Prepositions and Word Building

This unit covers prepositions with places, contractions, possession with de, verbs followed by à or de, prepositions with infinitives, and word building through prefixes and suffixes.

The contractions are mechanical and therefore among the easiest marks available: à plus le becomes au, de plus les becomes des, and à le is never correct in written French. Possession is expressed with de because French has no apostrophe-s, and the order reverses from English — le livre de Marc. Which preposition a verb takes must be learned with the verb, since there is no rule; commencer takes à, décider takes de, and the modals take nothing. Prefixes and suffixes are worth learning for reading, because they reveal a word's meaning and grammar.