de
/də/
In French, the word for 'about' is de. Wiktionary also lists sur and au sujet de.
Meaning: concerning (prep)
Ways to say it
| French | IPA |
|---|---|
| de | /də/ /dø/ (Paris) |
| sur | /syʁ/ (Europe) /sʏʁ/ (Canada) |
| au sujet de | /o sy.ʒɛ də/ |
| à propos de | /a pʁɔ.po də/ |
If you need to express 'approximately' or 'nearly' in terms of quantity or time, use the adverb environ instead.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The preposition de is highly versatile and can mean 'of', 'from' or 'about' depending on the verb it follows.
How do you pronounce it?
/də/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use de to mean 'approximately' (for example, when saying 'about 5 o'clock'). In these cases of approximation, you must use environ or vers.
Did you know?
- French has two different words spelled sur that are completely unrelated. One means 'about' or 'on' and the other means 'sour'.
- When French speakers use sur to mean 'about', they are conceptually thinking of the topic as a surface that the conversation is 'on'.
- When discussing the 'subject' of a conversation using sujet, you are using a word that literally means 'thrown under' in its original Latin form.
Examples in context
- Il parle de lui.He's talking about him.This sentence shows how to use de to indicate the subject of a conversation.Tatoeba #8637630 by Julien_PDC, translation #11038027 by doemaar14
- J'ai rêvé de Tom.I dreamed about Tom.This sentence demonstrates the use of de with the verb for dreaming.Tatoeba #2920007 by Amastan, translation #5427257 by CK
- Parles-tu de ça ?Are you talking about this?This sentence uses de to ask about the subject of a conversation.Tatoeba #6166959 by Aiji, translation #3181511 by CK
- J'ai besoin d'informations concernant la réunion de demain.I need information about tomorrow's meeting.
- En ce qui concerne votre demande, nous sommes en train d'étudier la faisabilité.As for your request, we are studying the feasibility.
- Le livre traite de sujets relatifs à l'intelligence artificielle.The book is about topics related to artificial intelligence.
- Je pense qu'il viendra à peu près à 10 heures ce soir.I think he'll come around 10 o'clock tonight, more or less.
- On se téléphone vers 4 heures ?Shall we call each other around 4 o'clock?
- De quoi parlez-vous ?What are you talking about?
- J'ai lu un livre sur l'histoire.I read a book about history.
- J'ai entendu une rumeur à ton sujet.I heard a rumor about you.
- Ils discutent d'un nouveau projet.They are discussing a new project.
- 4103 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Manon and Lucas are discussing a new movie.
- ManonTu as entendu parler de ce film ?Have you heard about this movie?
- LucasNon, je ne sais rien de ça.No, I know nothing about that.
- ManonIl est très intéressant, Lucas.It is very interesting, Lucas.
- LucasD'accord, j'en parlerai à Marie.Okay, I will talk about it to Marie.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “about” translations and entries de, sur, au sujet de, à propos de, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, propos, sujet, sur, à, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
