When do you use jouer à and when do you use jouer de?

À introduces a game, sport, or make-believe: jouer au foot, jouer aux cartes, jouer à cache-cache. De introduces a musical instrument: jouer du piano, jouer de la batterie. Roles and pieces of music take neither: jouer Hamlet, jouer la Cinquième.

How do you say I play the guitar in French?

Je joue de la guitare. The de is required and contracts with the article, so you get du before a masculine instrument (du violon), de la before a feminine one (de la flûte), and de l' before a vowel (de l'orgue).

Why is it jouer au football and not jouer football?

French keeps the definite article in front of the name of a sport, and the preposition à contracts with it to give au. The same happens in the plural: jouer aux échecs, jouer aux fléchettes.

How do you conjugate jouer?

It is fully regular: je joue, tu joues, il joue, nous jouons, vous jouez, ils jouent. The past participle is joué, so the passé composé is j'ai joué, and the future keeps the whole infinitive: je jouerai.

What does jouer la comédie mean?

Literally to act in a play, but in ordinary conversation it means to put on an act or make a fuss without meaning it: arrête de jouer la comédie. The related jouer les with a plural noun works the same way, as in il joue les héros.

French grammar · Beginner

Jouer in French: Jouer À, Jouer De, and Everything After

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Jouer is the French verb for to play, and the preposition that follows it tells you what kind of playing you mean. Games and sports take à (jouer au foot), musical instruments take de (jouer de la guitare), and a role or a piece of music is a plain direct object (jouer Hamlet).

Elle joue au tennis le samedi et du piano le soir.

She plays tennis on Saturdays and the piano in the evening.

What it is

Jouer itself is a completely regular -er verb, so the conjugation gives nobody trouble. The work is done by what comes next: French makes you say whether you are entering into a game, drawing sound out of an instrument, or performing something.

Je joue aux échecs, tu joues du violon, il joue le rôle du père. — I play chess, you play the violin, he plays the part of the father.

How to spot it

Identify the thing being played. A game or sport takes à, an instrument takes de, and a role, a piece, or a card is a direct object with no preposition at all.

Ils jouent au basket. — They play basketball. (sport → à)
Elle joue de la flûte. — She plays the flute. (instrument → de)
On joue une pièce de Molière. — We're putting on a Molière play. (direct object)
Le chat joue avec la ficelle. — The cat is playing with the string. (playing with a thing)

Both prepositions contract with the definite article, so you will see au, aux, du, and des far more often than à le or de le, which do not exist.

Jouer Quick Reference

What follows jouer

Pattern	What it covers	Example
jouer à	games, sports, anything with rules	jouer au football — to play football
jouer de	musical instruments	jouer du piano — to play the piano
jouer + direct object	a role, a play, a piece, a card	jouer un rôle — to play a part
jouer avec	toying or messing about with something	jouer avec le feu — to play with fire
jouer contre	the opponent you face	jouer contre l'Italie — to play against Italy
jouer sur	trading on or exploiting something	jouer sur les mots — to play on words
se jouer de	to outwit or make light of	se jouer des règles — to flout the rules

Common Jouer Examples in French

Jouer with each of its complements:

Games and Sports: Jouer À

Je joue au football depuis dix ans.: I've played football for ten years.
Elle joue aux échecs très sérieusement.: She plays chess very seriously.
Les enfants jouent à cache-cache.: The children are playing hide-and-seek.
On joue aux cartes après le dîner.: We play cards after dinner.
Tu joues à la pétanque ?: Do you play pétanque?

Cache-cache keeps no article, because it is the name of the game rather than a countable noun.

Instruments: Jouer De

Il joue du violon depuis l'enfance.: He's played the violin since childhood.
Elle joue de la batterie dans un groupe.: She plays drums in a band.
Mon frère joue de l'accordéon.: My brother plays the accordion.
Nous jouons du saxophone tous les deux.: We both play the saxophone.

The article is obligatory: jouer du piano, never jouer piano. It contracts to du, de la, or de l' depending on the instrument.

Performing: A Direct Object

Elle joue Hamlet cette saison.: She's playing Hamlet this season.
Il joue le rôle du grand-père.: He plays the part of the grandfather.
L'orchestre joue la Neuvième Symphonie.: The orchestra is playing the Ninth Symphony.
J'ai joué le valet de cœur.: I played the jack of hearts.

When the thing played is a specific work, part, or card, the preposition disappears entirely.

Stakes and Risk

Il joue au casino chaque week-end.: He gambles at the casino every weekend.
Elle joue sa carrière sur ce projet.: She's staking her career on this project.
Ne joue pas avec le feu.: Don't play with fire.
Il a joué des coudes pour arriver là.: He elbowed his way there.

With money and reputations, jouer takes a direct object: jouer sa réputation, jouer gros, jouer cent euros.

How Jouer Works

The verb is regular; the preposition is not optional. These four points cover almost every sentence you will need.

À for Games, De for Instruments

The logic behind the split is worth knowing: with à you step into a game and follow its rules, while with de you draw something out of an instrument. That is the same de of origin you meet in venir de.

Je joue au rugby et je joue de la trompette.

I play rugby and I play the trumpet.

Into a game → à. Out of an instrument → de.

The Preposition Contracts

À le and de le never survive as such. À becomes au before a masculine noun and aux before a plural; de becomes du and des. Feminine nouns keep à la and de la, and vowels take à l' and de l'.

Elle joue aux cartes, il joue de l'orgue.

She plays cards, he plays the organ.

au, aux, du, des, à l', de l'.

Jouer Avec Means Handling, Not Competing

Jouer avec is for playing around with an object or playing alongside a person. Swapping it in for jouer à changes the picture from a match to someone fiddling with the equipment.

Il joue avec les cartes au lieu de jouer aux cartes.

He's messing about with the cards instead of playing cards.

avec = handling, à = the game itself.

Regular Endings, Two Spellings to Watch

Jouer takes the standard -er endings, and the u stays put throughout: nous jouons, je jouais, ils joueront. The e of the stem survives before the future and conditional endings even though it is not pronounced.

Nous jouerons demain si tu jouais mieux.

We'll play tomorrow if you played better.

jouer- + endings, e included.

Common Mistakes with Jouer

Incorrect: Je joue le piano. — I play the piano.

Correct: Je joue du piano. — I play the piano.

Instruments take de, which contracts with le to give du. A bare direct object after jouer names a role or a piece of music, so je joue le piano would suggest you are performing a character called The Piano.

Incorrect: Elle joue à la guitare. — She plays the guitar.

Correct: Elle joue de la guitare. — She plays the guitar.

À turns the guitar into a game rather than an instrument. This is the mirror image of the piano error and just as common.

Incorrect: Nous jouons football le dimanche. — We play football on Sundays.

Correct: Nous jouons au football le dimanche. — We play football on Sundays.

English drops the article before a sport, but French keeps both the preposition and the article: jouer au football, jouer au basket, jouer au volley.

Incorrect: Les enfants jouent avec le foot. — The children are playing football.

Correct: Les enfants jouent au foot. — The children are playing football.

Jouer avec describes handling an object. With the name of a game you need à, otherwise the sentence says the children are fiddling with something called foot.

Jouer Beyond Games

A large part of jouer's everyday use has nothing to do with play. These three groups cover most of it.

Risk and stakes

With money, reputations, or outcomes, jouer means to stake. The thing risked is a direct object, and the thing you are betting on takes sur.

Il joue gros dans cette affaire.: He's taking a big risk in this deal.
Elle a joué sa réputation.: She staked her reputation on it.
Ils jouent le tout pour le tout.: They're going all in.
Je ne joue jamais d'argent.: I never gamble.

Jouer de l'argent uses de because the money is the source of the stake, not the game being played.

Pretending and performing

Jouer plus a definite article and a noun describes putting on an act. It is mildly critical: it implies the attitude is not genuine.

Arrête de jouer la comédie.: Stop putting it on.
Il joue les innocents.: He's playing innocent.
Elle a joué le jeu jusqu'au bout.: She played along to the end.
Ils m'ont joué un tour.: They played a trick on me.

Jouer les with a plural adjective, as in jouer les victimes, is a fixed idiom and stays plural whoever the subject is.

Things that work in your favour

With an abstract subject, jouer plus pour, contre, or en faveur de says which way a factor cuts.

Le temps joue contre nous.: Time is working against us.
Son expérience a joué en sa faveur.: Her experience worked in her favour.
Ça joue pour toi.: That counts in your favour.
Plusieurs facteurs ont joué.: Several factors came into it.

Used this way, jouer needs no complement at all: plusieurs facteurs ont joué is a complete sentence.

Jouer FAQs

When do you use jouer à and when do you use jouer de?: À introduces a game, sport, or make-believe: jouer au foot, jouer aux cartes, jouer à cache-cache. De introduces a musical instrument: jouer du piano, jouer de la batterie. Roles and pieces of music take neither: jouer Hamlet, jouer la Cinquième.
How do you say I play the guitar in French?: Je joue de la guitare. The de is required and contracts with the article, so you get du before a masculine instrument (du violon), de la before a feminine one (de la flûte), and de l' before a vowel (de l'orgue).
Why is it jouer au football and not jouer football?: French keeps the definite article in front of the name of a sport, and the preposition à contracts with it to give au. The same happens in the plural: jouer aux échecs, jouer aux fléchettes.
How do you conjugate jouer?: It is fully regular: je joue, tu joues, il joue, nous jouons, vous jouez, ils jouent. The past participle is joué, so the passé composé is j'ai joué, and the future keeps the whole infinitive: je jouerai.
What does jouer la comédie mean?: Literally to act in a play, but in ordinary conversation it means to put on an act or make a fuss without meaning it: arrête de jouer la comédie. The related jouer les with a plural noun works the same way, as in il joue les héros.