{"id":26719,"date":"2017-05-22T20:51:24","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T18:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=26719"},"modified":"2017-11-06T14:36:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T13:36:54","slug":"back-to-the-basics-french-definite-articles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/back-to-the-basics-french-definite-articles\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Basics: French Definite Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week<\/a>, we went over the basics of French articles. This week, we are going to dive more into French definite articles and the ways in which they can change when they are combined with prepositions such as\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0de<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In French, the preposition\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0<\/em>means “to” and the preposition\u00a0de\u00a0<\/em>means “from.” When they are combined with definite articles, they contract, or connect together to form a new word. Let’s take a look at how this happens.<\/p>\n

\u00e0 + le\u00a0<\/em>becomes\u00a0au<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e0<\/em> + les<\/em> becomes\u00a0aux<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to say:\u00a0Elle veut aller \u00e0 [le cin\u00e9ma]\u00a0<\/em>(She wants to go to the movies), you would need to combine\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0le\u00a0<\/em>to form\u00a0au.\u00a0<\/em>The grammatically correct sentence then becomes:\u00a0Elle veut aller au cin\u00e9ma.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to say:\u00a0Il veut aller \u00e0 [les Jeux Olympiques].\u00a0<\/em>(He wants to go to the Olympic Games), you would need to combine\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0les\u00a0<\/em>to form\u00a0aux. <\/em>The grammatically correct sentence then becomes:\u00a0Il veut aller aux Jeux Olympiques.<\/em><\/p>\n

de + le\u00a0<\/em>becomes\u00a0du<\/em><\/p>\n

de + les\u00a0<\/em>becomes\u00a0des<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to say:\u00a0Elle vient de [le quinzi\u00e8me arrondissement].\u00a0<\/em>(She comes from the 15th arrondissement), you would need to combine\u00a0de\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0le\u00a0<\/em>to form\u00a0du.\u00a0<\/em>The grammatically correct sentence then becomes:\u00a0Elle vient du quinzi\u00e8me arrondissement.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to say:\u00a0Il vient de [les \u00eeles Seychelles].\u00a0<\/em>(He comes from the Seychelle Islands), you would need to combine\u00a0de\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0les\u00a0<\/em>to form\u00a0des.\u00a0<\/em>The grammatically correct sentence then becomes:\u00a0Il vient des \u00eeles Seychelles.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have a feminine singular definite articles, however, it does NOT contract with\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0de.\u00a0<\/em>Thus,\u00a0\u00e0 + la\u00a0<\/em>just becomes\u00a0\u00e0 la\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0de + la\u00a0<\/em>just becomes\u00a0de la.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For example:\u00a0Elle veut aller \u00e0 [la boulangerie].\u00a0<\/em>(She wants to go to the bakery.) Because\u00a0\u00e0 + la\u00a0<\/em>combines together and does not contract, the grammatically correct sentence is:\u00a0Elle veut aller \u00e0 la boulangerie.<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, if a singular noun begins with a vowel, then you just use\u00a0\u00e0 l’\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0de l’\u00a0<\/em>regardless of whether or not the noun is masculine or feminine. Et voil\u00e0!\u00a0<\/em>That’s how you contract French definite articles with prepositions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Last week, we went over the basics of French articles. This week, we are going to dive more into French definite articles and the ways in which they can change when they are combined with prepositions such as\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0and\u00a0de.   In French, the preposition\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0means “to” and the preposition\u00a0de\u00a0means “from.” When they are combined with definite articles…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":26742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3605,408503,293,346,385],"class_list":["post-26719","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-definite-articles","tag-free-french-lesson","tag-french-articles","tag-french-grammar","tag-french-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