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- Quand « du » et quand « de » ? 2 answers
I read the following sentence:
"avoir le nom du père"
Why wasn't "de" used instead of "du"?
Thanks.
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marked as duplicate by Laure SO - Écoute-nous, Édouard, Laurent G., Toto, Alexis Pigeon Jun 11 '14 at 10:14
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Answered here. And here – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Jun 10 '14 at 19:12
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“Du”, in this example, is a contraction of “de le”, meaning “of the”.
So the construct might have been “le nom de le père", except that “de le” doesn't sound very good, so it is incorrect. You need the contraction “le nom du père”.
“De la” sounds (or is believed to sound) better, so the construction for mother would be “de la mère”.
