Why doesn't the Une in sentence change to De

Priti K.A1Kwiziq community member

Why doesn't the Une in sentence change to De

In The sentence " la père de Caroline ne travaille pas dans une banque". Why doesn't 'UNE' in this sentence change to 'de' and stay as Une in -ve form

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi, Priti, 

The Kwiziq lesson this refers to is the following one -

Un, une become de or d' in negative sentences (indefinite articles)

If you take a look at it, you will notice that in all the examples the un/une is directly after the verb.

In this sentence 'dans une banque' is an answer to 'where?' and is a complément de lieu (adverbial phrase of place)

Hope this helps! 

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

This is a negation of the verb 'travailer', not an indication of 'quantity', (or lack thereof). 

In the positive - "Il travaille" - he works. Where does he work ? "dans une banque" - in a bank.

In the negative 'Il ne travaille pas' - he doesn't work. Where doesn't he work?  - 'dans une banque' - in a bank. The prepositional phrase following ne .. pas does not change with the negation.  

Compare this to "Il mange du pain" - he eats (some) bread and "il ne mange pas de pain" - he doesn't eat (any) bread.

Why doesn't the Une in sentence change to De

In The sentence " la père de Caroline ne travaille pas dans une banque". Why doesn't 'UNE' in this sentence change to 'de' and stay as Une in -ve form

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