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Level 27 - De / Du / De La / De L' / Des
De or d' before a vowel or silent h means 'of' or 'from' and is extremely common in French. Whereas in English we indicate possession with an apostrophe and the letter 's' (e.g. Paul's car') in French we use de.
le maire de la ville
la voiture de Paul
le train arrive de Paris |
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the mayor of the town
Paul's car
the train arrives from Paris |
When de is followed by la or l' there is no problem - we simply say de la and de l'. But when the word de needs to be followed by le and les (plural), de + le becomes du and de + les becomes des.
Here are some more examples.
du bureau
des bureaux
de l'hôtel
des hôtels
de la maison
des maisons
de l'école
des écoles
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of the office / from the offices
of the offices / from the offices
of the hotel / from the hotel
of the hotels / from the hotels
of the house / from the house
of the houses / from the houses
of the school / from the school
of the schools / from the schools |
Phrases containing de
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d'abord
d'accord
d'avance
de bonne heure
de bonne humeur
de l'autre coté
de la part de qui?
de mauvaise humeur
de rien
de temps en temps
d'habitude
du moins
d'une grande valeur
à partir de
au sujet de
autour de
en dehors de
en face de
en provenance de
en train de
hors de
loin de
près de |
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at first
OK
in advance
early
in a good mood
on the other side
who's calling? (on the telephone)
in a bad mood
you're welcome (rien = nothing)
from time to time
usually
at least
of great value
from, starting from
about
around
outside of
opposite
coming from
in the process of
outside of
far from
near to |
Some (partitive articles)
In Level 2 we learnt that 'some' in French is des. But what about when we mean 'some' without it being plural, for example 'some water' or 'some bread'? If we are talking about an amount of a substance or idea which is not plural we are talking about mass nouns. Water, bread, petrol, gold, anger and time are all examples of mass nouns. But none of them is plural so des cannot be used. Instead we use du, de la or de l'. So in French, 'of the' and 'some' are the same. Here are some examples.
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du temps
du pain
du feu
de la crème
de la valeur
de la fumée
de l'espace
de l'eau
de l'huile
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some time
some bread
some fire
some cream
some value
some smoke
some space
some water
some oil |
Some learners find it difficult to know which word for 'some' they should choose. First, ask yourself if you can count a number of the objects. If you can count them, some is des as in des ordinateurs ('some computers'). You can't count fire, smoke or water which is why they need du, de la and de l' respectively.
Test yourself!
Translate from French into English, then from English into French. Highlight the right-hand column to reveal the answers.
1 |
le stylo du garcon |
= the boy's pen |
2 |
le stylo de la fille |
= the girl's pen |
3 |
le stylo de l'élève |
= the pupil's pen |
4 |
le stylo des enfants |
= the children's pen |
5 |
le train arrive de Paris |
= the train arrives from Paris |
6 |
la porte de l'hôtel |
= the door of the hotel |
7 |
la fenêtre de la salle de classe |
= the window of the classroom |
8 |
les maisons du village |
= the houses of the village |
9 |
je mange du pain |
= I eat some bread |
10 |
je vend de l'huile |
= I sell some oil |
11 |
j'achète de la crème |
= I buy some cream |
12 |
il y a des ordinateurs |
= there are some computers |
13 |
elle danse autour de la place |
= she dances around the square |
14 |
le bar est en face du café |
= the bar is opposite the café |
15 |
tu es en train de travailler? |
= are you (in the process) of working? |
16 |
the boy's box |
= la boîte du garçon |
17 |
the girl's pencil |
= le crayon de la fille |
18 |
the teacher's computer |
= l'ordinateur du professeur |
19 |
she arrives from the office |
= elle arrive du bureau |
20 |
I wake up early |
= je me réveille de bonne heure |
21 |
are you (sg.) in a good mood? |
= (est-ce que) tu es / es-tu de bonne humeur? |
22 |
I sing from time to time |
= je chante de temps en temps |
23 |
usually I buy some water |
= d'habitude j'achète de l'eau |
24 |
the school is far from my house |
= l'école est loin de ma maison |
25 |
the park is near to the shops |
= le parc est près des magasins |
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