B1 · Reported speech
Passing on a request or an order
Almost the English construction — and then demander asks for à.
A reported order takes no clause at all. It becomes an infinitive with de: Attends ! gives Il me dit d'attendre. English does the same thing with to — he tells me to wait — so the shape is already yours and only the preposition changes.
The negative is where the two part company a little. Both halves of the French negation stand in front of the infinitive: Il me dit de ne pas attendre, where English has a single not.
The person the order goes to stands as a pronoun before the verb of saying: il me dit, elle nous demande.
And here is the one that catches everybody. dire reaches the person directly with a pronoun — il me dit de partir — but with a name in place of the pronoun the person arrives through à: il dit à Marie de partir, il demande à Marie de partir. English asks Marie to leave with no preposition at all, so nothing reminds you it is there.
Die Form
| direct | « Attends ! » → il me dit d’attendre |
| negative | « N’attends pas ! » → il me dit de ne pas attendre |
| polite | « Entrez, je vous prie » → il nous prie d’entrer |
| with demander | « Aide-moi » → elle me demande de l’aider |
| with conseiller | « Pars tôt » → il me conseille de partir tôt |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
The order becomes an infinitive with de.
Le médecin me dit de me reposer.The doctor tells me to rest.
Both halves of the negation stand before the infinitive.
Il nous dit de ne pas insister.He tells us not to push.
The person addressed stands as a pronoun before the verb.
Elle leur demande de patienter.She asks them to wait.
Verbs built the same way: demander, prier, conseiller, ordonner, interdire.
On lui a interdit de fumer ici.He was forbidden to smoke here.
Woran man es erkennt
- dire de
- demander de
- prier de
- conseiller de
- ordonner de
- interdire de
Beispielsätze
Il me dit de rappeler demain matin.He tells me to call back tomorrow morning.
Elle nous demande de fermer la porte.She asks us to close the door.
Le professeur leur conseille de relire le texte.The teacher advises them to read the text again.
On lui a demandé de ne rien dire.He was asked to say nothing.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
English asks somebody to do something with no preposition, and French does not. dire, conseiller, ordonner and demander all reach a named person through à: il demande à Marie de partir, il conseille à son frère d'attendre. The à disappears only in front of a pronoun, and that is because lui and leur already carry it inside them.
de plus the infinitive — and the person arrives through à.
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