# FR: inspire to



## edith_t

bonjour encore!

je ne sais pas s'il est inspirer à ou inspirer de?

merci beaucoup!

edith


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## Tim~!

On inspire quelqu'un _à_ faire quelque chose.


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## jann

I find the TLF is often helpful for these sorts of questions.  You can just read through the structures... 

In this case, there are two possibilities, depending on what you are trying to say:

_inspirer quelqu'un de faire quelque chose
inspirer quelque chose à quelqu'un

_Tim, I'm not a native speaker, but I don't think that's correct.  I can find no examples of that usage in the dictionary.


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## edith_t

alors...les solutions qui peuvent les inspirer de travailler? (it's a long sentence!)

in the first post there's 'à' but in the second 'de'. sorry i'm a bit confused!

merci!


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## jann

edith_t said:


> in the first post there's 'à' but in the second 'de'. sorry i'm a bit confused!


And understandably so!   I think we need a native speaker to come and give their opinion here.

PS.  Or just maybe just use a different verb:  _inciter quelqu'un à faire quelque chose... _But really, it would be helpful if you could tell us in English what you wanted to say.


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## Raoul Volfoni

Hi
I don't know exactly what you want to say but

"les solutions qui peuvent les inspirer de travailler"

isn't correct in French.

Context?


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## leenette

hello!

Il y a s'inspirer de : Je m'inspire de ce tableau connu pour faire mon dessin.

il y a inspirer quelqu'un : cette personne m'inspire beaucoup de bien

Donc ce serait plutôt "inspirer à" puisque c'est à moi que cette personne inspire du bien... vous suivez?

en gros, en règle générale, c'est *s'inspirer de quelque chose*  et  *inspirer à quelque chose */ inspirer à faire quelque chose


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## edith_t

sorry it's a really long sentence...in full...

'le gouvernement doit former des solutions qui peuvent engager les jeunes et les *inspirer de* travailler'


de or à?

 
merci!


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## Raoul Volfoni

Definitely

inciter à

and you could also say
le gouvernement doit proposer/ envisager des solutions... et les inciter à/ les encourager à...


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## edith_t

merci beaucoup!


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## itka

leenette said:


> Il y a s'inspirer de : Je m'inspire de ce tableau connu pour faire mon dessin.
> il y a inspirer quelqu'un : cette personne m'inspire beaucoup de bien
> Donc ce serait plutôt "inspirer à" puisque c'est à moi que cette personne inspire du bien... vous suivez?
> en gros, en règle générale, c'est *s'inspirer de quelque chose*  et  *inspirer à quelque chose */ inspirer à faire quelque chose



Je ne comprends pas cette dernière proposition... _inspirer à quelque chose_ ? Je pense que c'est une erreur. Ne confonds-tu pas avec "_aspirer_ à quelque chose" ?

A la question d'edith_t, je répondrais :
*trouver* : proposer, envisager, selon le sens choisi
_engager_ : doit être suivi d'un complément. engager à... quoi ? Je préfère *motiver
inspirer quelque chose à quelqu'un ---> leur inspirer l'envie de travailler
*
_"Le gouvernement doit *trouver* des solutions qui peuvent *motiver* les jeunes et *leur* *inspirer l'envie de* travailler".

Nos réponses se sont croisées. Je suis d'accord aussi avec les propositions de Volfoni.
_


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## Tim~!

jann said:


> _inspirer quelqu'un de faire quelque chose
> 
> _Tim, I'm not a native speaker, but I don't think that's correct.  I can find no examples of that usage in the dictionary.


Interesting.

I've always used the structure with 'à' before leading into an infinitive.

I know that I'm not the only one, since I Googled expressions using that particular particle.

For example, this book uses "... de vous inspirer à faire ce qui vous sera plus à honneur ... ".  I also found 50 examples of people saying that they had been "inspiré à devenir [something or other]" and only six hits for "inspiré de devenir".

Nonetheless, I'm unable to find a dictionary definition that supports my opinion, so I may have to cede the point to you.

For the natives: Is it possible to translate "Pélé inspired me to become a footballer" using the verb _inspirer _and a preposition before _devenir_?


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## geostan

Tim~! said:


> Is it possible to translate "Pélé inspired me to become a footballer" using the verb _inspirer _and a preposition before _devenir_?



For this sentence, I would say:

Pélé m'a inspiré pour que je devienne footballeur.

In other words, I don't believe you can use a direct object and an infinitive as we do in English.

Hope this helps

Cheers!


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## Raoul Volfoni

Tim,

I've just done some research.

What I can tell you is that it is certainly not used in modern French.

Still, in a historical dictionary of the French language, I've found that in the sixteenth century, you could use "inspirer quelqu'un de" to say "pousser quelqu'un à faire quelque chose", but this usage is obsolete.

In modern French, you can use "inspirer quelque chose à quelqu'un" but not followed by any infinitive.

As far as the book you quote is concerned, it does date back to the sixteenth century. And the extract was apparently written by Queen Elizabeth, who was no native French speaker. I've read the whole text and it contains a lot of mistakes, spellings that have changed (cordialles, with double L, mieulx - there is no L anymore, etc...) as well as structures not used in French anymore, such as "icelle", being "celle-ci" in modern French.

Hope it helps


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## geostan

I've just thought of another way around the problem:

Pélé m'a donné l'inspiration de devenir footballeur.

Cheers!


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## Raoul Volfoni

C'est à Pelé que je dois d'être devenu footballeur

or 

Pelé m'a inspiré et je suis devenu footballeur


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## Raoul Volfoni

geostan said:


> Pélé m'a donné l'inspiration de devenir footballeur.


 
Geostan's idea is good if you change "de" into "pour"


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## Tim~!

Raoul Volfoni said:


> Tim,
> 
> I've just done some research.
> 
> <snip>
> As far as the book you quote is concerned, it does date back to the sixteenth century. And the extract was apparently written by Queen Elizabeth, who was no native French speaker. I've read the whole text and it contains a lot of mistakes, spellings that have changed (cordialles, with double L, mieulx - there is no L anymore, etc...) as well as structures not used in French anymore, such as "icelle", being "celle-ci" in modern French.
> 
> Hope it helps



Thank you   I'd noticed the spelling differences (especially "icelle") but put them down to a fault with the scanner.  The idea never came to me that the book could be an old one 

I doubt I would have had many occasions to use 'inspirer' during my stays in France, but I must've used the proscribed form at least once.  I suppose that my friends were too kind to correct me, seeing as they would've understood what I meant, be it correct or not.

Thanks again (and geostan too).


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