Read French · Lesson 6 · Relationships and references
Decode à, de, and their combinations
Read relationships, quantities, and contractions in context.
Prerequisite: the earlier lessons in this course, especially sentence structure and common present forms. Use the previous link if these are unfamiliar.
You can answer in English. Keep the translation closed for your first attempt. Dictionary use is compatible with independent reading; a successful exercise is not a fluency certificate.
Read before the explanation
Read for the main meaning first. Then consider this question: Are the apples more expensive than last week? Does assister à mean Nora will help somebody?
First reading · Original course text · about 71 words
Au marché
Nora va au marché avant la rencontre. Elle achète du pain et des pommes. Le prix des pommes est plus bas que la semaine dernière. Elle prend aussi un peu de café pour les invités. À la sortie du marché, elle parle aux voisins de la nouvelle librairie. Le magasin a moins de place que la bibliothèque, mais il reçoit beaucoup de visiteurs. Nora doit assister à une réunion à midi.
Vocabulary for this passage
le marché
the market
du pain
some bread
un invité
a guest
la sortie
the exit
plus bas
lower
assister à
to attend
English reading, after your attempt
Nora goes to the market before the meeting. She buys bread and apples. The price of the apples is lower than last week. She also gets a little coffee for the guests. At the market exit, she talks to the neighbours about the new bookshop. The shop has less space than the library, but it receives many visitors. Nora has to attend a meeting at noon.
One contextual rendering, not a word-for-word substitution rule. Try another reading with this reveal closed.
Expand contractions
À + le becomes au; à + les becomes aux. De + le becomes du; de + les becomes des. There is no contraction in à la, de la, or de l’. Au café means at or to the café according to the verb. The relation matters more than choosing one English preposition for every occurrence.
Find the relationship before choosing an English word
A preposition is a short word that links a noun group to another part of the sentence. Its relationship can concern place, time, topic, or a participant. In this fictional scene, Luc travaille au théâtre, travaille means works and le théâtre means the theatre. Au combines à with le. Here it locates Luc's work. In Luc va au théâtre, va means goes, so the same au théâtre gives a destination. The verb supplies a difference that the contraction alone cannot express.
The written combinations are compulsory in these ordinary noun groups. À plus le gives au, and à plus les gives aux. De plus le gives du, and de plus les gives des. Do not expand them into separate words when quoting an actual French sentence. Expansion is a reading explanation, not an alternative spelling. À la mairie, at or to the town hall, keeps la separate. À l'école, at or to school, keeps the shortened article l' rather than using au.
Contraction does not determine the relationship
French wording
Reading consequence
Luc travaille au théâtre.
Work location.
Luc va au théâtre.
Destination.
Luc revient du théâtre.
Starting place of return.
Le directeur du théâtre arrive.
Institution linked to its director.
The contraction preserves an article and a preposition together. The surrounding verb or noun determines whether the relationship is location, destination, source, or association.
De often introduces a starting point or source, but it does not always mean from. In Luc revient du théâtre, revient means comes back, so du théâtre identifies where he returns from. In le directeur du théâtre, le directeur means the director, and the same phrase links that person to the theatre. It does not describe a journey. First ask what the phrase depends on: a returning event or the noun director. Then choose an English wording that preserves that relationship in this sentence.
A location phrase can use a person's name without describing an object transferred to that person. Luc travaille chez Ana means Luc works at Ana's place. Chez introduces someone's home, workplace, or premises as context permits. It does not establish that Ana receives his work as a recipient. Compare Luc écrit à Ana, Luc writes to Ana. The à phrase belongs to the writing construction. A reader who treats every named person after a short word as a destination will confuse premises, addressees, and topics.
Some phrases attach to nouns rather than directly to the main verb. Luc regarde le plan du théâtre contains regarde, looks at, and le plan, the plan. Luc looks at the theatre's plan; he is not necessarily inside the theatre. Luc regarde le plan au théâtre instead locates his looking at the theatre in this simple context. The two sentences share almost every content word. Their different links matter more than finding one fixed English equivalent for each short preposition in a dictionary.
Which words does the phrase belong with?
Phrase linked to a noun
Luc regarde le plan du théâtre.
Luc regarde
Looking event
le plan du théâtre.
Object: the theatre’s plan
Phrase locating an event
Luc regarde le plan au théâtre.
Luc regarde le plan
Looking at a plan
au théâtre.
Location of that looking
The first sentence identifies which plan Luc examines. The second locates the examining event. Neither wording alone supplies every detail of the physical scene.
Do not assume attachment is always obvious. Luc photographie la sœur d'Ana dans le jardin contains photographie, photographs, la sœur, the sister, and dans le jardin, in the garden. The garden might locate the photographing event or identify where Ana's sister is. Often those readings fit the same scene, but they are not identical claims. Extra context may settle the distinction. Reading a preposition accurately sometimes means keeping two plausible attachments open instead of choosing the nearest noun as an infallible rule.
Distinguish a relationship from a quantity
Du café can mean some coffee in elle boit du café. In la porte du café, du expands to de + le and links the door to the café. Des livres can introduce unspecified books; les titres des livres means the titles of the books. The same spelling has different functions. After a quantity, read de: beaucoup de livres, peu de temps, trois kilos de pommes.
Distinguish substance, unspecified items, and specific sets
An article introduces a noun group. A partitive article presents an unspecified amount of something treated as a substance. In Ana achète du riz, achète means buys and riz means rice. Du riz names some rice without measuring it. In Le prix du riz augmente, le prix means the price and augmente means rises. Now du riz links price with rice through de and le. The spelling matches, but buying a substance and identifying its price are different grammatical relationships.
De la and de l' can likewise introduce a substance. Ana boit de l'eau means Ana drinks water; boit means drinks and eau means water. La température de l'eau baisse means the water's temperature falls; température means temperature and baisse means falls. The first group supplies what she drinks. The second identifies whose temperature is discussed. A useful test is whether a preceding noun or verb already calls for a relationship with de, rather than assuming that two visible words must have one function.
The same spelling can perform different jobs
French wording
Reading consequence
Ana achète du riz.
Unmeasured quantity bought.
Le prix du riz augmente.
Price linked to rice.
Beaucoup de poires sont mûres.
Many pears, set unspecified.
Beaucoup des poires sont mûres.
Many within a relevant set.
Read the construction around the article. A substance being purchased, a price belonging to a commodity, and a portion of a known set require different interpretations.
With countable plural items, des often introduces an unspecified set. Ana achète des poires means Ana buys pears, with poires meaning pears. It does not specify which ones or how many. In Ana regarde les étiquettes des poires, étiquettes means labels, and des poires links the labels to the pears through de plus les. The definite plural les identifies a relevant set in context. Here des does not introduce an extra set of pears being bought or looked at separately.
A quantity expression supplies a measure that the partitive leaves open. Un kilo de riz is one kilogram of rice. Beaucoup de riz means a lot of rice, while peu de riz means little rice. The quantity word or measure is followed by de, not by an automatic repetition of du. In Ana achète beaucoup de riz, the purchase is substantial but still not numerically measured. Knowing that beaucoup means a lot does not let a reader invent a weight or a number of meals.
A specific set changes the construction. Beaucoup de poires means many pears without identifying a bounded collection. Beaucoup des poires sont mûres means many of the pears are ripe; mûres means ripe, and des contains de plus les. The second sentence selects within a particular set already relevant to the discussion. It does not mean that every pear is ripe. Likewise, deux des six poires specifies two of the six pears. Keep the selected amount separate from the size of the available set.
A substance and its measure
Unspecified quantity
Ana achète du riz.
Ana achète
Buyer and buying action
du riz.
Rice without a stated measure
Explicit measure
Ana achète un kilo de riz.
Ana achète
Same buying event type
un kilo de riz.
Measured amount: one kilogram of rice
The measured version adds a weight that the partitive version does not supply. Neither wording identifies a particular packet unless the surrounding scene makes one relevant.
Ordinary negation often changes an indefinite or partitive object to de. Ana achète du riz contrasts with Ana n'achète pas de riz, Ana does not buy rice. That is a useful recognition pattern, not a command to erase every article after a negative. Ana n'aime pas le riz means Ana does not like rice; aime means likes, and the definite article stays. Ana n'achète que du riz means she buys only rice. Restriction still allows the purchase and does not behave like ordinary denial here.
Read comparisons and verb patterns
Plus grand que means bigger than; moins cher que means cheaper than; aussi grand que means as big as. Plus de livres means more books, not no books. Learn a verb with its complement: parler à quelqu’un, parler de quelque chose. The first identifies an interlocutor, the second a topic. Assister à une réunion means attend a meeting, not assist it.
Let the construction determine the participants
A verb complement is a word group that completes a verb's meaning in a particular construction. Learn which relationship the verb uses, not just its English label. Ana parle à Luc means Ana speaks to Luc. Ana parle de Luc means Ana talks about Luc. Parle expresses speaking in both sentences, but the short preposition distinguishes the person addressed from the person discussed. Luc might be absent from the second conversation. His name appearing after the verb does not guarantee that he hears it.
Both relationships can appear together. Ana parle à Luc de la réparation contains la réparation, the repair. Ana addresses Luc and discusses the repair. Changing it to Ana parle de Luc à la mécanicienne makes Luc the topic and the female mechanic the addressee; la mécanicienne means the mechanic. Work through the complements one at a time before summarizing. The sentence does not contain two interchangeable names after speaking. Each person has a different role selected by the construction and marked by the preposition.
A name after a verb can have different roles
French wording
Reading consequence
Ana parle à Luc.
Luc is addressed.
Ana parle de Luc.
Luc is discussed.
Ana attend Luc.
Direct construction, despite English for.
Ana répond à Luc.
French construction retains à.
The English rendering cannot determine the French construction. Read the verb together with its complement marker before deciding whether a person is addressed, discussed, awaited, or answered.
French and English do not always link their verbs in the same way. Ana attend Luc means Ana waits for Luc; attend means waits for. French uses Luc directly here, without à or pour. Ana répond à Luc means Ana answers Luc, with répond à giving the French construction. The English word for may therefore correspond to no separate French preposition, while an English direct object can correspond to a French à complement. This will matter when later lessons replace those groups with pronouns.
Other familiar-looking verbs also need their full construction. Ana aide Luc means Ana helps Luc. Ana assiste au concert means Ana attends the concert; le concert means the concert, and au combines à and le. Attendance is not evidence of providing assistance. Ana a besoin de repos means Ana needs rest, with repos meaning rest and avoir besoin de expressing need. Recover the whole expression before choosing a meaning for its small words. Isolated dictionary equivalents can reverse the event or invent an extra participant.
Comparisons also link groups. Le sac bleu est plus lourd que le sac gris contains sac, bag, bleu, blue, gris, grey, and lourd, heavy. The blue bag is heavier than the grey bag. Plus raises the degree of heaviness, and que introduces the comparison standard. Moins lourd means less heavy, while aussi lourd means equally heavy. None of these statements gives a weight. The comparison is relative, so both bags could be light in absolute terms or both could be difficult to carry.
Keep topic and addressee separate
Luc as addressee
Ana parle à Luc de la réparation.
Ana parle
Speaking action
à Luc
Person addressed
de la réparation.
Topic: the repair
Luc as topic
Ana parle de Luc à la mécanicienne.
Ana parle
Same speaking action
de Luc
Person discussed
à la mécanicienne.
Person addressed: the mechanic
Both panels contain Luc, but only the first presents him as the addressee. The prepositions distinguish the conversation’s participant from its subject matter in the second panel.
Separate degree from amount and from negation. Ana porte plus de sacs que Luc means Ana carries more bags than Luc; porte means carries. Ana ne porte plus de sacs says she no longer carries bags. In informal writing ne may disappear, and Ana porte plus de sacs can then need context to distinguish more bags from no more bags. Ana ne porte que deux sacs restricts the number to two rather than denying carrying. These constructions must be read as wholes; plus alone cannot settle polarity or quantity.
Inspect a sentence
A different case clears the selection, feedback, and worked reveal. Reset keeps the current case.
Nora prépare les boissons.
Select du used to express an unspecified quantity.
Choose one segment, then check. Selection is not automatically marked. All cases are hand-annotated examples, not automatic grammar analysis.
Nora achète du café pour les invités.
Worked sentence structure
French evidenceWhat it supports
Nora
Subject
achète
Verb
du café
Quantity: some coffee
pour les invités.
Intended recipients
Here café is the drink and du is partitive. It is not the café building’s possession.
Use local structure to resolve a short form
In the sentence lab, read the full sentence above the segment buttons before choosing. A segment containing du can name something purchased or attach a noun to another noun. The task is to identify its role in that sentence, not to recognize the spelling alone. If Check selection reports a different role, compare the governing verb or noun with the question. The worked structure is an authored explanation of that fixed example. It does not turn the controls into a general preposition checker for arbitrary new sentences.
Consider this separate fictional worked example: Luc sort du magasin avec du savon. Le prix du savon est plus élevé que prévu. Il parle à Ana de cet achat.Sort means comes out, magasin means shop, avec means with, savon means soap, plus élevé means higher, prévu means expected, and cet achat means this purchase. Before translating all three occurrences of du, identify what each phrase depends on. The same letters appear in a source location, a quantity, and a noun relationship.
Assign each occurrence a function
French wording
Reading consequence
Luc sort du magasin.
Source place, de plus le.
Luc sort avec du savon.
Unmeasured substance carried.
Le prix du savon est élevé.
Price linked to soap.
The repeated spelling is insufficient evidence. Identify the construction for each occurrence separately, then preserve the amount or relationship it actually supplies in this fictional example.
Sort du magasin gives the shop Luc comes out of. This du combines de and le as part of a departure expression. Avec du savon says what he has with him. Soap is treated as an unmeasured substance here, so du savon is partitive. Le prix du savon links the price to the soap through de plus le. Reading all three as some would remove the departure point and distort the price relationship. Reading all three as of the would distort the substance he carries.
The comparison plus élevé que prévu does not mean the soap is expensive by every standard. It says its price exceeds an expectation, and the sentence does not name who formed that expectation. A following sentence might establish Luc's estimate or a shop's advertised figure. Without it, retain higher than expected rather than inventing an amount or an owner of the estimate. This is the same bounded reading used with plus lourd que: the comparison gives a relationship but need not supply an absolute value or numerical difference.
The final sentence connects Luc's purchase to a conversation. À Ana names the addressee, while de cet achat names the topic. It does not say Ana made the purchase herself, paid for it, or agrees with Luc's view of the price. Compare Il parle de cet achat sans Ana, he talks about this purchase without Ana. Sans means without. The topic stays the same, but Ana is now absent rather than addressed. A participant's role must come from the actual construction, not from mere mention nearby.
Quantity and topic are not interchangeable
Soap as quantity
Luc sort avec du savon.
Luc sort
Leaving event
avec du savon.
Accompanying substance, amount unspecified
Soap as topic
Luc parle du savon à Ana.
Luc parle
Speaking event
du savon
Topic: soap being discussed
à Ana.
Addressee of the conversation
The first panel presents soap as something carried. The second makes soap the subject of a conversation. It does not establish that Luc carries any soap then.
To check your reading, expand only the contracted relationships in an English explanation, leaving the French sentence intact. Then say what remains unspecified: the amount of soap, the exact price, and the basis of the expectation. This produces a more accurate account than listing three meanings for du without assigning them to occurrences. In a later unfamiliar passage, use the same sequence of decisions: find the phrase, identify its governing noun or verb, inspect quantity or comparison wording, and stop where the text stops supplying evidence.
Read a new passage
Explain du in la porte du café and in parle au serveur du concert. Is either some coffee?
Transfer reading · Original course text · about 43 words
Deux cafés
Le café de la gare est moins cher que celui du musée. Lina commande du thé et deux morceaux de gâteau. La porte du café reste ouverte. Les prix des boissons sont sur une ardoise. Lina parle au serveur du concert de samedi.
Vocabulary for this passage
celui
the one
un morceau
a piece
un gâteau
a cake
une boisson
a drink
une ardoise
a chalkboard
English reading, after your attempt
The station café is cheaper than the museum café. Lina orders tea and two pieces of cake. The café door stays open. The drink prices are on a chalkboard. Lina talks to the waiter about Saturday’s concert.
One contextual rendering, not a word-for-word substitution rule. Try another reading with this reveal closed.
Explain your reading
Use the passages above as evidence. Write or say your answer before opening a hint or worked answer. The page does not judge free-form responses.
Read a price comparison
Are the apples more expensive than last week? Does assister à mean Nora will help somebody?
Hint
Compare plus bas with plus cher. Treat assister à as a unit.
Worked answer
French evidenceWhat it supports
Le prix des pommes est plus bas
The price is lower.
assister à une réunion
Attend a meeting.
Compare the quoted wording with the interpretation alongside it. Keep the surrounding passage in view.
The price is lower, so the apples are less expensive on the stated comparison. Assister à une réunion means attend a meeting. It does not say Nora is helping someone.
Different uses of du
Explain du in la porte du café and in parle au serveur du concert. Is either some coffee?
Hint
Use the noun or verb each phrase depends on.
Worked answer
French evidenceWhat it supports
la porte du café
Door belonging to the café.
parle au serveur du concert
Interlocutor: waiter. Topic: concert.
Compare the quoted wording with the interpretation alongside it. Keep the surrounding passage in view.
The first is the door of the café. The second is talking to the waiter about the concert, from parler de. Neither is a quantity of coffee. Au expands à + le and introduces the waiter.
Review expressions in context
Changing sets restarts at the first item with its meaning hidden. Returning to an item also hides its meaning. Nothing is scheduled or stored after reload.
Item 1 of 6. Recall its meaning in this passage before revealing it.
le marché
Meaning hidden
All review meanings
French evidenceWhat it supports
le marché
the market
du pain
some bread
un invité
a guest
la sortie
the exit
plus bas
lower
assister à
to attend
These are meanings in the lesson’s contexts. The same expression can have other meanings elsewhere.
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Lesson: Decode à, de, and their combinations
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Sources and next reading
The French passages, tasks, and explanations are original course material except the explicitly attributed short excerpt in lesson 26. News-style passages describe invented events. Fiction is not quoted from or attributed to Modiano. Translations give contextual readings, not universal word equivalents.
These selected university grammar references support the mechanisms. Their exercises and characters are not reused. Automated tests check authored data and interface behavior, not linguistic correctness, learning effectiveness, or a CEFR level. No independent French-teacher review has been completed.
For easier continuous reading, reread an earlier passage with its support closed, then try a graded reader on a familiar subject. Revisit several useful expressions in a later session.