chercher, chercher à
to look for, to attempt to
Je cherche mon livre, parce que je cherche à finir mes devoirs.
I’m looking for my book, because I’m attempting to finish my homework.
ABOUT CHERCHER
The verb chercher reminds us of another important feature of some French verbs in relation to their English counterparts. Some English verbs that require a preposition after them — to look for, for example — are expressed without the preposition in French. In fact, it would be incorrect in French to include a preposition after chercher when using it to mean to look for.
THIS WEEK
In French, a verb’s meaning can change considerably depending upon the preposition that follows it. This week, we’ve been looking at verbs and prepositions to see how several common verbs’ meanings can change slightly, or sometimes significantly. This is also a good time to remind ourselves that French verbs do not always take the same prepositions as their English counterparts.
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