📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 12 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 3 · La syntaxe complexe
La proposition infinitive
Module 14 of the free French course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 12 of 30: After verbs of perception, French compresses a whole clause into an infinitive. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 12.
The words
French
English
Say it
je le vois venir
I can see it coming
zhuh luh vwah vuh-NEER
j'entends les enfants jouer
I hear the children playing
zhah(n)-tah(n) lay zah(n)-fah(n) zhoo-AY
je fais réparer la voiture
I am having the car repaired
zhuh feh ray-pah-ray lah vwah-TEWR
la perception
perception
lah pehr-sehp-SYOH(n)
réparer
to repair
ray-pah-RAY
sentir
to sense
sah(n)-TEER
aller loin
to go far
ah-lay LWA(n)
familier de forme
familiar in shape
fah-mee-lyay duh FORM
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
After verbs of perception, French compresses a whole clause into an infinitive. Je le vois venir. J'entends les enfants jouer. Je la sens hésiter.
Et aussi · And also
English does the same with a bare infinitive (I see him coming), so the shape is familiar; what is not familiar is how far French will take it — je fais réparer la voiture, je laisse les enfants sortir.
Attention · Watch out
je le vois venir: the object pronoun goes before the FIRST verb, not before the infinitive. And je fais réparer la voiture means someone else repairs it — je répare la voiture is a different claim.
sentir — the table
je sens · tu sens · il/elle sent · nous sentons · vous sentez · ils/elles sentent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with je le vois venir.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out sentir in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.