Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

JohnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

Hi,

There are lists of verbs that take à or de before an infinitive and commencer is on both lists. Can you explain when to use which construction? Thanks.

This question relates to:French vocab and grammar list "List of verbs followed by the preposition de and an infinitive in French - 2"
Asked 2 years ago
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CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi John,

There is a slight difference in usage between the two but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Commencer à is more used than commencer de.

You might be interested in reading my answer to Shrey on the matter in the following question which explains the difference -

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/view/queries-pertaining-to-grammatical-concepts

Hope this helps!

Like12 years ago
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ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

It is commencer à, with commencer de being reserved for literary use.

Like12 years ago
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John asked:View original

Commencer à faire ou commencer de faire

Hi,

There are lists of verbs that take à or de before an infinitive and commencer is on both lists. Can you explain when to use which construction? Thanks.

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