French prepositions and articles
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The preposition de can be very difficult for French students, even at advanced levels. Knowing whether to use du, de la, or des rather than just de can be a real challenge! This lesson is a detailed explanation of when to use the preposition de all by itself and when to use the indefinite article, partitive article, or de + definite article (which looks like the partitive – but isn’t. Ugh!)
There are four types of constructions that lead to the de vs du, de la, des confusion. Click these links for lessons with plenty of examples:
- Partitive and indefinite articles
Je veux du pain.
vs
Je ne veux pas de pain.
- Quantities, adjectives, and prepositional phrases
J’ai regardé beaucoup de films.
vs
Beaucoup des films que j’ai regardés …
- Descriptive de vs possessive de
le livre d’étudiant
vs
le livre de l’étudiant
- Verbs and expressions followed by de
J’ai besoin d’argent.
vs
J’ai besoin de l’argent que tu me dois.
Quiz: De vs du, de la, des |
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