List of French Verbs Followed by the Preposition À + NOUN

French Verbs Followed by the Preposition À + NOUN

These verbs must be followed by À when they are used before a NOUN whether it be a thing or a person. There are other verbs that need À, but here are some of the most common ones. It will not be helpful to translate from English to French because many times we don’t need a preposition in English.

You can download a free PDF of this list in my private French Grammar Library.

acheter quelque chose à quelqu’un
to buy something from / for someone

assister à quelque chose
to attend something

conseiller à quelqu’un
to advise someone

demander à quelqu’un
to ask someone

défendre à quelqu’un
to forbid someone

désobéir à quelqu’un
to disobey someone

dire à quelqu’un
to say to someone

donner à quelqu’un
to give to someone

écrire à quelqu’un
to write to someone

emprunter à quelqu’un
to borrow from someone

faire attention à quelqu’un
to pay attention to someone
to be careful with someone

interdire à quelqu’un
to forbid someone

jouer à quelque chose (jeu / sport)
to play a game / sport

lire à quelqu’un
to read to someone

obéir à quelqu’un
to obey someone

offrir à quelqu’un
to offer / to give to someone

pardonner à quelqu’un
to forgive someone

parler à quelqu’un
to speak to someone

penser à quelqu’un
to think about someone

permettre à quelqu’un
to allow someone

plaire à quelqu’un
to please someone

promettre à quelqu’un
to promise someone

proposer à quelqu’un
to suggest to someone

réfléchir à quelque chose
to consider / think about something

répondre à quelqu’un
to answer someone

ressembler à quelqu’un
to look like someone

rêver à quelque chose
to dream about something

serrer la main à quelqu’un
to shake hands with someone

suggérer à quelqu’un
to suggest to someone

s’habituer à quelque chose / quelqu’un
to get used to something / someone

s’intéresser à quelque chose / quelqu’un
to be interested in something / someone

téléphoner à quelqu’un
to call someone

tenir à quelque chose
to stick to something
to be attached to something

voler (quelque chose) à quelqu’un
to steal something from someone*Rather than saying “à Jean-Paul”, for example, it sounds better to use the indirect object pronoun LUI.

This is not a lesson that can really be explained as there is no rhyme or reason as to whether you need prepositions or not. I thought the best thing to do would be to provide you with comprehensive lists and practice resources. It will not be helpful to translate from English to French because many times we don’t need prepositions in English even though they’re essential in French. The best thing to do is work on memorizing these lists.

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