French language Q&A Forum

The partitive articles (du, de la, de l' and des) can be identical in form to the contraction of "de + definite article" when dealing with quantities, adjectives and prepositional phrases. But they are separate elements of grammar? Is this correct?

If so, I've been incorrectly thinking that the partitive articles WERE those contractions in action.

A few questions arise,

1) is it correct that there are three meanings of "des" (not just two)?

- des, the partitive article (and presumably not a contraction of "de les"?)

- des, the indefinite article (not a contraction)

- des, the contraction of a phrase/quantity/adjective involving "...de les (specific plural noun)..."

2) is it correct that there are two meanings of "du" (not just one)?

- du, the partitive article

- du, the contraction of a phrase/quantity/adjective involving "...de le (specific singular masculine noun)..."

...and likewise for de la, de l'?

3) are the partitive articles meant to be thought of as a single grammatical unit and not as a contraction of the preposition "de" + definite article?

For reference, I consulted

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/de-vs-du-de-la-des-quantity/

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/partitive-article/

I’ve noticed that ‘violet’ changes with gender and number too, despite being named after a real thing, like orange and rose. 

Is this correct?

It breaks my heart that due to the Trump-effect, aka his divisive rhetoric, what it means "to be an American" is not a settled debate; and it's something spreading around the world. I suppose there will always be a portion of any populous that views "patrioism" through a more "nationalistic" lenses.

I know there's also a 'ne' littéraire where you can indicate negation while dropping 'pas'. This applies exclusively for a short list of verbs, like pouvoir.

If I were to see a sentence like "J'ai peur qu'il ne puisse le faire", would the 'ne' here be a 'ne' expletif or a 'ne' littéraire? In other words, am I afraid that he can do it or that he cannot do it?

Why is this sentence je ferai parvenir le dossier à Jean dès que possible put the prounoun lui before ferai?

But Tuesday devrais prêter attention when ce qu'il dit put the pronoun between devrais and prêter?

Thanks for helping

My understanding is that you use dans when referring to a specific place (which is preceded by an article) while en is used to refer to a more general, abstract or symbolic place (no article). 

Je suis dans la classe. vs Il est en classe.

I’m in the classroom. vs He is in class.

But then the following example is given that confuses me:

Je vais en ville - I’m going TO town. Why is it not written using “à?”

Thank you for any help!

hi 

i'm getting confused when to use le/la and lui as a direct pronoun. I understand that le /la is he /she and lui to him or to her but is there a list of verbs which take lui as a direct translation from English is not always obvious