List of French Verbs Followed by No Preposition & Verb

These verbs may or may not take a preposition in English: to avoid mistakes, don’t translate!

Link the French verb construction to the image of action being described, not to the English words.

1 – List of Common French Verbs Followed by no Preposition (Nothing) + Verb

To make it clearer, I’ll use “faire quelque chose” as my second verb, but you could replace it by any other infinitive that makes sense.

1. adorer faire quelque chose – to love doing something
2. aimer faire quelque chose – to like/enjoy doing something
3. aimer mieux faire quelque chose – to rather do something
4. aller faire quelque chose – to be going to do something
5. avouer faire quelque chose – to admit to do something
6. compter faire quelque chose – to intend to do something
7. courir faire quelque chose – to run to do something
8. désirer faire quelque chose – to want to do something
9. détester faire quelque chose – to hate to do something
10. devoir faire quelque chose – to have to do something
11. écouter (quelqu’un) faire quelque chose – to listen (someone) do something
12. emmener (quelqu’un) faire quelque chose – to take (someone) to do something
13. envoyer (quelqu’un) faire quelque chose – to send (someone) to do something
14. espérer faire quelque chose – to hope to do something
15. être censé faire quelque chose – to be supposed to do something
16. faire faire quelque chose – to have something done
17. il faut faire quelque chose – one must do something about it
18. laisser faire quelque chose – to allow/let something to be done
19. oser faire quelque chose – to dare to do something
20. paraître faire quelque chose – to seem to do something
21. penser faire quelque chose – to consider doing something
22. pouvoir faire quelque chose – to be able to do something
23. préférer faire quelque chose – to prefer to do something
24. prétendre faire quelque chose – to pretend to do something
25. regarder (quelqu’un) faire quelque chose – to watch someone do something
26. savoir faire quelque chose – to know HOW TO do something
27. sembler faire quelque chose – to seem to be doing something
28. souhaiter faire quelque chose – to wish to do something
29. venir faire quelque chose – to come to do something
30. vouloir faire quelque chose – to want to do something

2 – French Verb of Motions Are Usually Followed by an Infinitive (no Preposition)

Note also that most verbs of motion are followed by an infinitive when you use them to say “to go up to do something”… So followed by “faire quelque chose”…

Example: descendre faire la cuisine = to go downstairs to cook.

1. monter (to go upstairs),
2. descendre (to go downstairs),
3. rentrer (to go home/inside),
4. aller (to go),
5. retourner (to go back),
6. sortir (to go outside),
7. venir (to come)

Read more about verbs using être or avoir.

If you know more COMMON French verbs followed by no preposition + verb in the infinitive, kindly leave a comment below, and I’ll add them to the list. Merci!

Please consider supporting my free French lesson creation: we’re a tiny husband-and-wife company in France.
Support us on Patreon or by purchasing our unique audiobooks to learn French. Instant download. Learn French offline, at home or on the go on any device!

1. Check out my list of common French verbs followed by the preposition à + infinitve and nouns
2. Check out my list of common French verbs followed by the preposition de + infinitve and nouns
3. You may also enjoy learning about French prepositions of place used with countries and regions