An Easy Guide to Understand French De vs Du

Sometimes when you’re learning a language, the smallest words cause the biggest problems – de vs du French prepositions are a case in point. They are both forms of the preposition de, but they are used differently according to the type of sentence that they are in and the words that follow them.

Using articles and prepositions correctly is among the trickiest aspects of learning a language like French. But getting these little words right will make your language more accurate and ultimately make you sound a lot more natural when speaking or writing in French.

In this article we will introduce du vs de in French, explain the differences between them and identify when to use them. We will provide lots of tips and examples to help you learn how to use them correctly. Allons-y!

De vs du French: Introduction

Let’s start with the basics. As we said before, both de and du are forms of the preposition de. But what does de mean in French, and how are de and du different?

The preposition de

De is a preposition that has many meanings and uses according to context. It is primarily used to indicate possession, origin, and the type or a characteristic of the noun that comes before it. It is usually translated as ‘of’ or ‘from’ in English, depending on the context.

Notice that de is shortened to d’ when it comes before a word that starts with a vowel or a silent ‘h.’ Here are a few examples of the different ways that de can be used.

De indicating possession:

• La voiture de Justine
  (Justine’s car)
  

• Les amis de mon frère
  (My brother’s friends)
  

De indicating origin:

• Je viens de Paris.
  (I come from Paris.)
  

• Il vient d’une petite ville.
  (He comes from a small town.)
  

De indicating type or characteristic:

• Un verre de vin
  (A glass of wine)
  

• Un chien de race
  (A purebred dog)
  

As you can see from the first example, the preposition de is not always translated as another preposition in English. For example, when it indicates possession, it can be translated with the so-called English possessive ‘s’ – in the examples above, this is seen in the phrase ‘Justine’s car’ instead of ‘the car of Justine’ and ‘my brother’s friends’ instead of ‘the friends of my brother.’

When it comes to expressing a type or characteristic, in English it’s often possible to simply place the descriptive word before the noun without using a preposition, like in ‘a purebred dog’ above. In French, however, we must include the preposition de for this phrase.

Du = de + le

In French, unlike English, some prepositions can merge with definite articles to become one word – these are called articulated prepositions. This is the case of du, which corresponds to ‘de + le,’ where le is the definite singular masculine article. This means that du is generally used when the preposition de comes before a singular masculine noun that needs an article.

We use ‘de la’ in the same way before a feminine singular noun, ‘de l’ before a singular noun starting with a vowel or silent ‘h,’ and ‘des’ (de + les) before a plural noun. You can see this in action in the following examples. Note that these examples use word-for-word English translations to make the French grammar clearer, so the translations sound a bit awkward in some cases.

• La maison du voisin (le voisin = masculine singular noun)
  (The house of the neighbor)
  

• Une photo de la plage (la plage = feminine singular noun)
  (A photo of the beach)
  

• Je pars de l’aéroport Charles de Gaulle. (l’aéroport = singular noun beginning with a vowel)
  (I leave from the airport Charles de Gaulle.)
  

• La chambre des enfants (les enfants = plural noun)
  (The room of the children)
  

French du vs de to show possession, origin, type or characteristic

As you can see in the examples above, when indicating possession, origin, or a type or characteristic, the articulated prepositions du, de l’, de la, and des are used instead of the simple de when they are followed by a definite article and noun. Here are a few more examples of this:

• Le livre du professeur
  (The teacher’s book)
  

• Le magasin de la ville
  (The town shop)
  

• Les élèves sortent de l’école.
  (The pupils exit the school.)

But we use de before a proper noun, or if there’s a determiner like a possessive adjective or a demonstrative adjective before the noun. Once again, the examples in the table below include word-for-word English translations to make the French grammar clear.

French de vs du: Partitive articles

In French, the preposition de and its articulated forms – du, de la and de l’ – are also used to indicate an unspecified quantity of something that is uncountable. This can include tangible things like food and drinks or abstract concepts like patience and courage. There is also a plural form, des, which is used before plural nouns.

These forms are called partitive articles. While they don’t have an exact equivalent in English, they correspond broadly to the adjective ‘some.’

With partitive articles, we use du before singular masculine nouns, de la before singular feminine nouns, de l’ before singular nouns that begin with a vowel or silent ‘h,’ and des before plural nouns. Notice how these are used in the following examples:

• Je voudrais de l’eau et du pain. (Eau is singular and begins with a vowel, while pain is masculine singular.)
  (I would like some water and some bread.)
  

• J’ai acheté des asperges et de la viande. (Asperges is plural, and viande is feminine singular.)
  (I bought some asparagus and some meat.)
  

Partitive articles: Negative sentences

The rule is very different when it comes to negative sentences. We use de in negative sentences, regardless of the gender and number of the noun that follows it. This is the equivalent of ‘not … any’ in English:

• Je veux du pain. → Je ne veux pas de pain. (I want bread. → I don’t want any bread.)

• Je veux de l’eau. → Je ne veux pas d’eau. (I want water. → I don’t want any water.)

• J’ai acheté des asperges. → Je n’ai pas acheté d’ asperges. (I bought some spinach. → I didn’t buy any spinach.)

• J’ai acheté de la viande. → Je n’ai pas acheté de viande. (I bought some meat. → I didn’t buy any meat.)

Expressions of quantity

De is used without an article with expressions of quantity like beaucoup (‘a lot of’ or ‘much’ or ‘many’), peu (‘little’ or ‘few’), assez (enough) and trop (‘too much’ or ‘too many’):

• Il n’y a pas assez de pommes pour faire un gâteau.
  (There aren’t enough apples to make a cake.)
  

• Je n’ai pas beaucoup de temps.
  (I don’t have much time.)
  

• Il y a trop de bruit ici, je ne peux pas entendre ce que tu dis.
  (There’s too much noise here. I can’t hear what you’re saying.)
  

Verbs jouer + musical instrument and faire + sport or activity

The partitive articles du, de l’ and de la are also used in two special ways:

1) With the verb jouer when meaning ‘to play an instrument’:

• Je joue du piano.
  (I play the piano.)
  

• Ma sœur joue très bien de la guitare.
  (My sister plays the guitar very well.)
  

2) With the verb faire when meaning ‘to do a sport or an activity’:

• Paul fait du jogging tous les matins.
  Paul goes jogging every morning.
  

• J’aime faire du camping en été.
  I like camping in the summer.
  

Wrapping up

Sometimes it is the small words that contain the secrets to learning a language. Understanding deep structures like French du vs de and how to use them correctly can significantly improve your accuracy and fluency. We hope that our guide has helped you navigate the differences between these two prepositions.

From expressing possession to specifying characteristics and indicating quantities, grasping the differences between de vs du in French is key to expressing many specific ideas. Mastering these will strengthen your communication skills.

Du vs de is just the beginning! As you can guess, there’s no shortage of tricky structures in French that need your attention – Il y a beaucoup de choses encore à apprendre! (There are many more things to learn!)