# FR: de / depuis / à partir de + lieu ou moment



## Bléros

Hi.

I know these three words mean "from", but what is the difference between them? I'll try to narrow it down.

De: used with 'venir', 'sortir', 'provenir', etc.
Depuis: I have no clue.
À partir de: used with time and numbers.

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads have been merged to create this one.


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## 7mOn

here are some examples which can help:
Il vient *de* Paris...
Il joue du piano *depuis *qu'il a 10 ans.     Je l'attend *depuis *22h00.    
*A partir *de cet maintenant, il peut partir.        *A partir* de cet âge, ....


*depuis* is more "since" than from


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## Bléros

But I've seen phrases like "On a pris une photo depuis une montagne", and stuff like that. Why can't you say "d'une montagne". Is it because it might be translated as "photo of a mountain". Thanks for your help, by the way.


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## tilt

Be careful, 7mOn, _Il vient *de* sortir _is not a good example, because this *de* doesn't translate *from*. And _cet maintenant_  is not correct (I guess you mixed _maintenant_ and _cet instant_) 

Bléros, you're right about the photo of/from a mountain. _*D*_*epuis *is used to means *from *if *de *means something else.
If not, *depuis *and _*de*_ can be used equally: _je téléphone* de/depuis* chez moi_, even if most of the French speakers would prefer *de*, in my opinion.

About *à partir de*, it refers to future whereas *depuis *does to past (continuing in present): _*À partir de* 21 h, il fera nuit _and _*Depuis *21 h, il fait nuit_.


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## WordRef1

I have sometimes heard people using depuis to mean from and I'm a bit confused as to how that should actually be used. Maybe it's not standard grammar, but either way, when should I use it or not use it and how?


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## Maître Capello

First, let me disagree with one of the things Tilt wrote above: you can definitely say _prendre une photo *de* la montagne_ to mean that it was taken *from* the mountain. However, that sentence is confusing since is could equally mean that a picture *of* the mountain was taken! 

Because of this ambiguity, most people prefer to use _depuis_ instead of _de_. But _de_ is definitely correct as well, even a bit less colloquial.

In short, _de_ is usually better, but people tend to use _depuis_ when there may be a confusion.


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## Ricardinho

Are these completely interchangeable?  ie, d'aujourd'hui à demain, or, depuis aujourd'hui jusqu'à demain?

Thanks


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## thetys

Yes, I think.
And you can also say de/jusqu'à : d'octobre jusqu'à décembre, de Paris jusqu'à Londres...


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## voltape

*Place de la Concorde, seen from La Madeleine*

How would this be in French:  P. de la Concorde, vue de La Madeleine, or P. de la Concorde, vue depuis La Madeleine?
Is it  "de" which sounds like "of", or "depuis" which sounds better as "from".   Yet I feel "depuis" would mean only since "since"
Thank you


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## olivier68

Hi Voltape,

Your first solution is grammatically correct, but can be ambiguous.
The second proposal avoids any ambiguity.


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## Bezoard

If you would like to follow the prescriptions of Académie française, you should avoid "depuis" in this context ; "de" is better :
Depuis | Académie française
In practice, "depuis" is quite used, especially when the use of "de" would lead to ambiguity, as suggested by Olivier.


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## olivier68

Just to explain the potential ambiguity:

"P. de la Concorde, vue de la Madeleine"

1) first possibility: you are standing P. de la Concorde and expresse that you see la Madeleine (a parisian Church)
2) second possibility: you are standing at la Madeleine Church, and have a view toward Place de la Concorde

The comma would help to decide... but not without comforting context.

Using "depuis", which here indicates the "spatial origin", allows to definitely discriminate.


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## voltape

Thank you very much to all.  Your have been most helpful


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## PotatoTomato

Bonjour à tous!

I recently came across a problem with what seems to be an ambiguity with the preposition "de". I would like to translate the sentence "He talked to her from his bedroom", and I would say it as "Il lui a parlé *de* sa chambre". The problem is that this also seems to have the meaning of "He talked to her *about* his room".

As such, I wondered if it is possible to say "Il lui a parlé* depuis* sa chambre". However I was told that this is technically incorrect. How should I say it then? Thank you very much!


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## Maître Capello

_Il lui a parlé *de* sa chambre_ is indeed ambiguous. You may certainly use _depuis_ or possibly _à partir de_ to avoid any confusion. It is not incorrect.


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## Bezoard

PotatoTomato said:


> As such, I wondered if it is possible to say "Il lui a parlé* depuis* sa chambre". However I was told that this is technically incorrect. How should I say it then? Thank you very much!


Yes, the use of "depuis" in this context was deemed to be incorrect by some grammar nazis. However it is quite useful in some instances in order to avoid ambiguous sentences.
See for example :


> _Depuis_ employé pour _de_ dans un sens spatial : _je l'ai vu passer depuis ma fenêtre ; il m'écrit depuis son lieu de vacances_. Emploi courant dans l'expression relâchée.
> recommandation :
> Préférer _de : je l'ai vu passer de ma fenêtre; il m'écrit de son lieu de vacances_.
> remarque
> L'emploi de _depuis_ dans un sens spatial est fréquent chez les journalistes de radio et de télévision (calque de l'anglais _from) : en ligne notre envoyé spécial qui nous parle depuis Washington_ (au lieu de : _de Washington_).


https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnair...loyé pour de dans,depuis son lieu de vacances.


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