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J'ai du mal à comprendre cette question.

J'ai du mal à comprendre cette question.
I have trouble understanding this question.
From Lesson 271:Verbs followed by à (à + infinitive)·French

Questions & Answers about J'ai du mal à comprendre cette question.

Why do we need the preposition à before comprendre?
The expression avoir du mal (to have trouble or difficulty) requires the preposition à before a following verb. Many French verbs and expressions require a specific preposition (often à or de) to connect to an action. Whenever a verb follows a preposition like this, it must be in the infinitive (dictionary) form, which is why we use comprendre.
English uses the -ing form (understanding) here. Why does French use the infinitive?
In English, we often use the -ing form after expressions of difficulty. However, in French, any verb that immediately follows a preposition (like à, de, pour, or sans) must be in its infinitive (unconjugated) form. Therefore, trouble understanding becomes du mal à comprendre.
Why is it du mal instead of just mal?
In this expression, mal acts as an uncountable noun meaning trouble or difficulty. Just like when you talk about having some bread (du pain), you are experiencing an unspecified amount of trouble. Therefore, you must use the partitive article du (a contraction of de + le). It literally translates to having some trouble.
Why do we use cette before question?
The word question is a feminine noun in French. To say this or that before a feminine singular noun, you must use the feminine demonstrative adjective cette. If the noun were masculine, you would use ce (or cet if the masculine noun started with a vowel).

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