À rire or de rire

MinhazA0Kwiziq community member

À rire or de rire

Bonjour à tous, je m'appelle minhaz.

I have started learning french which makes me a basic beginner in this language.

I have a question related to a sentence which is "it is good to laugh sometimes".

In french it is written as "C'est bon de rire parfois". 

As I know that "to" is said as "à" in French.

My question is why it is not written as 

C'est bon à rire parfois 

Asked 2 years ago
AlanC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

When you have a sentence of the form c'est/il est [adjective] à [infinitive], the point is that the "ce" or "il" is really the object of the infinitive verb. So, in this case, there is something previously mentioned that is difficult to say.

If the object of the verb has not already been mentioned (or there is no object), you would use "de",  e.g. "C'est difficile de dire qui remportera la course."

But if I ask: "Qui remportera la course?", you might reply: "C'est difficile à dire."

 

JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Minhaz,

You have raised an interesting point here.

This is an aspect of French grammar where we have de + infinitive as modifier. In this case, modifying the adjective "bon" before the infinitive "rire". This construction is used to express the state (être) or mood of a person.

So the construction needs to be "C'est bon (adjective) de rire ...." not "à" rire.

Hope this helps explain for you.

Bonne continuation.

Jim

MinhazA0Kwiziq community member

Merci beaucoup pour votre réponse.

This is highly confusing as I had come through some points regarding  "à" and "de" , let me share them with you.

C'est difficile à dire => It's difficult to say.  Over here , as i feel it is also expressing the mood of a person who feels that something is difficult to say.

Likewise, "Être + adjective + de + infinitive / noun" is a common way to express feelings.

In a nutshell, both the examples are expressing feeling , however the preposition is different. Kindly assist me as i feel i am missing something over here.

Regards

CélineKwiziq team member

Bonjour Minhaz,

Alan's explanation is brilliant! See link here too: difficile de choisir

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

À rire or de rire

Bonjour à tous, je m'appelle minhaz.

I have started learning french which makes me a basic beginner in this language.

I have a question related to a sentence which is "it is good to laugh sometimes".

In french it is written as "C'est bon de rire parfois". 

As I know that "to" is said as "à" in French.

My question is why it is not written as 

C'est bon à rire parfois 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
I'll be right with you...