Hello everyone! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 143, numéro 143!
Today, we’re talking grammar! And more specifically: contractions between prepositions and articles.
A few weeks ago, students in my online program completed the 28-Day Grammar Challenge where they had to create sentences every single day for 28 days in French, and I was correcting them. So that was quite intensive!
Now one common issue I noticed a lot was with the use of contractions between articles and prepositions, or rather lack thereof. I’ll explain what these contractions are in a minute, but stick with me because this episode is very, very important.
So, first of all, what are contractions?
A contraction is when two words are combined into one shorter word.
Now, in French, they are different types of contractions, with different types of words, but today we’ll focus on the most important and common ones: the contractions between the prépositions “à” and “de” and the definite articles (le, la, l’, les).
Before we go any further, let me give a recap of what the prepositions ‘à’ and ‘de’ mean:
- "à" (with an accent, please side note, also something I noticed a lot, accents are not optional!) translates to "to," "at," or "in," depending on the context.
- "de" can mean "of," "from," or "about," with the exact translation also being context-dependent.
Alright, now when these 2 little prepositions, à and de, are next to a definite article, they contract into one word!
Another quick recap: definite articles, which translate as “the” in English, are ‘le’ for masculine singular nouns, ‘la’ for feminine singular nouns, ‘les’ for plural nouns, and ‘l’ for nouns starting with a vowel. You can find out more about this in episode XXX.
Let’s first look at how the preposition ‘à’ contracts.
- "à" + "le" = "au" (When the preposition à comes in contact with le, the two words becomes “au.”
- Example: Je vais au cinéma. (I am going to the cinema.) → Cinema is a masculine noun, so the definite article is “le” . To translate “to” as, in going to the cinema, you have to use the préposition “à.” À + LE BECOMES AU, so we have “Je vais au cinema
- Example: Il est au restaurant. (He is at the restaurant.) You can’t say…
- "à" + "les" = "aux" (When the preposition à comes in contact with les, the two words becomes “aux.”
- Example: Nous allons aux États-Unis. (We are going to the United States.) You can’t say…
- Example: Ils vont aux toilettes. (They are going to the toilets.)
- Now, when the preposition à comes in contact with the other definite articles, la or l’, they do not contract!
- Example: Je suis à la maison. (I am at home.)
- Example: Nous allons à l'école. (We are going to school.)
Alright, so that’s it for the contractions with the prepositions à and the definite articles.
Now, let’s see how the preposition "de" combines with definite articles:
- "de" + "le" = "du" (When the preposition de comes in contact with le, the two words become “du.”
- Example: Elle vient du marché. (She comes from the market.) You can’t say…
- Example 2: Le chat du voisin est très calme. (The neighbor's cat is very calm.)
- "de" + "les" = "des" (When the preposition “de” comes in contact with “des”, the two words become “des”
- Example: Ils parlent des livres. (They are talking about the books.) You can’t say…
- Example: Nous venons des États-Unis. (We come from the United States.)
- Now, when the preposition de comes in contact with the other definite articles, la or l’, they do not contract!
- Example 1: Nous profitons de la vue. (We enjoy the view.)
- Example 2: Il vient de l’étranger. (He comes from abroad.)
Now, let me add an important note here, these contractions that we’ve just seen, they are NOT optional! Please remember that. You do not have the option to do it or not do it. These contractions are mandatory. You don’t have a choice!
Alright, now let’s do a recap’
When the preposition à comes in contact with…
- "à" + "le" becomes "au".
- "à" + "les" changes to "aux".
- "à" does not contract with "la" or "l’".
And when the preposition de comes in contact with…
- "de" + "le" becomes "du".
- "de" + "les" turns into "des".
- "de" does not contract with "la" or "l’
And that wraps up today’s episode! This should hopefully help clarify how to correctly use those contractions in French. Now please make sure you’re downloading the free exercises for this episode, so you can practice what you’ve just learned. Super important. I’ll chat with you next week! Bye.
