We already studied common French verbs followed by the prepositions 'à' and "de". Now, here is a list of common French verbs which are not followed by any preposition when followed by a verb in the infinitive. The second verbs comes directly after the first verb, as in "Paul adore jouer au ballon" (Paul loves to play with a ball). Of course, these verbs may or may not take a preposition in English, so you need to really link the meaning of the verb to the action being described, not the English words.

Now, let's study the list of French verbs followed by the preposition "de". As I mentioned in my list of French verbs followed by "à", I couldn't find any rhyme or reason why this is the way it is. I suggest you try to memorize them. The best way to do so is to copy them onto flash cards, and use them in sentences that make sense to you, connecting them to your own life experiences. For example, I could write "j'ai peur des araignées" - I am afraid of spiders, which is true, and a statement that makes sense to me.

In French, some verbs are followed by the prepositions "à" (je cherche à comprendre) or "de" (J'évite de comprendre), others by nothing (je veux comprendre). I looked all over the place for an explanation, some sort of rule or logic, but couldn't find anything, and couldn't figure it out myself (if you do know something, please don't hesitate to share it with all of us and post a comment, or contact me).

French uses 3 verbs to say 'to cook' = cuisiner, faire la cuisine and cuire, and they are not at all interchangeable. It will sound really weird if you use one for the other, and I hear many mistakes with these verbs, so make sure you learn this by heart.

In French, when using the word "cold" or "hot," you have to be careful because there are different constructions: c'est froid, elle est froide, j'ai chaud, il fait chaud... This lesson will explain which expression to use in what condition, and whether the adjectives "froid" and "chaud" change to agree with the subject.

All these notions are quite difficult to understand in French because you cannot just translate them literally from English.

The choice of verb depends on the context: where you are now, where you are going, for how long, and where home (or the place you are staying) is. I often hear English speakers use "retourner" a lot, because it sounds so much like "to return." But most of the time, it is wrong. "To return" is more likely to be "revenir" or "rentrer." "Retourner" means to go back for a limited time (often because you forgot something there).

I rarely advise my students to modify their English sentence in some way before translating it into French. However, here is a trick I give my students for the use of the verb "manquer"  that I hope will help you.

These French verbs are confusing for English speakers because they cannot be translated from their English counterpart: to bring and to take. You have to understand the meanings of "porter" and "mener" and the prefixes "a" and "em."

Choosing the right verb is pretty easy most of the time. But many English speakers might not really understand when a French person asks them "Connaissez-vous Paris ?": In French, it means "Have you been there yourself?".

Why do you say "Je vais en France" but "Je vais au Japon"? Like any inanimate object, continents, countries, and regions also have genders in French. The ending will usually tell you which is feminine or masculine and help you choose the correct preposition of place.