15.8.2.4 Infinitives connected with à after certain verbs


Verb Example
aider =
to help 		Il l' aide à faire ses devoirs. He helps doing his homework.
apprendre =
to learn 		Il a appris à nager à l' âge de cinq ans. He learned to swim with 5 years.
arriver = to arrive, to achieve Je crois qu' il arrivera à le faire. I think he will achieve to do it.
aspirer =
to aspire 		Il aspire à pouvoir vivre sans travailler. He aspires to live without working.
autoriser =
to permit 		Il l' a autorisé(e) à prendre sa voiture. He permitted him to use his car.
chercher =
to try 		Il cherche à ne pas se laisser affoler. He tries not to get confused.
consentir = zustimmen Il consent à lui prêter l' argent dont il a besoin. He agrees to borrow the money he needs.
contribuer =
to contribute 		Son discours a contribué à calmer les esprits. His speech contributed to calm down the spirits.
correspondre =
to correspond 		Dire qu' on va le faire plus tard, correspond à ne pas le faire du tout. To say to do it later corresponds to say not to do it at all.
encourager =
to encourage 		Il l' a toujours encouragé à le faire. He has always encouraged him to do it.
hésiter =
to hesitate 		Il n' a jamais hésité à venir au secours de qui que ce soit. He has never hesitated to go to help others.
inviter =
to invite 		Il invite tout le monde à y réfléchir. He invites everybody to think about it.
parvenir =
to succeed 		Il est parvenu à convaincre tout le monde. He managed to convince everybody.
persister =
to persist 		Il persiste à réaliser son projet. He persists to realize his project.
renoncer =
to give up 		Il a renoncé à poursuivre son projet. He gave up to persue his project.
rester =
to stay 		Ce qui reste à faire nous allons le faire demain. What remains to be done, we will do tomorrow.
réussir =
to succeed 		Enfin il a réussi à lui dire qu' il l' aime. Finally he succeeded in telling her that he loves her.
servir =
to serve 		Cela sert à chauffer de l' eau. This serves to heat water.
s' amuser =
to amuse oneself 		Il s' amuse à énerver les autres. He amuses himself by annoying the others.
s' attendre =
to expect 		Je m'attends à devoir répondre à toute une panoplie de questions. I expect to have to answer a whole lot of questions.
se borner =
to limit to 		Il s' est borné à répondre aux questions qu' on lui a posées. He limited himself to answer the questions posed to him.
s' engager =
to commit 		Il s' est engagé à donner des cours supplémentaires aux gens qui ne l' ont pas encore compris. He commited himself to give private coaching to people, who did not yet understand it.
s' entraîner =
to train 		Il s' est entraîné à nager 10 km. He trained to swim 10 km.
se limiter =
to limit oneself 		Dans son discours il s'est limité à mentionner les problèmes que tout le monde connaissait déjà. In his speech he limited himself in mentioning problems that everyone already knew.
se mettre =
to start 		Il s' est mis à préparer le petit déjeuner. He started to make breakfast.
se préparer =
to prepare 		Il s' est préparé à partir en Espagne. He prepared to go to Spain.
se résigner =
to resign 		Il s' est résigné à faire ce travail. He resigned himself to do this work.






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