Breakdown of Est-ce qu'il part du bureau maintenant ?
il
he
maintenant
now
le bureau
the office / the desk
est-ce que
is it that / do / does (question marker)
du
of the / from the (masculine singular, with plural des)
partir
to leave / to depart
Questions & Answers about Est-ce qu'il part du bureau maintenant ?
Why does the sentence use du instead of de le?
In French, when the preposition de (from/of) is followed by the masculine definite article le (the), they must combine into the single word du. You can never write de le in French.
Could I just say part le bureau without the du?
No, because the verb partir (to leave) requires the preposition de when stating the place you are leaving. It acts like 'leaving from' in English. Because de meets le bureau, it forms du bureau.
How can I remember that bureau is masculine, so I know to use du instead of de la?
Why is there an apostrophe in qu'il?
The common question starter is Est-ce que. However, when que is followed by a word starting with a vowel, like il (he), the e is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe to make pronunciation smoother. This gives us Est-ce qu'il.
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