3m41r 🇨🇦

[languid dawn]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[warm linden]

If you're talking about verb + à/de + infinitive, the infinitive doesn't get to decide the preposition, the verb before does. And it's basically rote learning.
Here's a list of them:
De https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/verbs-with-de/
À: https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/verbs-with-a/

As for the adjectives, the distinction is much much clearer.
When you use à, you have a clear and definite subject and you assign it to an adjective related to the verb.
In "c'est facile à comprendre", you have a thing that's easy to understand.
When you use de, the subject is actually after that and il/ce is a dummy, impersonal subject that doesn't refer to anything.
In "c'est inutile de discuter", it is discussing that is useless.
I'll add one more example: c'est facile de faire ce gâteau. Here, you're saying baking this cake is easy.
More about this here: https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/adjectives-with-prepositions/

[dawn badge]

if you want a simpler rule of thumb for that last one (it's adjective + to + verb)
if you can remove "it" entirely from your sentence by moving the verb at the start, it's "de"
if you can't remove "it", it's "à"

"it's easy to run" => "running is easy" same meaning => "de"
"that fruit, it's easy to eat" => "eating is easy" different meaning => "à"

[warm linden]

In short, you can essentially have an infinitive sentence/clause after de while the noun is separated from its verb with à.

[flat coyote]

That fruit is easy to eat 👀

[austere pilot]

Lowkey there’s no fixed rule I just say whatever until someone fixes me 😂

[vernal patrol]

interesting this is helpful

sad that I gave to memorize the verbs with the prepositions tho

I'm curious what does it sound like to native french speaker when someone says
j'essaie à comprendre
instead of de comprendre

[flat coyote]

It's hard to explain but since english does roughly the same thing, think of for example "I'm trying of understand"

It usually won't majorly impede comprehension but certainly will sound off

[dawn badge]

there are cases where the preposition choice is key, of course
"je parle à Luce" vs "je parle de Luce"
"je tiens à mon père" vs je tiens de mon père"
etc

[drowsy vessel]

They will understand what you mean ( exept in situations like those Flynn showed ) but it's also sound very unconfortable for a native and it's such of type misstake that make people think you'r not so fluent or good french speaker ( while it's no so important and hard master naturally)