French Grammar
Principles: A vs De Aide Memoire
The exam will have several questions that will use “à” and “de”. These can be confusing for non-French speakers.
Generally speaking “à” means “at” or “to” or “in” and “de” means “from” or sometimes “about”. For instance: Je vais à Paris. I am going to Paris. Je suis à Paris. I am in Paris. Je pars de Londres. I am leaving from London. Une histoire de paix. A history about peace.
Similarly, “à” can be used in front of a measure of distance while “de” indicates the point of origin. For instance: Elle habite à 5 kilomètres d’ici. She lives 5 kilometres from here.
An object with a purpose or use will use “à” while the contents will use “de”. For example: Un verre à vin. A wine glass. Un verre de vin. A glass of wine.
A manner, mode, or property will use “à”. A memorable example is “à la carte” which translates to “according to the menu”. “Fait à la main” would mean made by hand.
Similarly, “un sandwich au fromage” is a sandwich with cheese. The cheese can disappear and the sandwich itself still exists. Whereas “un sandwich de fromage” would be a sandwich made from cheese. In the first case, the sandwich can be changed to one with no cheese whereas in the second example the sandwich would cease to exist if the cheese were removed.
“A” is also used for “at” and “by” in measurement and time. For instance, you buy apples “au kilo” with “au” coming from “à” and “le” together. A time phrase you may see on the test is “à l’heure” or “on time”.
Where the two become problematic is when we translate the phrases to English, so be careful doing so. Some of these examples can be considered expressions as well that have no exact translation to English—hence another reason to understand the language as opposed to translating it all the time. For example, some expressions will end in “à faire” (e.g., C’est dificile à faire—it is difficult to do).
Verbs present a particular problem for “à” and “de” as they are added to the verb and change its meaning or purpose. A popular example in French courses is “jouer à” and “jouer de”. The first is to play a sport and the second to play a musical instrument.
Here is a list of common verbs and their meanings as they change with “à” and “de”. Some of the meanings are subtle but will be found on the tests.
| Parler à | To talk to | Parler de | To talk about |
| Penser à | To imagine/think about | Penser de | To have an opinion about or think of |
| Profiter à | To benefit | Profiter de | To make the most of, to enjoy |
| Demander à | To ask for permission | Demander de | To ask to do something |
| Décider à | To convince | Décider de | To decide to |
| Venir à | To happen to | Venir de | To have just done or completed |
Some popular verbs often have “à” after them with an infrequent or no use with “de”. Here are some of the most popular ones.
| Demander à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose | To ask someone (to do something) |
| Dire à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose | To tell someone (to do something)
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| Permettre à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose | To allow(to do something)
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| Promettre à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose | To promise(to do something)
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| Téléphoner à quelqu’un | To telephone someone(to do something)
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Some verbs use both “à” and “de” with no change in meaning and include: commencer à/de and continuer à/de that are commonly found on exam materials.
Some phrases use both. For instance “Dans le camion, il y a de 3 à 5 chiens. In the truck there are 3 to 5 dogs. Another way to look at this would be: There are from three to five dogs. So a range of time or objects can use both in one sentence and be grammatically correct.
While there are many more examples of the use of these prepositions, this will provide a good baseline in writing the exam.
Additional Resources We Recommend:
https://www.thoughtco.com/a-vs-de-french-prepositions-4080520
https://bdl.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/bdl/gabarit_bdl.asp?t1=1&id=1101