28.13: Part 1: 12 THE VERB: INFINITIVE (LE VERBE: L'INFINITIF)

12 THE VERB: INFINITIVE (LE VERBE: L'INFINITIF)

12.1 infinitive: Present Infinitive

Form

The present infinitive is the form you find first in a standard dictionary. It always contains an -r- as the last or next-to-last letter (parler, finir, vendre, dire, avoir, connaître).

Functions

a. The infinitive is commonly used as a complementary infinitive, that is, as a noun phrase complement of another verb, with or without its own complement.

J'aime chanter.	I like to sing.
Je veux trouver mes clés.	I want to find my keys.

This is a very common and simple construction, much like its equivalent in English, except that in French the verb that controls the complementary infinitive will take either à or de or no particle/preposition before the infinitive. There is no "rule" for this, no way to classify the verbs.

Here is a list of the more common verbs in each group. Good dictionaries and more comprehensive reference grammars will give you all you need later on.

Verbs that take "à" with the complementary infinitive

aider	Il nous aide à sortir du labyrinthe.	He's helping us get out of the labyrinth.
apprendre	Nous avons appris à dessiner des éléphants.	We learned to draw elephants.
chercher	Il cherche à nous persuader.	He's trying to persuade us.
commencer	Je commence à comprendre.	I'm beginning to understand.
continuer	Mais tu continues à le faire.	But you continue to do it.
encourager	Le prof nous encourage à étudier.	The professor encourages us to study.
enseigner	Elle nous enseigne à parler correctement.	She's teaching us to speak correctly.
inviter	Je t'invite à nous accompagner.	I invite you to come with us.
se mettre	Elle va se mettre à chanter.	She's going to begin to sing.
réussir	Nous avons réussi à le faire.	We succeeded in doing it.
servir*	Un stylo sert à écrire.	A pen is used for writing.
tenir*	Elle tient à te parler.	She insists on speaking to you.

* These verbs have an idiomatic, special meaning when followed by à + infinitive.

(See also verbal expressions, such as il/c'est + adjective, that are followed by à + infinitive.)

Verbs that take "de" with the complementary infinitive

accepter	Tu acceptes de nous aider?	Do you agree to help us?
cesser	Ils ont cessé de parler.	They stopped speaking.
conseiller	On me conseille de quitter ce poste.	They're advising me to quit this job.
décider	Elle va décider de partir, je te l'assure.	She'll decide to leave, I assure you.
dire	Nous lui avons dit de rester dans la voiture.	We told him to stay in the car.
empêcher	Cela ne vous empêche pas d'essayer encore une fois.	That doesn't prevent you from trying again.
essayer	Je vais essayer de le faire.	I'm going to try to do it.
offrir	Il a offert de nous aider.	He offered to help us.
oublier	Tu as oublié de lui en parler?	You forgot to talk to him about it?
permettre	Elle nous permet toujours de parler en classe.	She always lets us talk in class.
refuser	Il a refusé de nous parler.	He refused to talk to us.
regretter	Je regrette de t'en avoir parlé.	I'm sorry to have spoken to you about it.

(See also verbal expressions, such as il/c'est + adjective, that are followed by de + infinitive.)

Verbs that take no particle with the complementary infinitive

aimer	J'aime chanter en classe.	I like to sing in class.
aller	Nous allons partir.	We're going to leave.
compter	Elle compte aller en France l'été prochain.	She expects to go to France next summer.
croire	Ils croient vous comprendre.	They think they understand you.
détester	Ils détestent chanter en classe.	They hate to sing in class.
devoir	See the full chart on this verb, Section 24.
espérer	Nous espérons le voir demain.	We hope to see him tomorrow.
laisser	Laisse-moi partir.	Let me leave.
oser	Je n'ose pas lui demander cela.	1 don't dare ask her/him that.
pouvoir	Il peut ouvrir cette porte.	He can open this door.
préférer	Elle préfère rester ici.	She prefers to remain here.
savoir	Tu sais nager?	Do you know how to swim?
venir^10	Marie vient vous voir ce soir.	Mary is coming to see you tonight.
vouloir	Marc veut nous accompagner.	Mark wants to go with us.

¹⁰ This verb, venir, also occurs in the idiomatic expression, venir de, which means "to have just". See the Passé immédiat, Section 6.2.5.

b. One finds the infinitive construction also after a number of prepositions other than à or de (which are really particles in the complementary infinitive construction: they have no obvious prepositional force). Many of those indicate purpose, as you'll see from the following examples.

Je suis venu ici pour vous parler.	I came here in order to talk to you.
Il s'est arrêté afin de regarder le plan de la ville.	He stopped so as to look at the map of the city.
Elle est partie sans nous dire au revoir.	She left without saying goodbye.
Avant de parler, il faut penser.	Before speaking, one should think.

NB: You'll have noted that the English equivalent of the infinitive is sometimes a present participle. Keep in mind that the only preposition that takes a present participle in French is en (see Present Participle, 11-c). Also note, as detailed in the next section, that après takes only the past infinitive, never a present infinitive.

12.2 Infinitive: Past Infinitive

Form

The past infinitive is another compound form; this time the auxiliary is a present infinitive:

après avoir fini; après être parti(e)(s); après s'être couché(e)(s)

Function

We listed the forms above with après because it is the main construction in which the past infinitive occurs in French, and to emphasize that the present infinitive is never used after après. The entire construction is a modifier of the nearest noun phrase, as it is in English:

Après m'être habillé, je suis sorti.	After getting dressed, I went out.
Après avoir fermé la porte, il a commencé à nous parler très doucement.	After closing the door, he began to speak to us very softly.