du/dy/
determiner · A1 · Frequency 73
determinermasculine
Meanings
some; a bit of
Partitive article used before mass or plural nouns to indicate an unspecified quantity.
of the; 's
Contraction of definite article 'le' and preposition 'de', indicating possession or origin.
Examples
Je bois du café après le déjeuner.
I drink coffee after lunch.
Nous avons acheté du pain pour le dîner.
We bought some bread for dinner.
Il faut du courage pour commencer ce projet.
It takes courage to start this project.
Collocations
- du painsome bread
- du lait fraissome fresh milk
- le livre du professeurthe teacher's book
Common mistakes
Je mange de le pain.
Je mange du pain.
The preposition de contracts with the masculine singular definite article le to form du; de le is not used in this context.
Related words
synonymde lapartitive article, feminine form
- antonymledefinite article, masculine singular
Grammar note
Du is the contraction of the definite article le and the preposition de, used to indicate possession or relation; as a partitive article, du is used before masculine singular mass nouns or partitive nouns.