De

French preposition

De is a very important and versatile preposition with many different meanings and uses in French. As a preposition, it can express or indicate all of the following:

I.	Possession or belonging (learn more)
	le livre de Paul la bibliothèque de l'université	Paul's book the university library
II.	Starting point or origin (learn more)
	partir de Nice Je suis de Bruxelles	to leave from (out of) Nice I'm from Brussels
III.	Contents / description of something
	une tasse de thé un roman d'amour	cup of tea love story (story of/about love)
IV.	Defining feature
	le marché de gros une salle de classe le jus d'orange	wholesale market classroom orange juice
V.	Cause
	mourir de faim fatigué du voyage	to die of / from hunger tired from the trip
VI.	Means / manner of doing something
	écrire de la main gauche   répéter de mémoire	to write with one's left hand to recite from memory

 

When followed by the definite articles le and les, de contracts with them into a single word:

			For example
de + le	=	du	du salon
de + les	=	des	des villes
But...
de + la	de la		de la femme
de + l'	de l'		de l'homme

De does not contract with le and les when they are direct objects.

  

Verbs with de   Expressions with de    à vs de De vs Du, De la, Des More prepositions     French grammar

  

The free, twice-weekly About French Language newsletter keeps you informed about changes to this site, including new lessons, articles, and forum discussions. Subscribe today! Subscribe to the Newsletter Name Email