18
votes
Accepted
What is happening grammatically in the street name "Rue de Seine"?
« Les noms désignant des régions (continents, pays, provinces, départements, etc.), des montagnes, des mers ou des lacs, des cours d'eau » prennent « ordinairement » l'article défini sauf que « pour ...
- 7,133
16
votes
Accepted
Are there words in French that wil never have an indefinite article?
It's possible to use all of these with indefinite articles. But it's so uncommon, that it would only confuse learners. Choose a different way to provide the gender in these cases. Possibly definite ...
- 30.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Why say "le bon bateau", not "un bon bateau"?
Both
C'est dommage que bon nombre de photos ...
and
C'est dommage qu'un bon nombre de photos ...
are equivalent and idiomatic, the first one is more stylish.
On the other hand:
Ça ...
- 146k
11
votes
Accepted
How should I understand "des" in this sentence?
Pays is a word that has the same form in the singular and in the plural. It always has an s in the end.
In :
un des grands pays
it is plural. And you can tell it is plural because the adjective ...
- 60.2k
11
votes
Accepted
"à la table" or "à table" for "at the table"
Both are correct. In the case of à la table, the definite article la suggests a certain table, that you can see, or that was talked about previously. In the case of à table, the meaning is rather that ...
- 8,664
10
votes
Accepted
Is it correct to say "de des femmes" for "of some women"?
Depending on the surrounding context, you might translate of some women to, for example:
de certaines femmes
de quelques femmes
d'un certain nombre de femmes
de (d'un) bon nombre de femmes
de des ...
- 5,219
10
votes
Accepted
Partitive before adjective?
There are two cases in which the partitive article changes from the default “du”/“de la”/“de l'”/“des” to “de”/“d'”.
With a plural noun, when there is an adjective before the noun. There is no such ...
10
votes
Accepted
Why don't “des”, “de la”, “du” always become “de” in negative sentences?
"Je ne bois pas de vin" is a generic statement : I don't drink wine, I don't like the taste. It's often said alone, you don't really need to add what you drink instead (and you probably don't always ...
- 11.8k
10
votes
"Il a les yeux noirs" ou "il a des yeux noirs"?
Both “Il a les yeux noirs” and “il a des yeux noirs” are possible but using les is more common.
Il a les xxx + mandatory adjective usually means this is something intrinsic, a characteristic of the ...
- 146k
10
votes
Accepted
Using “à des” instead of “aux”
This is because aux is a contraction of à les, and not à des.
J’ai payé un café à des ados qui semblaient épuisés et désemparés.
J’ai payé un café aux ados là-bas. Ils semblaient épuisés et ...
- 11.3k
10
votes
Why "de" in "à de"?
Your understanding is correct, it is indeed "mélanger à" + partitive article used with "eau".
The key difference between English and French is that in English, "some" or "any" are not always needed, ...
- 17.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Pourquoi l'usage du verbe aimer n'admet pas l'article partitif ?
L'article partitif est employé pour désigner une certaine quantité indénombrable. Son emploi est donc dépendant du sens du verbe dont dépend le nom qu'il précède.
Je mange trois/ quelques/ des/ ...
- 60.2k
9
votes
Accepted
Why is "une information" correct in French, but not its English equivalent?
In French there is no notion as strong as the English uncountable nature of certain things. If you can think about a way to count something, you can speak about it as a countable.
For example, you ...
- 6,062
9
votes
Why “rapporter des millions”?
"des" is an undefined article whereas "les" is a defined article.
We don't know where do they (the millions) come from, so it is undefined.
"les millions" would imply that they are defined by a ...
- 191
8
votes
La « boîte à lettres » ou la « boîte aux lettres » ?
Personellement, ayant vécu en France et en Belgique, je dirais que 'boîte aux lettres' est bien plus commun que 'boîte à lettres'.
En effet, les sites suivants ont l'air de favoriser cet usage aussi:
...
- 1,924
8
votes
Accepted
How to resolve the dilemma of saying "accoucher de de telles histoires"?
Seules des bardes pourraient accoucher de telles histoires.
C'est l'article partitif qui disparaît.
Après la préposition de on omet l'article indéfini pluriel et l'article partitif. En effet les ...
- 60.2k
8
votes
Accepted
What does "les" + Singular Proper Noun mean?
Sometimes you can find this kind of construction. For instance, "Les Baptiste" will mean "All people named Baptiste". The proper noun can also refer to a entire familly like "les Dupond" (without ...
- 297
8
votes
"Il a les yeux noirs" ou "il a des yeux noirs"?
The key is the word "grands." When talking about parts of the body, when the subject has them as one would expect (in this case, two eyes of a certain color), one uses the definite article. With the ...
- 181
8
votes
Accepted
Translating "Passages from the New Testament" into French
"Passages du Nouveau Testament" is perfect, there is no reason to look for another translation. It is very common to leave out the article in titles of books, articles, chapters, etc. if they describe ...
- 17.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Pourquoi est ce que l'on dit "ton adresse" alors que le mot est féminin ?
Effectivement, c'est parce que le nom en question commence par une voyelle que l'on utilise 'Ton' à la place de 'Ta', afin de faciliter la prononciation.
Ainsi on prononcerait cela : Ton n'adresse
...
- 1,214
8
votes
On an apparent "masstermization" phenomenon in contemporary informal French: “il y a de la jolie nana par ici”
La figure de style qui transforme en "chose indénombrable" ce qui ne l'est pas est du domaine de la métaphore. Quand elle s'applique à des être humains, on peut l’appeler réification, cf. TLFi
B. − ...
- 146k
8
votes
When should I use an article?
French nouns almost always require an article in French so that would be:
Elle aime le lycée.
This sentence is perfectly idiomatic. Le lycée is likely here the high-school she studies in, works at, ...
- 146k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is "différents" before the noun in the following sentence and also no articles used?
L'adjectif différent antéposé signifie plusieurs
La phrase pourrait s'écrire :
(Ils ont participé à) plusieurs événements historiques.
§B
2. Usuel, au plur. et antéposé avec valeur d'adj. ...
- 14.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Why do we use apostrophe in definite articles but not indefinite articles?
The apostrophe is commonly taught to come so that vowels don't come close to each other.
This is not stated precisely, and you might be misunderstanding. The apostrophe is a consequence of the ...
8
votes
Do you need to use an article for every noun when writing a title?
Articles are not always mandatory in titles (e.g. Guerre et Paix) but are not always optional either. For example Belle et Bête would be an awful title compared to La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the ...
- 146k
7
votes
Why do professions have no article when used after être?
It is not always être, it is not always a profession, it is not always one verb, and it is not always one noun.
Quand j'étais enfant.
Ils sont cousins.
Il demeure Président du Conseil d'...
- 389
7
votes
Accepted
Why should I not include "une" in the sentence below?
We can try to explain this, but forgive me if I make a detour through the general case [if anyone sees something to add or to amend, please come forth].
Meanings of a singular noun
First of all, we ...
- 1,012
7
votes
Why is there no article in "c'est dommage"?
C'est dommage est une expression figée.
Le nom dommage peut avoir le sens de préjudice fait à quelqu'un/quelque chose ou de dégât causés. Dans ce cas, c'est un nom comme les autres.
Mais on le trouve ...
- 1,458
7
votes
Accepted
"De deux" ou "des deux" (plus nom)
Il faut en fait se rappeler que des peut être la contraction de "de les". C'est le cas dans votre exemple. On utilise alors de si les noms ne sont identifiés, et des si les noms sont bien identifiés ...
- 17.2k
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