1 I've been learning French for a few years, but one question has always bothered me, that is, I don't know when to use "de" with articles and when to not. For example, if I wanted to say "responsibility of teachers", as in To be a good teacher, you need to understand the responsibilities of teachers. Should I say: When you are talking about a portion of one item (food, like "some bread"), or something that cannot be quantified (quality, like "some patience"), use what the French call "a partitive article." du (+ masculine word) de la (+ feminine word) de l' - (followed by a vowel) In French, there are simple prepositions ( à, chez, etc.) as well as longer prepositional phrases ( d'après, près de etc. ). Example: Il est allé chez le coiffeur. Elle habite près de Bordeaux. Unfortunately, prepositions often can't be translated literally. Masculine: du; Feminine: de la; Contracted (m or f in front of vowel or mute h): de l' + There is only one plural partitive article: des. It's used with nouns that are always plural. Using partitive articles. The partitive article is needed when talking about an unknown or unspecified quantity of something uncountable. Par exemple… Pour bien choisir entre DE, DU, DES et DE LA, il faut se demander si on doit utiliser un article ou non. En français, DE est une préposition très utilisée, qui sert à indiquer la provenance, l'appartenance, etc. On la retrouve aussi après certains verbes. Je viens de Paris. C'est le chapeau de Paul. The use of "de" / "du" depends on whether "personnel" is definite or not. In our case, it isn't so one must use "du". If "personnel" is definite, "de" should be used as in: une compression de personnel de la comptabilité. 1. Je ne connais pas ______ avocats. d' du de l' des The correct answer is d' 2. Le livre est plein ______ gribouillages. de du de la des The correct answer is de 3. J'ai bu ______ bière belge. de du de la des The correct answer is de la 4. Je ne veux pas ______ eau. d' du de l' des The correct answer is d' 5. The preposition de is generally summarized as "of, from, or about," but it has quite a few more meanings and uses than that. When de is followed by the definite article le or les, the two words must contract. However, de does not contract with the direct objects le and les. J'ai promis de le faire - I promised to do it. Related lessons This lesson is a detailed explanation of when to use the preposition de all by itself and when to use the indefinite article, partitive article, or de + definite article (which looks like the partitive - but isn't. Ugh!) There are four types of constructions that lead to the de vs du, de la, des confusion. Click these links for lessons with Prépositions: de la / du / des La préposition de : Elle est suivie de la + nom féminin : Il vient de la campagne. Elle est suivie de l' + nom masculin ou féminin : Il vient de l' école. Mais de + le n'existe pas car il se contracte en du + nom masculin : Il revient du travail. 2VKj.