Languages › French How to Use the French Preposition 'de': Print Panorama of Menton at night. Henryk Sadura / Getty Images French Grammar Pronunciation & Conversation Vocabulary Resources For Teachers By ThoughtCo Team Updated on February 21, 2020 De is an essential and versatile preposition that allows you to say "of" in French, "some," or simply an unspecified quantity. But that's not all; de has many different meanings and uses in French. As a preposition, it lets you construct a number of noun and verb phrases. The French preposition de is required after certain verbs and phrases when they are followed by an infinitive. And de is required after many French verbs and phrases that need an indirect object, Keep in mind that de plus a noun can be replaced by the adverbial pronoun en. For example, J'en ai besoin. > I need it. Common Uses of 'de' 1. Possession or belonging le livre de Paul > Paul's book la bibliothèque de l'université > the university library 2. Starting point or origin partir de Nice > to leave from Nice Je suis de Bruxelles. > I'm from Brussels. 3. Contents / description of something une tasse de thé > cup of tea un roman d'amour > love story (story of/about love) 4. Defining feature le marché de gros > wholesale market une salle de classe > classroom le jus d'orange > orange juice 5. Cause fatigué du voyage > tired from the trip 6. Means/manner of doing something écrire de la main gauche > to write with one's left hand répéter de mémoire > to recite from memory When followed by the definite articles le and les, de contracts with them into a single word. But de does not contract with la or l'. In addition, de does not contract with le and les when they are direct objects For example, de + le = du du salon de + les = des des villes de + la = de la de la femme de + l' = de l' de l'homme 7. After Certain Verbs, Phrases Followed by an Infinitive The French preposition de is required after certain verbs and phrases when they are followed by an infinitive. Note that the English translation may take an infinitive (to agree to do something) or a gerund (to be afraid of flying). accepter de > to accept, agree to achever de > to finish ___-ing accuser (quelqu'un) de > tto accuse (someone) of s'agir de > to be a question of ___-ing (s')arrêter de > to stop ___-ing avertir (qqun) de (ne pas) > to warn (someone) (not) to avoir peur de > to be afraid of ___-ing blâmer (qqun) de > to blame (someone) for ___-ing cesser de > to stop, cease ___-ing choisir de > to choose to commander (à qqun) de > to order (someone) to conseiller de > to advise to se contenter de > to be happy ___-ing continuer de > to continue ___-ing convenir de > to agree to craindre de > to fear ___-ing décider de > to decide to défendre (à quelqu'un) de > to forbid (someone) to do (something) demander (à quelqu'un) de > to ask (someone) to do something se dépêcher de > to hurry to déranger quelqu'un de > to bother someone to dire (à quelqu'un) de > to tell (someone) to do something s'efforcer de > to endeavor to empêcher de > to prevent, keep from ___-ing s'empresser de > to hurry to ennuyer quelqu'un de > to bother/upset someone to essayer de > to try to s'excuser de > to apologize for ___-ing féliciter de > to congratulate for ___-ing finir de > to finish ___-ing gronder de > to scold for ___-ing se hâter de > to hurry to manquer de > to neglect, fail to mériter de > to deserve to offrir de > to offer to oublier de > to forget to (se) permettre de > to allow (oneself) to persuader de > to persuade to prendre garde de > to be careful not to prendre le parti de > to decide to se presser de > to hurry to prier de > to beg to promettre de > to promise to proposer de > to suggest ___-ing refuser de > to refuse to regretter de > to regret ___-ing remercier de > to thank for ___-ing rêver de > to dream of ___-ing risquer de > to risk ___-ing se soucier de > to care about ___-ing se souvenir de > to remember ___-ing supplier de > to be / beseech tâcher de > to try to venir de (faire quelque chose) > to have just (done something) 8. After Verbs, Phrases That Need an Indirect Object The French preposition de is required after many French verbs and phrases that need an indirect object, but there is often a completely different preposition in English or none at all. s'agir de > to be a question of s'approcher de > to approach s'apercevoir de > to notice arriver de (Paris, Canada) > to arrive from (Paris, Canada) avoir besoin de > to need avoir envie de > to want changer de (train) > to change (trains) dépendre de > to depend on douter de > to doubt s'emparer de > to grab s'étonner de > to be amazed by féliciter de > to congratulate hériter de > to inherit jouer de > to play (an instrument) jouir de > to enjoy manquer de > to lack se méfier de > to distrust, beware of se moquer de > to make fun of s'occuper de > to be busy with partir de > to leave se passer de > to do without penser de > to have an opinion about se plaindre de > to complain about profiter de > to make the most of punir de > to punish for recompenser de > to reward for remercier de > to thank se rendre compte de > to realize rire de > to laugh at servir de > to put to use as se servir de > to use se soucier de > to care about se souvenir de > to remember tenir de > to take after, resemble se tromper de > to mistake vivre de > to live on Additional Resource Verbs with de plus a verb Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Use the French Preposition 'de':." ThoughtCo, Jun. 26, 2024, thoughtco.com/de-french-preposition-1368915. Team, ThoughtCo. (2024, June 26). How to Use the French Preposition 'de':. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/de-french-preposition-1368915 Team, ThoughtCo. "How to Use the French Preposition 'de':." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/de-french-preposition-1368915 (accessed September 5, 2024). copy citation We Care About Your PrivacyWe and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.We and our partners process data to provide:Store and/or access information on a device. 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