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Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

From:Newton, Philip <philip.newton@...>
Date:Monday, September 9, 2002, 12:25
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.