Adjective agreement after "de"

DrewC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Adjective agreement after "de"

Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise: 

1) "les distances de sécurité"

2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"

Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Drew,

As Chris says the first example is just an example of the preposition 'de' linking two related nouns meaning, safety distances .

Other examples would be -

'maison d'hôte', 'palais de justice', 'arrêt d'autobus', etc.

The second example, however, is more interesting as the 'de' there is called 'une préposition vide' , meaning an idiomatic preposition as it is not really required as the link between the two words is non existent as in,

rien de nouveau = nothing new

Hope this helps!

 

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Drew,

in the first sentence, sécurité is a noun: distance of security.

SeanC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So, then why is it "quelque chose de nouveau" and not "quelque chose de nouvelle"?

CécileKwiziq team member

Hi Sean,

The word 'quelque chose' , or 'rien' for that matter, is neutral so a masculine adjective is used afterwards.

Here is the Académie Française explanation -

http://www.academie-francaise.fr/quelque-chose-de-speciale

 

Adjective agreement after "de"

Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise: 

1) "les distances de sécurité"

2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"

Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"

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