This book stems from lectures notes of a Master 2 class held at UPMC between 2004 and 2007. A selection of mathematical techniques geared towards the resolution of semilinear and quasilinear elliptic partial differential equations is presented. After a short survival guide in basic real and functional analysis for PDEs, without proofs for the most well-known results, we walk through the classical fixed point theorems, the superposition operators in Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces, the Galerkin method, the maximum principles and elliptic regularity, we make a rather long foray into various aspects of the calculus of variations, and conclude with monotone and pseudo-monotone operators, by way of numerous examples. Each chapter is complemented by a number of exercises that grows with the chapter number as more and more material is made available.