Spot the mistake
French advice corrections: renoncer à, envisager de and oser
Correct six French decision-making sentences using renoncer à, envisager de and oser + infinitive. Each item has one wrong word and a specific lexical pattern.
- B1
- 6 sentences
- Tap the wrong word
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
Learn renoncer à a noun or action, envisager de an action, and oser directly before an infinitive. Say renoncer à partir, envisager de partir and oser partir. The six items below each need one word replaced; no other word has to change.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
These verbs describe different parts of a decision. Renoncer gives up an option, envisager considers it and oser concerns daring to act. Their complements are lexical patterns: choosing a preposition from a general English translation is less reliable than learning the complete French construction.
Tap the word that's wrong in each sentence.
I’m giving up this project.
Renoncer takes à before the noun group ce projet.
She is giving up the idea of leaving.
Renoncer à + infinitive means giving up the action of leaving.
We are considering changing rooms.
Envisager de introduces an infinitive action.
You are considering taking this course.
Use envisager de suivre, not envisager pour suivre.
He does not dare ask for more time.
After oser, the following action is a direct infinitive: oser demander.
We dare suggest another time.
Only osons is conjugated here; proposer stays an infinitive after it.
À can introduce a noun or an infinitive
Renoncer à ce projet names the option being given up. Renoncer à partir names an action that will not be pursued in that statement. With a following definite article, the usual contractions apply: renoncer au projet and renoncer aux deux propositions. The à belongs to renoncer in these constructions.
Il a renoncé à ce projet après avoir comparé les horaires.
He gave up this project after comparing the schedules.
De is used before the infinitive
Envisager de changer names an action under consideration. With a noun, envisager takes the object directly: envisager un changement. The correction items practise the infinitive version, so de is required there. They do not teach a false rule that every object after envisager must begin with de.
Nous envisageons un changement ; nous envisageons de changer de salle.
We are considering a change; we are considering changing rooms.
The next action stays in the infinitive
Il n’ose demander and nous osons proposer have a conjugated first verb and an infinitive second verb. There is no à or de between oser and that action. When the subject or tense changes, the second action remains an infinitive: j’ose demander, nous osons demander, nous oserons demander.
| Verb | Complement | Model |
|---|---|---|
| renoncer | à + noun / infinitive | renoncer à cette idée ; renoncer à partir |
| envisager | noun directly / de + infinitive | envisager un changement ; envisager de partir |
| oser | infinitive directly | oser demander |
For practice, keep the same action and change the first verb. J’envisage de demander explains consideration; j’ose demander describes daring to ask; je renonce à demander gives up that action. The complement changes with the verb and so does the meaning.