Daccéder

D'accéder is the contracted form of the French infinitive phrase de accéder, formed when the preposition de precedes an infinitive that follows a verb or construction requiring this preposition. The elision de + accès occurs before a vowel sound, yielding d'accéder. It is not a separate lexical item, but a orthographic result of French grammar.

The verb accéder means to reach or to gain access to something and is used with the preposition à to introduce its direct object: accéder à un site, accéder à une information, accéder à une zone sécurisée. The construction d'accéder appears when the infinitive accéder is governed by a preceding verb or expression that requires de + infinitive, for example: accepter de accéder, refuser de accéder, décider d'accéder. In such cases the de becomes contracted to d' before the following vowel-initial infinitive.

Etymology traces accéder to Latin accessus, from ad + cedere, meaning to go toward or to approach. In modern French, the verb accèder and its infinitive accéder are used in formal, administrative, or technical contexts, often related to permissions, privileges, or systems access.

Examples: Il a accepté d'accéder au dossier. (He agreed to access the file.) Pour accéder au système, il faut s’authentifier. (To access the system, you must authenticate.) Note that when accéder is the main verb and not governed by another de-verb, one writes accéder à, not d'accéder.

See also: accéder, accès, accès à une information.