêter de - to stop
avoir besoin de - to need to
avoir envie de - to feel like, to want
avoir l’intention de - to intend to
avoir peur de - to be afraid of
cesser de - to stop, to cease
choisir de - to choose to
conseiller de - to advise (to)
se contenter de - to content oneself with
convaincre de - to convince (to)
craindre de - to fear (to)
défendre de - to forbid (to)
demander de - to ask (to)
se dépêcher de - to hurry to
s’efforcer de - to try hard to
empêcher de - to prevent (from)
s’empêcher de - to refrain from
envisager de - to contemplate
essayer de - to try to
éviter de - to avoid
s’excuser de - to apologize for
faire semblant de - to pretend to
feindre de - to feign to, to pretend to
finir de - to finish, to end up
interdire de - to forbid (to)
menacer de - to threaten to
mériter de - to deserve to
offrir de - to off er to
oublier de - to forget to
permettre de - to allow (to), to permit (to)
persuader de - to persuade (to), to convince (to)
se plaindre de - to complain of
projeter de - to plan to/on
promettre de - to promise to
refuser de - to refuse to
regretter de - to regret
remercier de - to thank (for)
reprocher de - to reproach for
soupçonner de - to suspect of
se souvenir de - to remember to
tâcher de - to try to
Il a essayé de faire un soufflé.
He tried to make a soufflé.
Elle a refusé de nous donner sa recette.
She refused to give us her recipe.
Ils ont promis de l’envoyer au Cordon Bleu.
They promised to send him to the Cordon Bleu cooking school.
J’ai fini de lire le roman.
I finished reading the novel.
