French - English Dictionary
/də/
De is a preposition meaning 'of', 'from', or sometimes 'by' or 'with', depending on context. It is one of the most common words in French and expresses possession, origin, composition, and many other relationships.
| # | Type | French | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | preposition | de possessive genitive: belonging to | of |
| 2 | preposition | de with the origin, starting point or initial reference of or at | from |
| 3 | preposition | de with the source or provenance of or at | from |
| 4 | preposition | de containing, comprising or made from | of |
| 5 | preposition | de concerning | about |
| 6 | preposition | de with the separation, exclusion or differentiation of | from |
| 7 | preposition | de indicates creator of a work | by |
| 8 | preposition | de introducing topic or subject matter | of |
| 9 | preposition | de used after certain adjectives to indicate a relationship | to |
| 10 | preposition | de as nourishment | with |
| 11 | preposition | de | from (used to indicate origin) |
| 12 | preposition | de | of (indicates possession, association or relationship) |
| 13 | preposition | de | of (used to indicate cause) |
| 14 | preposition | de | of (indicates an amount) |
| 15 | preposition | de | used attributively, often translated into English as a compound word |
| 16 | preposition | de | from (used to indicate the start of a time or range) |
| 17 | preposition | de | by (an amount) |
| 18 | preposition | de | introduces the indirect object of some verbs; variously translated in English |
| 19 | article | de | Used in the plural with prepositioned adjectives. |
| 20 | article | de | Used in negated sentences with the grammatical object. |
C'est la maison de mon ami.
It's my friend's house.
Je viens de Paris.
I come from Paris.
Un verre de lait.
A glass of milk.
De contracts with the definite articles le and les to form du and des (de + le = du; de + les = des), but remains unchanged before la, l', and vowels. English learners often forget these contractions. De is also used in many fixed phrases and after certain adjectives, where it may not always translate directly to 'of'.
Source of translations: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Audio recordings: Wikimedia Commons. Example sentences and usage notes were prepared with AI assistance.