Présentation de l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie

Posted by Laura K Lawless
In: Reading A2, Listening or Seeing B1
Discussion of this reading exercise: 2

20 March is the International Day of Francophonie, and here's an introduction to the organization behind it. Below, you'll find the transcript in our bilingual reader: click any French phrase for the English translation and related grammar lessons.

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MarshaB1Kwiziq community member

Partitive vs definite articles

The use of partitive vs definite articles continues to be confusing to me, such as in this phrase in the second to last paragraph, "Un lien d'avenir, grâce à l'engagement ".  It is translated as, "A link to the future, thanks to the commitment," . Why is d'avenir used and not à l'avenir?  And why à l'engagement and not d'engagement?

Asked 9 months ago
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JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I'm not aware of the text that you are quoting from but I can offer a couple of points that may help.

1) The definite article is omitted  In French in forming an attributive noun (that is a noun used as an adjective).

So I'm thinking that the text "Un lien d'avenir" means "a future link" where "d'avenir" describes the link.

2) L' engagement is a contract or commitment making possible the link.

That's my input for what it is worth.

Alan (Jim)

Like18 months ago
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Marsha asked:View original

Partitive vs definite articles

The use of partitive vs definite articles continues to be confusing to me, such as in this phrase in the second to last paragraph, "Un lien d'avenir, grâce à l'engagement ".  It is translated as, "A link to the future, thanks to the commitment," . Why is d'avenir used and not à l'avenir?  And why à l'engagement and not d'engagement?

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