D'Espagne ou De l'Espagne
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Arman V.Kwiziq community member
D'Espagne ou De l'Espagne
Do these two sentences mean different things, or is one of them incorrect ?
1. Je viens d'Espagne
2. Je viens de l'Espagne
To say “the customs of Spain”:
1. Les coutumes d’Espagne
2. Les coutumes de l’Espagne
To say “under the influence of Spain”:
1. Sous les influences d’Espagne
2. Sous les influences de l’Espagne.
This question relates to:French lesson "Using le, la, l', les with continents, countries & regions names (definite articles)"
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team member
Bonjour Arman !
There is indeed a difference between "d'Espagne" and "de l'Espagne".
The distinction here is between d' to express "from", or de l' which means "of [the]".
So when you express where the thing comes *from* (its origin), you'll use d', but when you want to say that thing *belongs to* this country, you'll use de l' .
Thus "je viens d'Espagne";
either "les coutumes d'Espagne" (where these customs come from) OR "les coutumes de l'Espagne" (its own customs) => here you would more colloquially say "les coutumes espagnoles";
"Sous l'influence de l'Espagne"
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
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