French Prepositions Flashcards
Avant
Avant means “before” in terms of time or a sequence of events. It can be used with expressions of time, nouns, and stressed pronouns. e.g. avant 10h = before 10 o’clock; avant jeudi - before Thursday; avant la réunion= before the meeting; avant toi = before you. Avant can also be used with verbs. e.g. (1) de + infinitive; avant d’avoir des enfants = before having kids; avant de te réveiller = before waking you up. (2) que + subject + ne explétif + subjunctive / past subjunctive e.g. avant que je n’aie des enfants = before I have kids; avant que tu ne sois parti = before you left.
It contrasts with devant which means “in front of” and indicates a position or location, whether literal or figurative. It’s used only with nouns and stressed pronouns. e.g. devant le restaurant = in front of the restaurant
The antonym for avant is après and for devant is derrière
hors (de)
hors means out of or excluding or exceeding as in être hors de danger = to be out of danger; hors d’usage = out of service; hors de prix = over priced. It means essentially that it is outside anything to which it refers
envers
Vers and envers both mean toward, but in difference circumstances.
Vers means toward or around in time and space e.g. Nous allons vers Rouen. = We’re going toward Rouen.; Tournez vers la droite. = Turn to(ward) the right. ; J’étais vers Provence.= I was around (near) Provence.; Nous allons vers midi. = We’re going around noon.; J’y vais vers la fin de la journée. = I’m going around the end of the day.
Envers means toward in a figurative sense e.g. Il est cruel envers ses chiens. = He is cruel toward his dogs.; Son attitude envers les enfants… = His attitude toward children…; Ses pensées envers l’argent…= His thoughts on money..
en dehors de
dehors on its own is an adverb, so you use it to say they’re playing outside, eating outside etc.
en dehors de is a preposition, so you use that to say outside of something.e.g. il est en dehors de la porte = He is outside the door
dedans
inside, within - It is a noun also as in le dedans = inside. Nowadays, dedans is not used with an object. So it is common to say il est dedans (“he is inside it/there”), but it is now archaic to say, as was once common, e.g. dedans le lendemain = over the course of the next day.
sans
The prepositionsansis used similarly to its English equivalent “without,” but not without a few differences. Many English words and phrases with -less, non-, un-, etc. are equivalent tosansplus the corresponding French noun. e.g. sans arrêt (without stopping) non-stop; sans doute (without doubt) doubtless; sans égal (without equality) unequaled, peerless; sans parapluie (without an umbrella). Sansis usually followed directly by a noun, with no article in between.
Pour
The preposition pour usually means “for” and may be followed by a noun, pronoun, or infinitive. Pour is often followed directly by a noun, with no article in between
Par
The French preposition par means “through,” “by,” or “per” in English. It is used to indicate the manner in which something is done, the reason behind an event, the direction something moves, or the amount of something per some unit of measurement. In everyday conversation, you might use par when giving directions to someone or to describe how an event occurred. e.g. Je suis sortie par la porte = I left through/by the door.; J’ai appris la verité par hasard. = I learned the truth by accident.
environ
Approximately, about - Use environ when talking about a quantity, when you are about to introduce a number that is approximate. You can place the word environ just before or just after the noun or the group of words it refers to: e.g. Il existe environ 20 000 espèces d’abeilles dans le monde. (There are about 20,000 species of bees in the world); Il faut environ 10 minutes pour remplir leur formulaire. (It will take about 10 minutes to fill in their form.)
Use vers when referring to space or time. Vers can only be placed before the word or group of words it refers to: e.g. Sa famille habite vers Lille. (His/her family lives near Lille.) La dernière fois que je l’ai vu, c’était vers la fin de l’année. (Last time I saw him was towards the end of the year.)
Note: you can equally use environ or vers when telling the time. e.g. Il est arrivé vers 9 heures. (He arrived at about 9) (Note the preposition à is not used with vers); Il est arrivé à environ 9 heures. (Note how we keep the preposition à with environ); Je partirai vers 8 heures 30. (I’ll go around 8:30) Il doit être environ 3 heures. (It must be about 3 o’clock.) Vers quelle heure tu peux venir? (Around what time can you come?)
À quelle heure environ tu peux venir?
hormis
except (archaic literary usage) - “Il les accusa tous hormis ses avocats.” | “He accused everyone except his lawyers.”
outre
besides, across -in addition to e.g. “Outre deux tomes des Essais de Montaigne, il possédait les Confessions de Rousseau.” (literary) | “Besides two volumes of Montaigne’s Essays, he owned Rousseau’s Confessions.”
Outre also occurs in less literary registers in the following phrases:
outre-Atlantique | across the Atlantic (i.e. in America)
outre-cela | besides that
outre-Manche | across the Channel (i.e. in Britain)
outre-mer | overseas
outre-Rhin | on the other side of the Rhine (i.e. in Germany)
outre-tombe | beyond the grave
excepté
except, excepting, apart from, barring
sauf
except, unless, excluding, but - it is the same in meaning as excepté although the latter tends to be used more often in writing than orally - which to be used tends to depend on which sounds better in the circumstances
tandis que
Tandis que means “while” or “as”; something is happening at the same time as something else.
Je cuisine tandis qu’elle nettoie.
I cook while she cleans.
