Contractions with à and de in French

Contractions

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In Brief

French à and de must combine with le and les: à + le = au, à + les = aux, de + le = du, and de + les = des. The contraction is mandatory, but la and l' stay separate: à la gare, de la gare, à l'école, de l'école.

Overview

A contraction is a form made by combining two words. Here, a French preposition (a short linking word such as “to,” “at,” “from,” or “of”) combines with a definite article—the French equivalent of “the.” You need these combinations whenever à or de comes immediately before le or les.

This is an A1 rule, but it appears in French at every level. You use it to talk about destinations and locations, the people you speak to, where something comes from, who owns or creates something, and many everyday activities: au cinéma, aux enfants, du professeur, des voisins.

English gives you no automatic cue to contract: “to the” and “from the” remain two words. In French, however, forms such as à le cinéma and de les voisins are not standard alternatives. The contraction is part of the grammar, not an informal abbreviation. The key is to identify which article the following noun would normally take.

How It Works

The four mandatory contractions

Separate elements	Required form	Basic meaning	Example
à + le	au	to the, at the	au musée
à + les	aux	to the, at the	aux toilettes
de + le	du	from the, of the	du bureau
de + les	des	from the, of the	des étudiants

Never place the separate forms side by side when le or les is an article:

à le restaurant → au restaurant
à les clients → aux clients
de le médecin → du médecin
de les enfants → des enfants

The noun itself does not change. Only the preposition and article combine.

No contraction with la or l'

À and de do not combine with la, the feminine singular article. Before a vowel sound or a silent h, both le and la become l'; à and de remain separate from it.

Article needed	With à	With de
le	au marché	du marché
la	à la banque	de la banque
l'	à l'hôtel	de l'hôtel
les	aux magasins	des magasins

This table is the whole beginner system. First determine whether the noun takes le, la, l', or les; then choose the corresponding form.

What à and de can express

The contraction rule stays the same even though the prepositions have several meanings.

À commonly marks:

a destination: Nous allons au parc. — “We are going to the park.”
a location in a common expression: Elle est au travail. — “She is at work.”
a person or group receiving speech or an action: Je parle aux voisins. — “I am speaking to the neighbors.”
an activity or institution: Il joue au tennis. — “He plays tennis.”

De commonly marks:

origin or movement away: Je reviens du marché. — “I am coming back from the market.”
possession or association: C'est la voiture du directeur. — “It is the director's car.”
subject matter: Nous parlons des vacances. — “We are talking about the vacation.”
a complement required by an expression: J'ai besoin du document. — “I need the document.”

Do not choose à or de by translating one English word in isolation. French verbs and expressions often require a particular preposition. Once the sentence requires à or de, the contraction rule tells you what happens before the article.

A reliable decision process

Take cinéma, for example:

The noun is masculine singular: le cinéma.
“Go to” is aller à.
à + le contracts to au.
The result is aller au cinéma.

With gare:

The noun is feminine singular: la gare.
“Come back from” is revenir de.
There is no contraction with la.
The result is revenir de la gare.

With plural enfants, gender no longer affects the article:

The plural article is les.
parler à means “to speak to.”
à + les becomes aux.
The result is parler aux enfants.

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Je vais au cinéma ce soir.	I'm going to the cinema tonight.	à + le
Il parle aux enfants avec patience.	He speaks to the children patiently.	à + les
Nous déjeunons au restaurant.	We are having lunch at the restaurant.	Masculine singular place
Elle téléphone aux clients demain.	She is calling the clients tomorrow.	The expression is téléphoner à
C'est le livre du professeur.	It's the professor's book.	de + le, expressing association or possession
Je reviens du marché.	I'm coming back from the market.	de + le, origin
Nous parlons des résultats.	We are talking about the results.	de + les
La maison des voisins est à vendre.	The neighbors' house is for sale.	de + les, possession
Je reviens de la gare.	I'm coming back from the station.	No contraction with la
Elle va à la bibliothèque après le travail.	She is going to the library after work.	No contraction with la
Ils sont à l'aéroport.	They are at the airport.	No contraction with l'
Voici l'entrée de l'hôtel.	Here is the hotel entrance.	No contraction with l'
Tu joues au football ou aux échecs ?	Do you play football or chess?	Two common jouer à expressions
Il revient des États-Unis lundi.	He is returning from the United States on Monday.	Plural geographical name

Notice that the English translation may use a possessive ending rather than “of the”: le livre du professeur naturally becomes “the professor's book.” The French structure still contains de + le, so du is required.

Common Mistakes

Leaving à and le separate

Wrong: Je vais à le cinéma.
Right: Je vais au cinéma.
Why: When le is the definite article, à + le must become au.

Contracting before la

Wrong: Je vais au gare.
Right: Je vais à la gare.
Why: Gare is feminine, so its article is la. There is no à + la contraction.

Using du before a vowel sound

Wrong: Il sort du hôtel.
Right: Il sort de l'hôtel.
Why: Hôtel takes l' because its h is silent. The sequence is therefore de l', not du.

Forgetting the plural contraction

Wrong: Elle donne les clés à les voisins.
Right: Elle donne les clés aux voisins.
Why: À + les always becomes aux when les is an article.

Choosing the contraction from the English translation

Wrong: C'est la voiture de le directeur.
Right: C'est la voiture du directeur.
Why: English may say “the director's car,” but French expresses this relationship with de. Since directeur takes le, the result is du.

Assuming every des has the same job

Misreading: Treating des in Je parle des voisins as automatically meaning “some neighbors.”
Correct reading: Here it means “about the neighbors”: parler de + les voisins.
Why: Des can have more than one grammatical source. The surrounding verb and meaning reveal its function.

Usage Notes

The noun's gender still matters

The contractions do not remove the need to learn noun gender. Knowing cinéma as merely “cinema” is not enough; learn le cinéma so that au cinéma and du cinéma follow naturally. Learn feminine nouns with their article too: la gare, giving à la gare and de la gare.

In the plural, both masculine and feminine nouns use les, so both contract in the same way: aux garçons, aux filles, des garçons, des filles.

Pronunciation

Au is pronounced like the French vowel in eau. Aux normally has the same vowel sound; its final written x is usually silent. Before a following vowel sound, however, liaison (a linking consonant between words) is common: aux enfants is pronounced with a /z/ link.

Du and des are distinct in careful speech. Des can also make /z/ liaison before a vowel sound, as in des amis. Listening for these whole chunks is often more useful than trying to hear two original words inside them.

Common fixed combinations

Many high-frequency phrases are best learned as complete units:

au travail — at work
au téléphone — on the phone
au cinéma — at/to the cinema
aux toilettes — in/to the restroom
du matin — in the morning; morning (as a modifier)
du monde — people; of the world, depending on context
avoir besoin de + article — to need: avoir besoin du billet
parler de + article — to talk about: parler du problème

The grammar is regular, but chunking these expressions makes speech faster and more natural.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master every distinction below at A1, but recognizing them prevents confusion later.

Du and des do not always represent the same kind of article

The surface forms du and des can have different analyses:

du = de + le: la porte du garage — “the garage door”
du as a partitive article (an unspecified amount): Je mange du pain. — “I eat some bread.”
des = de + les: Je parle des étudiants. — “I am talking about the students.”
des as an indefinite plural article: Je vois des étudiants. — “I see some students.”

A simple test is to reconstruct the idea. If a verb or relationship supplies de and the noun is definite, contraction is involved: parler de + les étudiants. If des introduces unspecified plural things directly, it is the indefinite article. The forms look identical, but their roles differ.

Le must actually be an article

Contraction occurs with the article le, not every word spelled le. French also has an object pronoun le, meaning “him” or “it.” It remains separate:

J'hésite à le faire. — “I'm hesitating to do it.”
Merci de le confirmer. — “Thank you for confirming it.”

In these sentences, le replaces an object and belongs with the infinitive faire or confirmer. Forms such as au faire or du confirmer would be wrong. Compare Je vais au bureau, where le is the article in le bureau.

Words beginning with h require vocabulary knowledge

A silent h behaves like a vowel: l'hôtel, à l'hôtel, de l'hôtel. An aspirated h blocks elision, so the noun keeps le or la and normal contraction may apply: le héros → au héros, du héros; la haine → à la haine, de la haine. The “aspirated” h is not actually pronounced as an English /h/; it simply prevents elision and liaison. Dictionaries usually mark these words, so learn the article with the noun.

Related contractions with lequel

At a later level, you will meet the relative/interrogative forms lequel, lesquels, lesquelles (“which one(s)” or “which” after a preposition). Similar combinations occur:

Combination	Result
à + lequel	auquel
à + lesquels / lesquelles	auxquels / auxquelles
de + lequel	duquel
de + lesquels / lesquelles	desquels / desquelles

There is no comparable fusion in the feminine singular: à laquelle, de laquelle. This is not part of the basic A1 rule, but the pattern will look familiar when you encounter it.

Names and quoted titles

Geographical names that include an article normally follow the contraction rule: au Havre, du Havre, au Mans, du Mans. When a title is quoted as a title rather than used like an ordinary noun phrase, careful writing may preserve its official wording, for example un article de « Le Monde ». This is a specialized editorial choice, not an exception you need in everyday beginner sentences.

Practice Tips

Learn nouns with their article. Make four columns—le, la, l', les—and turn each entry into an à phrase and a de phrase: le musée → au musée / du musée.
Practice contrasting destinations and origins. Pair sentences such as Je vais au bureau and Je reviens du bureau, then repeat with à la banque / de la banque and à l'école / de l'école.
Highlight the trigger, not just the result. In a sentence containing au, write à + le above it; above des in parler des voisins, write de + les. This trains you to distinguish contractions from identical-looking partitive or indefinite articles.