Learn French: Je suis disposé à essayer. C'est excitant de surfer, mais impossible à faire sans courage. - I am willing to try. It is exciting to surf, but impossible to do without courage.

Je suis disposé à essayer. C'est excitant de surfer, mais impossible à faire sans courage.

I am willing to try. It is exciting to surf, but impossible to do without courage.

Breakdown of Je suis disposé à essayer. C'est excitant de surfer, mais impossible à faire sans courage.

Questions & Answers about Je suis disposé à essayer. C'est excitant de surfer, mais impossible à faire sans courage.

Why do we use à in disposé à essayer?

In French, certain adjectives must be followed by à before an infinitive verb, and disposé (willing) is one of them. When describing a person's readiness or tendency to do something, you will often use à, just like with prêt à (ready to).

In C'est excitant de surfer, why do we need de before surfer?

When you use the impersonal structure c'est + adjective to make a general statement about an action, you must use de before the infinitive verb. You are stating the general fact that the act of surfing is exciting.

If we use de after excitant, why does impossible take à in impossible à faire?

This is a very common difference! Use de when the sentence has an impersonal dummy subject, like c'est excitant de surfer (It is exciting to surf). But use à when the adjective describes a specific thing that is receiving the action. Here, impossible à faire refers back to the specific act of surfing, meaning that surfing itself is impossible to do.

Why is there no article before courage in sans courage?