Jouer à vs. Jouer de

The verb Jouer is one of the common verbs in the french langauge. One can observe below the conjuatation of the verb Jouer.


Jouer- to play

Je joue - I play

tu joues - you play

Il joue - He plays

Elle joue - She plays

Nous jouons - We play

Vous jouez - You play

Ils jouent - They play

Elle jouent - They play


After looking and noticing the conjuatation of the verb jouer, there are two main prepositions used after the verb jouer. Those two prepositions are(à) and (de). There is a difference with using these two prepositions are the verb jouer. First, let's look at Jouer à.


1. Jouer à

This is always used in a sentence that deals or speaks about sports or games! Let's look at some examples below.

Example I.

Je joue au tennis le mardi! I play tennis on tuesday!

In this sentence, le tennis is the sport! In order to form au- one must use the formula(à+le)= au.


Example II.

Nous jouons aux cartes aujourd'hui! We are playing cards today!

From this sentence, les cartes(cards) is a game! In order to form aux, which is plural - one must use the formula (à +les)= aux.



2. Jouer de

This one is far different from Jouer à. When one uses Jouer de, it is used to only express playing a form of music and instruments.Let's look at some examples.


Example I.

Vous jouez du piano! You play the piano!


In this sentence, le piano is the instrument. To form (du)- one must use the formula (de+le)= du.


Example II.


Ils jouent de la musique classique. They are playing classical music.


From this sentence, (la musique classique) is playing a form of music. In this formula (de+la)=de la, which it stays the same and does not change.