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The French preposition de is required after many French verbs and phrases that need an indirect object, but there is often a completely different preposition in English or none at all.

   s'agir de   to be a question of

   s'approcher de   to approach

   s'apercevoir de   to notice

   arriver de (Paris, Canada)   to arrive from (Paris, Canada)o

   avoir besoin de   to need

   avoir envie de   to want

   changer de (train)   to change (trains)

   dépendre de   to depend on

   douter de   to doubt

   s'emparer de   to grab

   s'étonner de   to be amazed by

   féliciter de   to congratulate

   hériter de   to inherit

   jouer de   to play (an instrument)

   jouir de   to enjoy

   manquer de   to lack

   se méfier de   to distrust, beware of

   se moquer de   to make fun of

   s'occuper de   to be busy with

   partir de   to leave

   se passer de   to do without

   penser de   to have an opinion about

   se plaindre de   to complain about

   profiter de   to make the most of

   punir de   to punish for

   recompenser de   to reward for

   remercier de   to thank

   se rendre compte de   to realize

   rire de   to laugh at

   servir de   to put to use as

   se servir de   to use

   se soucier de   to care about

   se souvenir de   to remember

   tenir de   to take after, resemble

   se tromper de   to mistake

   vivre de   to live on

Notes:

Remember that de plus a noun can be replaced by the adverbial pronoun en.


For example, j'en ai besoin - I need it.

Also see verbs with de plus a verb