Breakdown of Mon père m'encourage à pratiquer le karaté.
mon
my (mon, ma, mes)
pratiquer
to practice
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
me
me, myself (object pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Mon père m'encourage à pratiquer le karaté.
Why is there an à after encourage?
In French, the verb encourager requires the preposition à when it is followed by an infinitive (an unconjugated verb like pratiquer). The structure to remember is encourager quelqu'un à faire quelque chose (to encourage someone to do something).
Why is the m' placed before encourage instead of before pratiquer?
Is the m' here a direct or indirect object pronoun?
It is a direct object pronoun. The expression is encourager quelqu'un (to encourage someone), with no preposition before the person. Since there is no à or de before the person being encouraged, you use the direct object pronoun.
Could I say m'encourage à faire du karaté instead?