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- Topic: French >
- "She refuses to eat."
"She refuses to eat."
Translation:Elle refuse de manger.
18 Comments
In many cases, it is easier to not try to equate it directly to English. "Refuser de" is correct, similar to how "chercher" doesn't require a preposition, but in English "look for" it does. I find that it is easier in a learning sense to accept the language the way it is, because English is far worse in many instances - "had had" for example.
John, whilst Billy had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had a better effect on the teacher. :)))
No. While "à" does mean "to" in English, it is used in a physical sense. As in...
- I am going TO the store
- I gave it TO her
- We are moving TO Montreal
Hope that helps!
Edit: See post below, the above isn't entirely true....
My explanation was not 100%. Each verb that requires a preposition has its own:
Apprendre is on this page: http://french.about.com/cs/grammar/a/verbswithprep.htm
Refuser is on this page: http://french.about.com/cs/grammar/a/verbswithprep_4.htm
sometimes in frech, verb origin directly follows verb, so why not "refuse manger"
It depends on the verb. Some need nothing, some need an 'à' or a 'de' or an 'en' or something else entirely. http://french.about.com/cs/grammar/a/verbswithprep.htm
I wrote: "Elle se refuse a manger", could not accentuate 'a'
I think I read somewhere that with a pronominal verb, like in this instance, is proper to use 'a'. 'grave' accent
So wait. The chain Pret à Manger is grammatically incorrect? That chain was my impetus for learning French! :(
879
No, that's not it. Different verbs, adverbs, and nouns will use different prepositions. You have to learn each one. It's very difficult for even advanced students. But you can start with the one we have right here: refuser + de +infinitive.
