Expressions sans "de"

Paula S.C1Kwiziq community member

Expressions sans "de"

Pourquoi "Ayons de la foi" n'est pas correct, et on dois dire "Ayons la foi"?

Asked 2 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Paula,

I cannot find this example in the lesson where did you see it?

You cannot have 'some' faith in French, you believe in something or you don't believe in it so it is -

avoir la foi to have faith in something

 

Not sure you can in English either...

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The difference lies in a general vs. a specific faith:

Ayons de la foi !-- Let's have some faith! (i.e., faith in general)
Ayons la foi en le seigneur! -- Let's have faith in the Lord!

Paula S.C1Kwiziq community member

Merci beaucoup, Chris! C'est ce que je croyais aussi, mais ma réponse "Ayons de la foi" a été marquée comme incorrecte dans le test.

Paula S.C1Kwiziq community member

Thank you Cecile, I saw this in my test results:

How would you say "Let's have faith!"? ________ la foi!

https://french.kwiziq.com/my-languages/french/tests/results/12115892/system

I'm not a native English speaker, but I'd say that, at least outside a religious context, it's possible to have "some faith", for example in a person, a project, in science...

CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hi Paula, 

The answer would be -

Ayons la foi !

You can simply 

avoir foi en quelque chose /quelqu'un 

in French but not with the partitive I am afraid.

Take a look at the following page with some examples -

https://www.linternaute.fr/dictionnaire/fr/definition/foi/

Hope this helps!

 

Paula S. asked:

Expressions sans "de"

Pourquoi "Ayons de la foi" n'est pas correct, et on dois dire "Ayons la foi"?

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
Clever stuff happening!