When the prepositions à (to, at) and de (of, from) collide with the definite articles le and les, French does not let them stay separate. They fuse into a single word: à le → au, à les → aux, de le → du, de les → des. The contractions are not stylistic — they are obligatory. À le cinéma is not informal or wrong-but-understandable; it is simply not French. By contrast, the feminine la and the elided l' never contract — they stay as à la, à l', de la, de l'. This is one of the very first rules an A1 learner has to internalise, because à and de combine with definite articles in essentially every other sentence.
The four contractions
The system has only four obligatory contractions. Memorise them as a block.
| Combination | Becomes | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| à + le | au | au cinéma | at / to the cinema |
| à + les | aux | aux États-Unis | in / to the United States |
| de + le | du | du parc | from / of the park |
| de + les | des | des amis | from / of the friends |
And the four cases that do not contract:
| Combination | Stays as | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| à + la | à la | à la maison | at home / to the house |
| à + l' | à l' | à l'école | at / to school |
| de + la | de la | de la voiture | of / from the car |
| de + l' | de l' | de l'hôpital | from / of the hospital |
A first set of natural illustrations.
On va au cinéma ce soir, tu viens ?
We're going to the cinema tonight, are you coming?
Mes parents reviennent des États-Unis demain matin.
My parents are coming back from the United States tomorrow morning.
J'ai oublié mon parapluie au bureau.
I left my umbrella at the office.
Je rentre du travail à six heures.
I get home from work at six.
Je vais à la pharmacie acheter de l'aspirine.
I'm going to the pharmacy to buy some aspirin.
Le bureau du directeur est au fond du couloir, à droite.
The director's office is at the end of the corridor, on the right.
Tu as parlé aux enfants de la fête de samedi ?
Did you tell the kids about Saturday's party?
Notice the bookkeeping: au cinéma, du travail, à la pharmacie, de l'aspirine, du directeur, du couloir, aux enfants, de la fête. In a single short conversation you may produce all four contracted forms and all four uncontracted forms. There is no skipping this.
À + le → au and à + les → aux
The preposition à covers a wide semantic range — destination, location, time, indirect object, and many idiomatic uses — and it routinely meets le and les.
Je vais au marché tous les samedis matin.
I go to the market every Saturday morning.
Le train arrive à la gare à dix heures.
The train gets to the station at ten.
On a passé deux semaines aux Pays-Bas l'été dernier.
We spent two weeks in the Netherlands last summer.
Demande au serveur de nous apporter l'addition.
Ask the waiter to bring us the bill.
Aux premières neiges, on monte à la montagne.
At the first snowfall, we head up to the mountains.
Je l'ai dit aux enfants, mais ils n'écoutent jamais.
I told the kids, but they never listen.
A particular point worth flagging: countries that take les (because they are syntactically plural) always show up as aux when you go to them — aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas, aux Bahamas, aux Philippines, aux Antilles. À les États-Unis is impossible. The contraction is so deeply built into the language that French speakers don't even hear the underlying à + les; they hear a single fused preposition aux meaning to / in [plural place].
De + le → du and de + les → des
The preposition de covers origin, possession, material, partitive, and many other relations. It contracts with le and les exactly as à does.
Le chat du voisin a encore dormi sur ma voiture.
The neighbour's cat slept on my car again.
On parle souvent du temps en Angleterre.
People talk a lot about the weather in England.
C'est la décision des juges, on ne peut rien y faire.
It's the judges' decision, there's nothing we can do.
Le chien du boulanger aboie tout le temps.
The baker's dog barks all the time.
J'ai entendu parler de l'accident aux infos hier soir.
I heard about the accident on the news yesterday evening.
Le résultat des élections sera annoncé à minuit.
The election results will be announced at midnight.
A small but very common stumbling block: the contracted du (from de + le) and the partitive du (some) look identical but are doing different jobs. Le livre *du professeur contains *de + le — possession; je veux *du pain contains the partitive *du — some. The same is true for des: les amis *des voisins (contraction *de + les) vs j'ai *des amis (indefinite plural). Reading the syntax around the *du / des tells you which is which:
- After a noun: usually a contraction (la voiture du voisin).
- After a verb of consumption or in the object slot of a verb: usually partitive (je bois du vin).
- After a quantifier: neither — bare de (beaucoup de pain).
When the article is la or l' — no contraction
The contractions are picky. They happen only with le and les. The feminine la and the elided l' stay separate from à and de.
On va à la plage cet après-midi ?
Shall we go to the beach this afternoon?
J'arrive de la pharmacie — j'ai pris ton ordonnance.
I'm just back from the pharmacy — I picked up your prescription.
Les enfants vont à l'école à pied.
The kids walk to school.
Je suis sortie de l'hôpital ce matin.
I came out of hospital this morning.
L'odeur de la cuisine de ma grand-mère me manque.
I miss the smell of my grandmother's cooking.
Les couloirs de l'hôpital sentent le désinfectant.
The corridors of the hospital smell of disinfectant.
Le directeur de l'école nous a appelés.
The school principal called us.
A subtle point of euphony: à la and de la don't contract because la starts with a consonant — there's no clash. À l' and de l' don't contract because the l' is already an elided form (l' = le or la before vowel) and French treats the elision as a complete unit. The orthography reflects spoken phonology faithfully: à l'école is pronounced /a.le.kɔl/ — already two clean syllables — so there's nothing to fuse.
With à + cities, regions, and countries
A particular zone where contractions matter is geography. Cities take à with no article — à Paris, à Madrid, à Tokyo. Countries vary: feminine countries take en (en France, en Italie); masculine countries take au (au Canada, au Japon, au Portugal); plural countries take aux (aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas).
Je vais à Paris la semaine prochaine pour le travail.
I'm going to Paris next week for work.
J'ai vécu trois ans au Canada après mes études.
I lived in Canada for three years after my studies.
Tu es déjà allé aux Pays-Bas ?
Have you ever been to the Netherlands?
On part en France en juillet.
We're going to France in July.
The reason the masculine countries use au (and not à) and the plural ones use aux (and not à) is simply that those countries take an article in their bare form — le Canada, le Japon, les Pays-Bas — and the contraction is automatic the moment à meets le or les. Feminine countries with article la take en, not à la — that's a separate quirk handled in the prepositions pages.
Why English speakers under-contract
English has no obligatory contractions of this kind. To the cinema, of the friends — the article and the preposition stay separate. The instinct of an English speaker producing French is to slot in the corresponding parts: à + le + noun. The fact that French refuses this and demands au feels artificial at first — like a spelling rule rather than a grammar rule. But the contraction is deep in the phonology: French speakers genuinely cannot hear à le as a single sequence; they hear it as either au or as a stutter.
The way to internalise the contractions is to stop seeing them as preposition + article and start seeing them as four single fused words: au (= to/at the masc. sg.), aux (= to/at the pl.), du (= of/from the masc. sg.), des (= of/from the pl.). Once these are stored as primitive units, the underlying decomposition fades into the background.
Compound prepositions built on à and de
Many compound prepositions in French end in à or de and inherit the contraction behaviour. They contract with le / les automatically.
| Compound |
| Example |
|---|---|---|
| à côté de | à côté du / des | à côté du marché |
| près de | près du / des | près du fleuve |
| au lieu de | au lieu du / des | au lieu du dessert |
| en face de | en face du / des | en face du musée |
| au-dessus de | au-dessus du / des | au-dessus du toit |
| grâce à | grâce au / aux | grâce aux voisins |
| jusqu'à | jusqu'au / aux | jusqu'au pont |
| quant à | quant au / aux | quant aux résultats |
La banque est juste en face du musée.
The bank is right opposite the museum.
On a tout réussi grâce aux conseils de Marie.
We pulled it all off thanks to Marie's advice.
J'ai marché jusqu'au pont avant de faire demi-tour.
I walked all the way to the bridge before turning around.
Quant aux résultats, on les aura demain matin.
As for the results, we'll have them tomorrow morning.
Verbs that govern à or de + definite article
Many French verbs have fixed prepositional complements with à or de. When the complement is le / les + noun, the contraction kicks in.
Je pense souvent au voyage qu'on a fait l'été dernier.
I often think about the trip we took last summer.
Elle a peur des araignées depuis qu'elle est petite.
She's been afraid of spiders since she was little.
Tu as téléphoné aux clients pour confirmer la livraison ?
Did you call the clients to confirm the delivery?
On parle des élections en ce moment partout dans la presse.
The elections are being talked about everywhere in the press at the moment.
Je m'occupe du dîner ce soir, ne t'inquiète pas.
I'll take care of dinner tonight, don't worry.
Il joue du piano depuis qu'il a six ans.
He's been playing the piano since he was six.
That last sentence shows another corner of the system: with musical instruments, French uses jouer de + definite article, and the contraction follows naturally — du piano, de la guitare, du violon, de l'orgue. By contrast, sports take jouer *à* — jouer au foot, aux échecs — and again the contraction operates.
Common Mistakes
❌ Je vais à le cinéma.
Incorrect — à + le must contract to au.
✅ Je vais au cinéma.
I'm going to the cinema.
❌ Le livre de le professeur est sur la table.
Incorrect — de + le must contract to du.
✅ Le livre du professeur est sur la table.
The teacher's book is on the table.
❌ Nous voyageons à les États-Unis.
Incorrect — à + les must contract to aux.
✅ Nous voyageons aux États-Unis.
We're travelling to the United States.
❌ Au la maison, on parle français.
Incorrect — la does not contract; should be à la.
✅ À la maison, on parle français.
At home we speak French.
❌ Je viens du l'école.
Incorrect — de + l' does not contract.
✅ Je viens de l'école.
I'm coming from school.
❌ Il a peur de les araignées.
Incorrect — de + les must contract to des.
✅ Il a peur des araignées.
He's afraid of spiders.
❌ Au l'hôpital, c'est calme la nuit.
Incorrect — au is already a contraction; before vowels use à l'.
✅ À l'hôpital, c'est calme la nuit.
At the hospital it's quiet at night.
Key Takeaways
- The four obligatory contractions: au (= à + le), aux (= à + les), du (= de + le), des (= de + les).
- La and elided l' never contract — à la, à l', de la, de l' stay separate.
- Au, aux, du, des are best stored as primitive single words rather than as preposition + article.
- The contracted du / des (preposition contraction) and the partitive / indefinite du / des are spelled identically but do different jobs — read the syntax to tell them apart.
- Plural countries always show up with aux: aux États-Unis, aux Pays-Bas.
- Compound prepositions ending in à or de inherit the contraction: à côté du, près des, grâce aux, jusqu'au.
- Verb + à / de + le / les always contracts: penser au, avoir peur des, parler du, jouer du / au.
- For an English speaker the practical retraining is to always check when à or de meets the article — the contraction is not optional, and skipping it produces ungrammatical French.
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Start learning French→Related Topics
- Les Articles en Français: OverviewA1 — A map of French articles — definite (le, la, les, l'), indefinite (un, une, des), and partitive (du, de la, des) — plus the obligatory contractions au, aux, du, des. French requires an article almost everywhere English drops one, and chooses among three article systems based on what kind of reference you are making.
- L'Article Défini: le, la, les, l'A1 — The French definite article — le for masculine singular, la for feminine, l' before a vowel or silent h, les for plural. Used not only for specific reference (the book) but also for generics (cats are independent) and abstracts (freedom is precious) — exactly the contexts where English drops the article. The single biggest article mismatch English speakers have to retrain.
- L'Article Partitif: du, de la, de l', desA1 — The French partitive article — du, de la, de l', des — marks an unspecified quantity of something uncountable. English drops it entirely (I drink water); French requires it (je bois de l'eau). After negation it collapses to de, just like the indefinite, and after a quantity word it disappears in favor of bare de + noun.
- De vs Des après Quantités: 'beaucoup de' vs 'beaucoup des'B1 — Quantity expressions in French take 'de' followed by a bare noun — 'beaucoup de livres', not 'beaucoup des livres'. The variant 'beaucoup des' exists, but it means something different: 'many of the' (a partitive construction picking out a specific group). This page drills the bare-quantity rule, the partitive-of-definite exception, and the small set of fossilised forms (la plupart des, bien des) that genuinely keep 'des'.
- L'Article après Négation: 'pas de'A1 — After a negated verb, the indefinite (un, une, des) and partitive (du, de la, de l') articles collapse to a single bare 'de' — 'j'ai un chien' becomes 'je n'ai pas de chien'. The definite article is unaffected, and 'être' is the headline exception that keeps its article. A defining feature of French negation that English cannot prepare you for.
- L'Article avec les Noms PropresA2 — When French uses an article with a proper noun and when it doesn't — people without, cities without (with a handful of exceptions), countries with, geographic features with, monuments with, languages with one set of verbs and without another. The rules look arbitrary in isolation but follow a clear logic once you know which categories pattern together.