Question

French Tutorial: Introduction to Prepositions, à et de

Answer 1

apparently I cannot leave a tutorial open without being interrupted.

\({\bf{Prepositions:}}\) as a review, these are words used before a noun/pronoun to indicate some kind of relationship, such as time, location, ownership, etc.

Examples:
à: at/to/in (I will go over this in more detail later, as it can be tricky to know whether to use à, de, or some other preposition)
avec: with
de: of/from/about
en: in/on
pour: for/to/in order to
sans: without

Je reste à la maison pour ma santé. (I am staying home for my health)
Je bois du café avec mon petit déjeuner. (I drink coffee with my breakfast.) note that du is a preposition formed from the contraction of de + le which we will cover later.
Il est en classe. (He is in class)
Je veux poster des tutoriels sans être interrompu. (I want to post tutorials without being interrupted)

Answer 2

\({\bf{à:}}\) can be used...

- to indicate location

examples:
Nous voulons vivre à Paris. (We want to live in Paris)
Pouvez-vous aller à l'épicerie? (Can you go to the grocery store?)

- for indirect objects (generally, nouns or pronouns that are on the receiving end of an action but are not the direct object)

examples:
Il a donné le cadeau à James. (He gave the present to James)
Nous avons montré l'ordonnance au pharmacien. (We showed the prescription to the pharmacist)

- as part of verb constructions

some verbs require you to use à after the verb for an indirect noun object

examples:
demander à (to ask for)
parler à (to speak to)
donner à (to give to)

Je vais demander à papa. (I will ask Dad.)
À qui est-ce que je parle? (To whom am I speaking to?)
J'aimerais donner un os au chien. (I would like to give the dog a bone)

Answer 3

\({\bf{de:}}\) can be used...

(note: change to d' before a vowel/h muet)

- to indicate where someone/something comes from

examples:
Je viens d'Atlanta (I am from Atlanta/I come from Atlant)

- to show posession/ownership
Nous avons la blouse de laboratoire du scientifique (We found the scientist's lab coat)
note: la blouse de laboratoire uses a descriptive phrase, which is also covered here

- with parler (to speak)
Nous parlons du problème. (We are talking about the problem)

- in descriptive phrases
le livre d'histoire (the history book)

important note: do not say le histoire livre (in this example, histoire is not being treated as an adjective, it's a noun, so it doesn't make sense to put it before book)

le professeur de mathématiques (the math professor)

Answer 4

\({\bf{Contractions~with~à/de:}}\) before le/les, the spelling of à/de changes (this is mostly to help with pronunciation)

à + la --> à la (no spelling change)
à la fête

à + l' --> à l' (no spelling change)
à l'étoile

à + le --> au
au parc

à + les --> aux
aux étoiles

de + la --> de la (no spelling change)
de la communauté

de + l' --> (no spelling change)
de l'histoire

de + le --> du
du médecin

de + les --> des
des médecins

Answer 5

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 113-117.

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers

Answer 6

As a side note, I had to post this tutorial three times because people wouldn't stop interrupting it.

Can parents start teaching their children that their opinions/input are not always wanted and not everyone has to pay attention to them? Thanks.