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The prepositions DU and DE
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We use DE and DU, to know when we can use them, we ask the question : what is the noun that follows ?
The preposition DE is used in the following cases :
Proper noun
Examples :
L’ordinateur de Maxime. → Maxime’s computer.
La voiture de Gilbert. → Gilbert’s car.
We do not put an article in front of the names of anyone → L’ordinateur de le Maxime.
A Feminine-singular noun that starts with a consonant
If the name is feminine-singular and begins with a consonant, DE becomes DE LA.
Examples :
La maison de la femme. → La maison de femme. → The house of the woman.
Le toit de la maison. → Le toit de maison. →The roof of the house.
When the designated thing is a generality and it begins with a consonant
Examples :
Le professeur de géographie. → Le professeur de la géographie. → The geography teacher.
biologie and géographie are global things, seen as a whole.
Une leçon de vie. → Une leçon de la vie. → A life lesson.
Life in general, seen as a whole.
The preposition DU is used in the following cases :
Note : DU can also be a partitive article. Example: Je veux du lait. → I want some milk. We do not talk about it in this article! |
A singular masculine noun that begins with a consonant
DU = DE + LE
Examples :
L’ordinateur du garçon. → L’ordinateur de le garçon. → The boy’s computer.
Je reviens du café. → Je reviens de le café. → I’m coming back from the bar.
Here café means the place where you drink coffee.
A Singular, masculine or feminine noun that begins with a vowel
We use DE L’
Examples :
Le sac de l’étudiant. → The bag of the student.
Le sac de l’étudiante. → The bag of the student.
When the designated thing is a generality and it begins with a vowel
We use D’
Examples :
Le professeur d’orthographe. → The spelling teacher.
This is the spelling in general.
Le professeur d’informatique. → The computer teacher.
It’s computer science in general.
A Masculine or feminine plural noun
We use DES
Examples :
L’ordinateur des garçons. → The boys computer.
Les oreilles des éléphants. → The ears of elephants.
Exercices
1 – La maison………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Catherine.
Catherine’s house.
2 – Le professeur……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………biologie.
The professor of biology.
3 – Les oreilles…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….chien.
The dog’s ears.
4 – Ce midi à la cantine, il y avait……………………………………………………………………………….poisson au menu.
This lunch in the canteen, there was fish on the menu.
5 – Ce joueur a marqué un très beau but……………………………………………………………………………………….tête.
This player scored a beautiful goal of the head.
6 – Quand tu auras fini la vaisselle, tu pourras faire……………………………………………………………………..vélo.
When you finish the dishes, you can ride a bike.
7 – Cette année nous avons eu une belle récolte…………………………………………………………………………….blé.
This year we had a nice harvest of wheat.
8 – Les gens viennent de loin pour participer à la fête………………………………………………………..………village.
People come from far away to participate in the village festival.
9 – Il y a……………………………………………………………………………………………lait dans la recette pour le gâteau.
There is milk in the recipe for the cake.
10 – Les sièges…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….voiture.
The seats of the car.
Answers
1 – de
2 – de
3 – du
4 – du
5 – de la
6 – du
7 – de
8 – du
9 – du
10 – de la
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Thomas Ricomard