List of French prepositions: compound prepositions

On the previous pages, the various prepositions that we looked at essentially consisted of a single word. (We actually sneaked in a couple of cases where two prepositions are arguably combined, such as d'après, which we will gloss over.)

But in French as in English, there are a number of compound prepositions (termed complex prepositions by some authors): essentially "fixed" expressions consisting of several words that behave together as though they were a single preposition. Whilst consisting of multiple words, they behave like "normal" prepositions in that:

they generally have a fixed form;
they can often be transitive or intransitive.

Fixed form

Notice that usually in French, we don't end up with the combination de moi. For example, to say a book belonging to me, we would say un de mes livres rather than ~~un livre de moi~~, even though, for example, un livre de Jean is perfectly grammatical.

On the other hand, with compound prepositions, the expression remains even where this means introducing such unusual combinations of words. For example, au lieu de... means instead of. We might then logically have expected instead of him to be *à son lieu. But in fact, the form is au lieu de lui. Similarly, opposite me is en face de moi, and not ~~en/dans ma face~~.

Transitive vs intransitive use

Recall that many single-word prepositions can be followed directly by an object (transitive) or used without the object actually expressed:

la maison derrière la forêt = the house behind the forest
la maison derrière = the house behind

Suggest a change / proposez une modification

The majority of what we term "compound prepositions" end in the word de. The word de is used when the preposition takes an object. But in many cases, the preposition can be used intransitively with de is removed. For example:

la maison à côté de la forêt = the house next to the forest
la maison à côté = the house next to it, the adjacent house

Suggest a change / proposez une modification

There are just one or two exceptions to this rule which we indicate with an asterisk (*) in the table below.

List of common compound prepositions in French

Here, then, is a list of common expressions that we may consider to be compound prepositions.

French preposition	Common English equivalent	Comments
à l'arrière de	behind, (located) at the back of	There is some overlap between these expressions, and both can indicate physical location. But en arrière de is also used to indicate "figurative" location, e.g. il est en arrière des autres élèves = he's fallen behind the other pupils
en arrière de	behind, to the back of
autour de	around
en bas de	at the foot/bottom of, down below
à cause de	because of, due to
compte tenu de	given, in view of
compte non tenu de	regardless of
à compter de	as of, taking effect from
à côté de	next to
au-deˆà de	this side of	Archaic.
en dehors de	outside, beyond, except
au-delà de	beyond
en dépit de	despite, regardless of
au-dessous de, en dessous de	below, beneath
au-dessus de	above
par-dessous	under(neath)	Indicating movement
par-dessus	over, over the top of	Indicating movement
par-devers	in front of; in the possession of	Extremely rare, used in legal contexts.
étant donné	given
en échange de	in exchange for
à l'extérieur	outisde
à l'exception de^*	except, excepting, with the exception of
en face de	opposite, facing
face à	faced with, in view of
faute de^*	save, barring, for want of
en fonction de^*	depending on, according to, with respect to
à force de	through, by dint of
grâce à	because of, thanks to
en haut de	at the top of, up
à l'instar de	in keeping with
à l'intérieur de	inside
au lieu de^*	instead of
lors de^*	during, at the time of
à même^*	directly on...; straight from...	Used in a few expressions such as à même le sol = directly on the ground, à même le pot = straight from the jar
au moyen de^*	using, by means of
au niveau de^*	regarding, -wise
de par	throughout; as a result of
à part	apart (from)	Can be used either prepositionally or postpositionally.
à partir de	starting from, from ... onwards, as of
en plus de	in addition to
par rapport à	regarding, with respect to
au ras de^, à ras de*	level with, just skimming
au sein de	within, at the heart of
en sus de	in addition to	Old-fashioned: en plus de is the modern equivalent.
à travers	through
au travers de	through	Figuratively, passer au travers (de) often has the meaning of "escape", "slip through".
en travers de	across, crossways through
vis-à-vis de	facing; vis-às-vis, regarding	Notice that in French, de is present.
y compris	including

"Semi-compound" prepositions

Despite my vitriolic attempt to make a distinction between "genuine" compound prepositions that have certain preposition-like features and "any old" expression, I'm now going to include a list of a few expressions that don't quite fit the definition of compound prepositions, but appear to have some some features of compound expressions:

some may have transitive vs intransitive use (à la place can be used to intransitively to mean "instead");
it is marginally possible to use some of them as "fixed" expressions (e.g. au sujet de lui is marginally possible, although à son sujet is more usual);
some contain a word which is otherwise non-existent or rare outside the expression in question (the word insu essentially does not exist outside the expression à l'insu de, à son insu etc);
for practical purposes it's convenient to consider some as "prepositions" because they're common expressions with similar meanings to other "genuine" prepositions.

French expression	Common English equivalent	Comments
à l'égard	regarding, in respect of	The expression à cet égard is also used to mean "in that regard", "on that matter".
à son insu	unbeknown to
par l'intermédiaire de	through (the intermediary) of	However, through him/her would usually be par son intermédiaire
à l'issue de	following, at the end of
de la part de	on behalf of, on the part of	de sa part = on his/her behalf, on his/her part
à la place de	in (the) place of	à sa place = in his place
au sujet de	about, concerning, on the matter of	à ce sujet = on that matter; However, for at least some speakers, it is grammatical to say à sujet de lui = about him, although à son sujet is more common.
à titre de	by way of, for the purposes of

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