Au lieu de
Example: Je bois de l'eau au lieu de soda aujourd'hui.
Definition
"Au lieu de" is a French prepositional phrase used to indicate substitution or replacement, meaning 'instead of' or 'in place of'. It expresses choosing one option over another, as in 'I drink water au lieu de soda today,' meaning water is chosen instead of soda.
Etymology
The phrase "au lieu de" originates from Old French, where 'au' is a contraction of 'à le' meaning 'to the,' and 'lieu' means 'place.' Together, it literally means 'at the place of,' which evolved to express substitution or replacement. Did you know? The word 'lieu' is related to the English word 'lieu' used in the same sense, showing their shared linguistic roots.
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"Au lieu de" appears in the Vocaplus list "French - General - (A1) - set 2", containing 103 commonly used words.
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