Breakdown of Elle écrit à l'aide d'un ordinateur.
elle
she
l'ordinateur
the computer (m)
écrire
to write
à l'aide de
with the help of
Questions & Answers about Elle écrit à l'aide d'un ordinateur.
Why use à l'aide de here instead of grâce à from our current lesson?
Could I just use avec instead of à l'aide de?
Why is it d'un ordinateur? I always get confused about when de changes.
The preposition de drops its vowel and becomes d' whenever the very next word starts with a vowel or a mute H, to avoid a clashing sound. Notice that it does not merge into a new word with un the way it does with definite articles (where de + le becomes du). With un, it simply elides to become d'un.
Do I pronounce the t at the end of écrit and link it to à?
In everyday spoken French, no. The liaison between a conjugated verb like écrit and a preposition like à is grammatically optional but sounds very formal. You will normally just hear the vowel sound at the end of écrit, followed by a tiny pause before à.
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