Take the fastest path to fluent French
In French, you will encounter a lot of compound nouns. This lesson looks at those which take the prepositions à, de or en.
Learn about compound nouns with à/de/en in French
Look at these examples:
In English, we often simply squish nouns together to form new words for things: wine glass, snowball, ironing board, etc. (we call these compound nouns because they are formed from two nouns compounded together).
In French though, compound words like this are almost always separated by à or de or en and the meaning changes depending on which is used.
Compound nouns with à
à usually indicates what something is designed for, e.g. un verre à vin.
Note that to say a glass of wine, we use de where English uses of: e.g. un verre de vin.
Compound nouns with de / en
de or en usually implies what something is made of, e.g. un sac de cuir / un sac en cuir.
Compound nouns with à la / à l' / au / aux
Additionally, à la / à l’ / au / aux are used particularly with food to mean with, made with or flavoured with, e.g. une glace à la vanille.
Also have a look at Compound nouns formed with [noun] + à + [infinitive] in French
Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
(a glass for wine)
and Happy New Year Grandma!
