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The French preposition à is required after many French verbs and phrases that need an indirect object, but there is often no equivalent preposition in English.

   acheter à  -  to buy from

   arracher à  -  to grab, tear away from

   assister à (la réunion)  -  to attend (the meeting)

   conseiller à  -  to advise

   convenir à quelqu'un / la situation  -  to please, to be suitable for someone / the situation

   croire à  -  to believe something

   demander (quelque chose) à quelqu'un  -  to ask someone (something)

   défendre à  -  to forbid

   demander à (quelqu'un)  -  to ask (someone) to

   déplaire à  -  to displease / be displeasing to

   désobéir à  -  to disobey

   dire à  -  to say / tell

   donner un stylo à quelqu'un  -  to give someone a pen

   emprunter un livre à quelqu'un  -  to borrow a book from someone

   envoyer (qqch) à quelqu'un  -  to send (something) to (someone)

   être à  -  to belong to

   faire attention à  -  to pay attention to

   se fier à quelqu'un  -  to trust someone

   goûter à quelque chose  -  to taste something

   s'habituer à  -  to get used to

   interdire (quelque chose) à quelqu'un  -  to forbid someone (something)

   s'intéresser à  -  to be interested in

   jouer à  -  to play (a game or sport)

   manquer à  -  to miss someone

   mêler à  -  to mingle with / to join in

   nuire à  -  to harm

   obéir à  -  to obey

   s'opposer à  -  to oppose

   ordonner à  -  to order

   pardonner à  -  to pardon, forgive

   parler à  -  to talk to

   penser à  -  to think of / about

   permettre à  -  to permit

   plaire à  -  to please / be pleasing to

   profiter à  -  to benefit / be profitable to

   promettre à  -  to promise

   réfléchir à  -  to consider / reflect upon

   répondre à  -  to answer

   résister à  -  to resist

   ressembler à  -  to resemble

   réussir à l'examen  -  to pass the test

   serrer la main à quelqu'un  -  to shake hands with someone

   servir à  -  to be used for/as

   songer à  -  to dream / think of

   succéder à  -  to succeed, follow

   survivre à  -  to survive

   téléphoner à  -  to call

   voler (quelque chose) à quelqu'un  -  to steal (something) from someone

Notes:

Remember that à plus an inanimate noun can be replaced by the adverbial pronoun y.


For example, je m'y suis habitué - I got used to it.

À plus a person can usually be replaced by an indirect object pronoun that gets placed in front of the verb (e.g., Il me parle). However, a few verbs and expressions do not allow a preceding indirect object pronoun - instead, they require that you keep the preposition after the verb, and follow it with a stressed pronoun (e.g., Je pense à toi).

Also see verbs with à plus a verb