Week 7 Day 2: The Prepositions “à” and “de” Copy

Frederic

THE PREPOSITIONS “A” AND “DE”

First, we will look at “à”:

Listen to Week 7 Day 2 Track 1

“à” can mean “at”:

Je suis à la maison - I am at home.

Il se lève à 9h - He gets up at 9am.

“à” can mean “in”:

Nous habitons à la campagne - We live in the country

Rester au lit (au = à + le) Stay in bed

“à” can mean “to”:

Je vais au cinéma ce soir - I am going to the cinema tonight

Donne le ballon à ton frère - Give the ball to your brother

“à” is used in some expressions to say “goodbye”:

À bientôt ! - See you soon!

À demain ! - See you tomorrow!

À la prochaine ! - See you next time!

Speaking Practice 1

Now, let’s take a look at “de.”
You may remember that “de” can be used as part of a partitive article and is similar to “some” and “any” in English in its meaning. As a preposition, however, “de” has many other meanings:

Listen to Week 7 Day 2 Track 2

“de” can mean “from”:

Je viens du Vietnam - I am from Vietnam

Une lettre de Thomas - A letter from Thomas

“de” can mean “of” :

Une tasse de café - A cup of coffee

Une porte de bois - A wooden door (a door made of wood)

Please note: when using “de” to mean “of,” it tends to describe the material that something is made of, or refers to what is inside something, e.g., “the coffee inside the cup.”

Speaking Practice 2

Listen to Week 7 Day 2 Track 3

When the two prepositions are used together, “de…. à" (from…to…)

Example: “le trajet de Londres à Paris" (the journey from London to Paris)

The two prepositions can also be used in combinations with verbs or adjectives to form certain expressions. Unfortunately, we cannot cover that in this lesson because there is so much to learn.

Read and listen to the dialogue below:

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Vocabulary: Prepositions “à” and “de”

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Speaking Practice 3

A Quick Recap of this Lesson

“à” can mean “at,” “in,” or “to,” as well as some expressions related to goodbye.
“de” can mean “from” or “of.” When using "de" to mean "of," it tends to describe the material that something is made of, or refers to the stuff inside something.
When the two prepositions are used together, "de....à” means “from ____ to ____”.