A1 · Prepositions
Prepositions à and de
Two words that fuse, where English never fuses anything.
At a glance
- Remember
- «to the» is one word here, and only one word.
- Form
- au cinémato the cinema
- Signal words
- au
- aux
- du
- des
- à la
- Trap
- Wrong:Nous allons à le marché.Right:Nous allons au marché.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| to the cinema | au cinéma |
| to the children | aux enfants |
| to the station | à la gare |
| from the village | du village |
| of the neighbours | des voisins |
| from the school | de l’école |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
à + le becomes au, à + les becomes aux.
Nous allons au marché.We are going to the market.
de + le becomes du, de + les becomes des.
Il revient du bureau.He is coming back from the office.
Before la and l’ nothing fuses.
Je vais à la boulangerie.I am going to the baker’s.
Possession always uses de.
C’est la voiture de mon frère.That is my brother’s car.
Example sentences
Le train part de la gare de Lyon à midi.The train leaves the Gare de Lyon at midday.
Elle parle aux étudiants de son voyage.She is telling the students about her trip.
C’est la clé du garage.This is the key to the garage.
Je viens de l’aéroport.I have come from the airport.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The fusion is compulsory, not a convenience. à le and de le exist in no sentence and no register. English gives no warning because nothing in English ever fuses: «to the market» is two words in speech and in writing, so there is no instinct saying that anything ought to be joined here. The rule has to be applied by hand until it stops needing to be.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
à names the destination, the place and the time: je vais à Lyon, à la maison, à huit heures. de names the origin and the owner: je viens de Lyon, la voiture de mon père.
Before le and les both fuse: à + le = au, à + les = aux, de + le = du, de + les = des. Before la and l' nothing changes.
English has nothing of the sort. «To» plus «the» is «to the», always, in every register — the language has no fused preposition-plus-article forms and never had a reason to build any. So au and du are not shortenings you may use if you like: they are the only forms there are, and à le and de le do not exist anywhere in the language.
Possession always uses de. There is no apostrophe s: le livre de Marie, «Marie's book», with the order reversed and a preposition where English has a suffix.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: être · aller · venir · parler · revenir