{"id":24409,"date":"2016-08-29T22:39:25","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T20:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=24409"},"modified":"2018-02-28T11:02:37","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T10:02:37","slug":"french-compound-prepositions-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-compound-prepositions-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"French Compound Prepositions: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week<\/a>, we went over some common compound prepositions in French that situate people or objects in relation to one another (particularly in regard to place\/location). This week, let’s\u00a0focus on compound prepositions that create a different link between nouns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As described last week, some prepositions directly situate one object compared to the location of another object. For example,\u00a0ce magasin est au coin de<\/strong> la rue.\u00a0<\/em>(That store is on the corner of the street.) Some compound prepositions, however, link two nouns in more abstract ways. For example, ils ont perdu beaucoup d’argent \u00e0 cause de<\/strong> ce jeu<\/em>. (They lost a lot of money because of<\/strong> that game.) Notice how\u00a0\u00e0 cause de\u00a0<\/em>links the two nouns in the sentence (argent<\/em>, or money, and\u00a0jeu<\/em>, or (the) game). This link is not based on relative location, but rather on consequence (If they had not played the game, they would not have lost money). (Note that a noun must always follow prepositions like this; this is how you would distinguish the use of\u00a0\u00e0 cause de<\/em>, meaning “because of\/due to,” with\u00a0parce que<\/em>, which means “because.”)<\/p>\n

Here are some more compound prepositions, which situate objects in more abstract ways:<\/p>\n

\u00e0 force de \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/em>by force of<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00e0 l\u2019insu de \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>unbeknownst to<\/span><\/p>\n

au moment de \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>at the moment of (temporal)<\/span><\/p>\n

au sujet de\u00a0<\/span><\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0 on the subject of; about<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e0 propos de \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>on the subject of; about<\/span><\/p>\n

en d\u00e9pit de \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0in spite of<\/span><\/p>\n

en faveur de \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>in favor of<\/p>\n

gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>thanks to<\/p>\n

quant \u00e0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>as for<\/span><\/p>\n

tandis que<\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0 even though<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let’s look at some examples now:<\/p>\n

Nous avons rat\u00e9 la f\u00eate \u00e0 cause du<\/strong> mauvais temps<\/em><\/p>\n

We missed the party because of bad weather. (Notice how\u00a0de\u00a0<\/em>turns to\u00a0du\u00a0<\/em>in front of the masculine noun\u00a0temps<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

C’est gr\u00e2ce \u00e0<\/strong> elle que j’ai appris le fran\u00e7ais.<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s thanks to her that I learned French.<\/p>\n

Quant \u00e0<\/strong> Joseph, il est heureux de rentrer chez lui.<\/em><\/p>\n

As for Joseph, he is happy to return to his house.<\/p>\n

As you can see above, pronouns and proper nouns do not change the prepositions that come before them.<\/p>\n

Can you think of any more common compound prepositions and use them in a sentence? Leave your sentences in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, we went over some common compound prepositions in French that situate people or objects in relation to one another (particularly in regard to place\/location). This week, let’s\u00a0focus on compound prepositions that create a different link between nouns.   As described last week, some prepositions directly situate one object compared to the location of…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[408472,125],"class_list":["post-24409","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-compound-prepositions","tag-prepositions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t