Breakdown of Il habite à côté du pont.
Questions & Answers about Il habite à côté du pont.
Why does this sentence use du instead of just de?
In French, "next to" is à côté de (literally "at the side of"). When the word de (of) is followed by the masculine word le (the), they must combine into du. Because "the bridge" is masculine (le pont), de + le becomes du. If "next to" is à côté de, why does English use "to" but French uses de (of)?
It helps to look at the literal meaning! The phrase à côté means "at the side". Therefore, à côté du pont literally translates to "at the side of the bridge". Why doesn't il get shortened with an apostrophe before habite?
You might be remembering how je becomes j' before a vowel or silent 'h' (like j'habite). But we only drop the letter and use an apostrophe for short words ending in 'e' or 'a'. Since il ends in a consonant, it never gets an apostrophe. You just run the sounds together when speaking. Do I pronounce the 't' at the end of pont?
No, the 't' at the end of pont is completely silent. It is pronounced with a nasal vowel, so it sounds a lot like "pon". Learn Il habite à côté du pont and more in French
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