Compound nouns formed with prepositions à, de, en

In: Level A1, Prepositions & Conjunctions, Préposition
Questions: 33

Look at these examples:
 

un verre à vin
a wine glass  
(a glass for wine)

 

un bracelet en or
a gold bracelet

 

un sac de cuir / un sac en cuir
a leather bag

 

une tarte aux pommes
an apple tart

 
In English, we often simply squish nouns together to form new words for things: wine glass, snowball, ironing board, etc. (we call these compound nouns because they are formed from two nouns compounded together).
 
In French though, compound words like this are almost always separated by à or de or en and the meaning changes depending on which is used.
 

à

à usually indicates what something is designed for, e.g. un verre à vin.
 
Note that to say a glass of wine, we use de where English uses of: e.g. un verre de vin.
 

de / en

de or en usually implies what something is made of, e.g. un sac de cuir / un sac en cuir.
 

à la / à l' / au / aux 

Additionally, à la / à l’ / au / aux are used particularly with food to mean with, made with or flavoured with, e.g. une glace à la vanille. 
 
 

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Préposition

Examples and resources

une boule de neige
a snowball (a ball of snow)

un sandwich au jambon
a ham sandwich

une boule à neige
a snowglobe (an ornamental toy that you shake)

une cuillère à soupe
a soup spoon

un oreiller en plume / un oreiller de plume
a feather pillow

un verre à vin
a wine glass  
(a glass for wine)

la glace à la vanille
a vanilla ice-cream

un sac de cuir / un sac en cuir
a leather bag

un bracelet en or
a gold bracelet

une tarte aux pommes
an apple tart

Boules de neige et Jour de l'An Et Bonne Année grand-mère !
Snowballs and New Year's Day 
and Happy New Year Grandma!

une brosse à dents
a tooth brush

Q&A

Sheree

Kwiziq community member

30 January 2019

1 reply

The example shows en/de used for sac ___ cuir but when I chose de on the quiz, I got it wrong. Pourquoi?

Patti

Kwiziq community member

6 February 2019

6/02/19

Exactly my question, when I wrote "robe ____ satin" both could be de et en, it told me I was wrong. And I am confused.  Should it only be "en"??

Michael

Kwiziq community member

18 December 2018

3 replies

E.G. "une tarte AUX pommes"...My question, why AUX with two feminine nouns, tarte et pommes?

Michael

Kwiziq community member

18 December 2018

18/12/18

Nevermind, I believe the answer is, plural prepositions in this case are genderless.....it wasn't immediately obvious to me, then it came to my mind after I posed my question.

Chris

Kwiziq community member

19 December 2018

19/12/18

Yes, that's correct. À+les = aux, regardless of gender.

Michael

Kwiziq community member

21 December 2018

21/12/18

Merci beaucoup !

Latha

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2018

2 replies

Une glace à la vanille or la glace à la vanille is correct.ps clarify

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

16 October 2018

16/10/18

Hi Latha, 

It depends on the context - 

You would say,

Vous voulez une glace à la vanille ? = Do you want a vanilla ice cream?

J'aime la glace à la vanille = I like vanilla ice cream

Hope this helps!

Latha

Kwiziq community member

16 October 2018

16/10/18

It's clear now.ty

Paul

Kwiziq community member

8 August 2018

2 replies

une boîte aux lettres / une boîte à lettres

une boîte aux lettres / une boîte à lettres -> Letter box, Postbox.

It may be worth addding this to the notes as an exception to these rules. I believe it is used in singular and in the plural ?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

9 August 2018

9/08/18

Hi Paul,

that question intrigued me, so I went online and did a quick research. Here is what I found:

Généralement l'article défini sert à préciser le nom, et quand un nom a la fonction syntaxique de compléter un autre nom, et qu'il désigne la « destination d'un récipient », l'article est d'ordinaire omis (la boîte à bijoux) ; et maintenu, au figuré (le pot aux roses). On parle d'hésitations dans l'usage avec un cas comme la boîte à/aux lettres.

At another place:

Personellement, ayant vécu en France et en Belgique, je dirais que 'boîte aux lettres' est bien plus commun que 'boîte à lettres'.

En effet, les sites suivants ont l'air de favoriser cet usage aussi:

(Gouvernement français) https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/reuses/trouve-une-boite/

(Poste canadienne) https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/productsservices/send/letterboxes.jsf?LOCALE=fr

(Poste belge) http://www.bpost.be/site/fr/residential/letters-cards/receive/guidelines_mailbox.html

(Page Wikipédia) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%AEte_aux_lettres

 

-- Chris.

Paul

Kwiziq community member

9 August 2018

9/08/18

THanks Chris, I favour French from France rather than Belgium / Canada ,

I think I will keep with 'boîte aux lettres'. It seems both terms appear valid in everyday language , and I've learnt a new abbreviation from your wiki link -  BAL !

Paul.

Marnie

Kwiziq community member

31 July 2018

2 replies

Tarte aux pommes

Is this considered another « fixed » expression used to describe food. Just curious because as « pommes » is feminine and plural one would normally say « tarte à les pommes » .  Are there other similar exceptions?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

31 July 2018

31/07/18

À + les = aux

-- Chris. 

Chris

Kwiziq community member

31 July 2018

31/07/18

À les = aux

-- Chris. 

Rita

Kwiziq community member

27 April 2018

1 reply

Why is chocolate ice cream written as la glace au chocolat and not la glace à la chocolat?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

27 April 2018

27/04/18

Hi Rita,

it is le chocolat, hence au chocolat. 

-- Chris (not a native speaker). 

Shruti

Kwiziq community member

1 April 2018

2 replies

We can also say

une tasse à café. 

A cup for coffee?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

2 April 2018

2/04/18

A coffe cup -- une tasse à café.
A cup of coffee -- une tasse de café.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

17 May 2018

17/05/18

Hi Shruti,

Yes you can say:

Une tasse à café - A coffee cup ( a cup for coffee)

Une tasse de café - A cup of coffee ( a cup full of coffee)

Hope this helps!

Nev

Kwiziq community member

21 December 2017

2 replies

Should plumeun in feather pillow be plumeux?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

21 December 2017

21/12/17

I suspect that there is a missing "/" separating the two possible answers: "un oreiller en plume / un oreiller de plume". -- Chris.

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

21 December 2017

21/12/17

Yes indeed ! Thanks to you both, the example has now been amended :) Merci et à bientôt !

Rene

Kwiziq community member

20 October 2017

1 reply

A doubt.

It seems that une boule de neige doesn't follow the pattern of un sac en/de cuir. Is that right?

Ron

Kwiziq community member

21 October 2017

21/10/17

Bonsoir Rene, une boule de neige --> a snowball (a ball of snow) There does not seem to be a valid reason one could not state «une boule en neige», the biggest hurdle with that locution; however, would be in using it verbally. Une boule de neige sounds more aesthetically pleasing when pronounced. Bonne chance.

Surendra

Kwiziq community member

27 April 2017

2 replies

Why 'salle de bains', shouldn't it be 'salle à bains'

According to this lesson, for translation of bathroom/washroom, a room for baths. So it should be 'salle à bains', but why do we use 'salle de bains'

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

28 April 2017

28/04/17

Bonjour Surendra ! "Salle de bains" is a fixed expression in French. I would say that we're literally saying "the room of baths" as in "containing the baths", hence the use of "de" here: it's the room that *owns* the baths in the house :) I hope that helps! Bonne journée !

Surendra

Kwiziq community member

28 April 2017

28/04/17

It is clear now, thank you.

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