Rêver… means to dream. You probably already know that. However, do you know the verb rêver can be followed by à, de or que? Let’s see when to use rêver à, rêver de and rêver que.
Rêver de someone or something and rêver que are used for dreams you have in your sleep:
- La nuit dernière, j’ai rêvé d’un ami. (Last night, I dreamt about a friend.)
- J’ai rêvé que j’étais en vacances. (I dreamt I was on holiday.)
Rêver à someone or something and rêver de followed by a verb in the infinitive form are used for dreams you have while being awake and mean to think, to imagine, to daydream:
- Il rêve à son prochain voyage. (He’s thinking/daydreaming about his next trip)
- Elle rêve de faire le tour du monde à la voile. (She dreams of sailing around the world)
Let’s recap:
Memo
If the person is asleep, use ↓
If the person is awake, use ↓
rêver de quelque chose / quelqu’un rêver à quelque chose / quelqu’un rêver que + subject + conjugated verb rêver de + infinitive
There you are! Now you can use rêver à, rêver de or rêver que correctly. Congratulations! 😉
I’m trying to understand why this one uses “de.” It sounds more like she’s dreaming while awake or daydreaming: Elle rêve de faire le tour du monde à la voile. (She dreams of sailing around the world). It’s not referring to having a dream at night.
Hello S, and thank you for asking 🙂
We use “de” in Elle rêve de faire le tour du monde à la voile because for dreaming about something while awake, i.e. not having a dream at night, you need to use “de” if it is before a verb in the infinitive form. In this sentence, it is just before the infinitive “faire”.
I hope this helps 🙂