FRENCH language : uses of /du/ and /d'/ term !!!?

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Millie

"Du "can have several meanings. The one you are talking about here is a contraction of "DE + LE" = "of the". It is used before a masculine noun. In the feminine, you would say "DE LA" and in the plural "DES" (contraction of DE + LES). You will use "DE L' " before a singular noun beginning with a vowel, regardless of gender. Examples:

- Masc : le propriÃ©taire du chÃ¢teau (the owner of the chÃ¢teau)
- Fem : le propriÃ©taire de la maison (the owner of the house)
- Plur : le propriÃ©taire des vignobles (the owner of the vineyards)
- Before vowel: le directeur de l'Ã©cole (the school Principal)

Now " D' "just means "of". It is the contraction of DE and is used only before a vowel, regardless of gender (masculine or feminine) or number (singular or plural)

- un jardin d'enfants (a kindergarten)
- une collection d'images (a collection of pictures)
- un ami d'enfance (a childhood friend)
- un atelier d'artiste (an artist's workshop)
- une histoire d'amour (a love story), etc

>>>> so you have to say "MusÃ©e du Louvre" because Le Louvre (the Louvre) always comes with an article (= Museum OF THE Louvre, literaly)

In a completely different context, "DU, DE LA, DE L' " can also be partitive articles, to mean "some".

- masc: du pain (some bread)
- fem: de la farine (some flour)
- vowel: de l'eau (some water)

pamplmouss2

"of" means "de" and nothing else, but the problem is that in french there're feminine/masculine/plurial nouns like in english but "de" change whith de gender of these nouns.
le=masculine,la=feminine,les=plurial feminine or masculine
de+le =du, "of the"=masculine
de+la=de la,"of the" feminine
de+les=des,"of the" plurial
De:
"The city of Paris" means "La ville de Paris".
"the dog of john"(john's dog), "le chien de John"
De+le=du:
"the dog of the president"(the president's dog), "le chien DU prÃ©sident"
"the color of the train", "la couleur du train"
De la:
"the color of the car", "la couleur de la voiture(feminine noun)"
"the size of the house", "la taille de la maison"
De+les=des:
"the color of (the)cars", "la couleur des voitures"
"the size of (the) trains","la couleur des trains"

" d' " it's just de, but used with a noun with a voyel.
"the united states of amrica", "les Ã©tats uni d'amerique"

"Le louvre" so = le musÃ©e de+le Louvre = "Le musÃ©e du Louvre"
That's all...
PS: French is a difficult language so if you make a mistake everybody can understand you anyway.
A lot of french doesn't know how to speak good, but everybody understand them...

Sorry for my english, i hope i help you...

cecile

Du: in front of a masculine noun starting with a consonant (le musee du Louvre)
D': in front a noun (masculine or feminine) starting with a vowel (je manque d'initiative)
Du': does not exixt in french.

Rose T

You use d' (or l') only when the word following it begins with a vowel or a vowel sound. Otherwise, you use de, du, le, la, un, une depending on the gender of the noun.

hussein t

MussÃ©e d'Louvre? we dont have such a word in French .... du is actually de+le .... if sth is Masculin and you want to call it... you should use du ...anyway... we never can use such a thing : d'Louvre.....its Wrong .... we only use Liaison when after mute term we would use voyelle ..par exapmle : Je+habite Ã Paris = J'habite Ã ... look at this experession ... Je would stick to voyelle term ( H is voyelle in Francais )..... so we say it in this way...I hope I could help enough...about du ...it contains various meaning... such as : Of , piece of ... belonging to someone ....or..etc

Binjiman

i think you use d' when the word that comes after d' begins with a vowel, same with le and l'. Example- l'ecole(school). But not if a constanant follows. Example- du louvre

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