De vs en
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
JoakimKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
De vs en
Are these competely interchangeable for specifying what something is made of or are there pronounciation rules that indicate which one is better for a particular word?
This question relates to:French lesson "Compound nouns formed with prepositions à, de, en"
Asked 4 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team member
Bonjour Joakim !
I would say that "en" implies that this is the main (and often only) element the thing is made of, whereas "de" would imply that it's one of the elements composing the thing, but there must be more.
Colloquially, "en" is used more often than "de".
I hope that's helpful!
Bonnes Fêtes et à bientôt !
DavidKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Could you add some clarification re: wedding bells, baseball cap, tennis racquet, door knob, golf club, soccer ball, soccer field, sunglasses, Christmas tree, water tank, bus stop, fire truck, etc.
By your lesson, these should all be “à” (what something is designed for), but in fact this whole genre is “de”.
Specifically, why is it “boîte à bijoux” and not “boîte de bijoux” ? Other than convention.
Clearly, these are not just a few exceptions, but an entire class of compound nouns (open form, noun+noun) that is not covered in the lesson.
Thank you.
Joakim asked:View original
De vs en
Are these competely interchangeable for specifying what something is made of or are there pronounciation rules that indicate which one is better for a particular word?
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Ask a question
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level