Question following on from "Answer to question from Kim"

Andrea N.B2Kwiziq community member

Question following on from "Answer to question from Kim"

'As for "avoir peur", it's a fixed expression always followed by the preposition de (literally to have fear of), so when used with the definite article les, de + les contract into des :
Il a peur des chiens. => He's scared of (the) dogs. 
In the negative, as we said above, les remains the same, so it applies to its contracted form as well: Il n'a pas peur des chiens.'

Does this apply only to fixed expressions ending 'de' as in the case above?

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Andrea,

Indeed for verbs which are followed by the prepositionde’ the same will apply.

So if you said for instance -

Je n’ai pas rêvé de chiens méchants hier soir =I did not dream of nasty dogs last night (unspecific)

As opposed to -

Je n’ai pas rêvé des chiens du voisin=I didn’t dream of the neighbours’ dogs ( specific)

Hope this helps!

Question following on from "Answer to question from Kim"

'As for "avoir peur", it's a fixed expression always followed by the preposition de (literally to have fear of), so when used with the definite article les, de + les contract into des :
Il a peur des chiens. => He's scared of (the) dogs. 
In the negative, as we said above, les remains the same, so it applies to its contracted form as well: Il n'a pas peur des chiens.'

Does this apply only to fixed expressions ending 'de' as in the case above?

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