French - German Dictionary
/də/
De is a French preposition with multiple uses in German, most commonly translated as von (of, from), aus (from, made of), or über (about). It expresses possession, origin, composition, and topic.
| # | Type | French | German |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | preposition | de possessive genitive: belonging to | von |
| 2 | preposition | de with the origin, starting point or initial reference of or at | von |
| 3 | preposition | de with the source or provenance of or at | von |
| 4 | preposition | de with the source or provenance of or at | aus |
| 5 | preposition | de containing, comprising or made from | aus |
| 6 | preposition | de concerning | über |
| 7 | preposition | de with the separation, exclusion or differentiation of | vor |
| 8 | preposition | de introducing topic or subject matter | über |
| 9 | preposition | de used after certain adjectives to indicate a relationship | zu |
| 10 | preposition | de connecting numeral or quantifier with quantified | der |
| 11 | preposition | de as nourishment | mit |
C'est le livre de Marie.
Es ist Maries Buch. (von = possessive)
Il vient de Paris.
Er kommt aus Paris. (aus = origin)
Nous parlons de politique.
Wir sprechen über Politik. (über = topic)
De is one of the most frequent French prepositions and rarely stands alone; it often combines with articles (du, de la, des). English speakers should note that de + article does not always mean 'of the'—du pain means 'bread' (some bread), not 'of the bread'. Context and the specific sense determine whether von, aus, or über best fits.
Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Audio: Wikimedia Commons