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Why French buys, borrows and steals 'à' someone

In English you buy something from someone, borrow it from a friend and steal it from a victim. French uses à for all of these. With verbs such as acheter, emprunter, voler and prendre, the person who loses the item, or the source it comes from, is introduced by à, not de.

This trips English speakers up in two ways. When speaking, they reach for de because it looks like from. When listening, they hear à, think to, and get the direction of the exchange backwards. Once you see the logic, it becomes one of the most regular patterns in French.

Word list
acheterA1 to buy acheter qqch à qqn = buy from (or for) sb prendreA2 to take prendre qqch à qqn = take sth from sb volerA2 to steal voler qqch à qqn = steal sth from sb enleverB1 to take off enlever ses bottes à qqn = take sb's boots off louerB1 to rent louer qqch à qqn = rent from (or rent out to) sb piquerB1 to steal piquer qqch à qqn = nick sth from sb retirerB1 to take off retirer son manteau à qqn = take sb's coat off volerB1 to rob voler son sac à qqn = rob sb of their bag déroberB2 to steal dérober qqch à qqn = steal sth from sb emprunterB2 to borrow emprunter qqch à qqn = borrow sth from sb enleverB2 to kidnap enlever un enfant à ses parents = take a child from its parents ôterB2 to take off lui ôter ses chaussures = take his shoes off
How it works

The construction is always the same: verb + thing + à + person. The thing is the direct object, and the person who gives it up is the indirect object. Think of à as marking the person the transaction concerns, the one on the other side of the exchange. Whether the item moves towards them or away from them depends on the verb.

J'ai acheté ce vélo à ma voisine.
(I bought this bicycle from my neighbour.)

Because the person is an indirect object, a pronoun replaces them with lui, leur, me, te, nous or vous, placed before the verb. Never use de lui here.

Je lui ai emprunté un livre.
(I borrowed a book from him.)
The words
Stealing

Voler is the everyday verb, piquer is its familiar, spoken equivalent, and dérober is more formal or literary. All three take à for the victim.

Il a volé le sac à la dame.
(He stole the bag from the lady.)
Quelqu'un m'a piqué mon parapluie !
(Someone nicked my umbrella!)
On lui a dérobé son portefeuille dans le métro.
(His wallet was stolen from him on the underground.)
Taking

Prendre works the same way when it means taking something away from someone.

Mon frère m'a pris mes clés.
(My brother took my keys from me.)
Buying, borrowing and renting

Besides acheter, you have emprunter and louer (rent).

J'ai emprunté un stylo à Marie.
(I borrowed a pen from Marie.)
Nous louons cet appartement à un couple de retraités.
(We rent this flat from a retired couple.)
Taking someone away

Enlever in the sense of kidnapping uses à for the people the victim is taken from.

Les ravisseurs ont enlevé l'enfant à ses parents.
(The kidnappers took the child from his parents.)
Taking clothes off someone

When you remove a garment from another person, enlever, retirer and ôter use à for that person. For your own clothes, just use a possessive: j'enlève mon manteau.

Elle a enlevé ses bottes à sa fille.
(She took her daughter's boots off.)
Tu peux lui ôter ses chaussures ?
(Can you take his shoes off?)
Watch out

With acheter, à can also mean for, because buying someone a present uses the same structure. Out of context, the following sentence is ambiguous.

J'ai acheté des fleurs à ma mère.
(I bought flowers from my mother. / I bought my mother flowers.)

Context usually settles it, since your mother is rarely a florist. If you want to be clear about a gift, use pour.

J'ai acheté des fleurs pour ma mère.
(I bought flowers for my mother.)

Louer has the same double meaning: louer à quelqu'un is either renting from them or renting out to them. And do not be misled by verbs of giving: with vendre or prêter, the à really does mean to, because the item moves towards the person.

Je vends mon vélo à mon voisin.
(I'm selling my bike to my neighbour.)

The typical mistake is j'ai emprunté un livre de Paul. That sounds like a book written by Paul. Say j'ai emprunté un livre à Paul. The classic verb arracher (to snatch) follows the same pattern too.

Summary

When you buy, borrow, rent, take or steal something from someone in French, the person goes after à, not de: voler quelque chose à quelqu'un, emprunter quelque chose à quelqu'un. As a pronoun, that person becomes lui, leur, me and so on. With acheter and louer, let the context tell you whether à means from or for.