d'

Write d'aigua, d'hivern and d'ell. The apostrophe replaces the e of de; it belongs to the preposition and has no effect on the noun's gender. De elision differs from feminine article elision, so d'universitat can occur even though the article phrase is la universitat.

If a definite article intervenes, apply the appropriate article construction: del llibre or de l'amic. Do not delete both vowels and produce d'l'amic. With a consonantal initial i/u sound, de remains, as in de iogurt.

The spelling follows the immediately following element, not a later word in the phrase. Thus de la història keeps de because la begins with a consonant, even though història itself begins with silent h. Read the whole phrase boundary before adding an apostrophe.