A postpositive particle that ranks among the most frequent words in the New Testament, de serves as Greek's primary tool for signaling mild contrast or narrative continuation. Unlike the stronger adversative alla, de often simply advances the discourse: 'and Abraham begat Isaac, de Isaac begat Jacob' (Matt 1:2). Yet it can carry genuine adversative force, as in Eph 4:11 where it distinguishes categories of gifted leaders. French 'or' (meaning 'now') captures the transitional flavor well, while Spanish alternates between 'y' (continuative) and 'pero' (adversative), and German uses 'aber' for both shades.