Du or de le

AlanC1Kwiziq community member

Du or de le

Can anyone explain this; la diane means reveille as well as a name

Asked 1 year ago
JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/diane

Sonnerie militaire

Bonne journée

Jim

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

“la diane” is a type of monkey, or equivalent to the English military related word ‘reveille’. 

Diane, capital and no article, is a French proper noun.  

Not sure if you are querying how a word has different meanings ?  English, of course, also has words with different meanings, including as verb, noun or proper noun  - rose/Rose; bob/Bob etc

AlanC1Kwiziq community member

There was supposed to be a photo of a street sign reading “PASSAGE de le DIANE”  the puzzle was why  ‘le’ as both the name and reveille are ‘la’ and why ‘de le’ and not ‘du’

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Ah, that makes more sense. An internet search reveals it should probably be ‘ le passage de “Diane” ‘ - a named tropical storm of 2020. Even if not that - and there are other possibilities without knowing the context/photo, there would be no article indicated before Diane (in any I found anyway). 

Du or de le

Can anyone explain this; la diane means reveille as well as a name

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...