Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

Roberto Suarez Soto wrote:
> On Sep/08/2002, bnathyuw wrote:
>
> > partitive: du/de la/des
>
>         Isn't this just a contraction of preposition + article? I've
> only read a few things about french, but they all mean "of" + "the".
It's both. "La fille du professeur" = the daughter of the teacher: this has
du < de + le (of + the). "Du sucre" = (some) sugar: this is a partitive
article, here acting a bit like an indefinite singular article, but for a
mass noun rather than a count noun. "As-tu des enfants?" = have you any
children: this is also a partitive article, here acting like an indefinite
plural article. "Non, je n'ai pas d'enfants" = no, I haven't any children:
here you have "de" meaning not "of" but something like "some" -- after a
negative, no "le/la/les" is used for this partitive/distributive sense.

Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>
All opinions are my own, not my employer's.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.