Mon reste *de* ragoût and La porte *du* jardin

Question

Hi! Perhaps someone can clarify a problem I have in distinguishing when to use "de" versus "du". I don't have any problems distinguishing between "du" partitive (J'ai mangé du pain) and using "de" when the sentence is negated (Je n'ai pas mangé de pain). But in examples like the sentences I've listed from this exercise (Délicieuse Rédaction), how does one know to use "de" in "mon reste de ragoût" and "du" for "la porte du jardin"?

Accepted Answer

Hi Thalia,
It is not easy to explain as it is so instinctive to us but I will try -
In fact,
'mon reste de ragoût' means 'what was left of my ragoût'.
But if you had said :
mon reste du ragoût d'hier = what was leftover from yesterday's ragoût,
that would be 'du', meaning,  of the.
Du, de l', de la, des, are not always partitive they can be a contraction of the preposition 'de' and the definite articles le, l',la, les.
You use a partitive when you mean a part of a whole as in your example -
j'ai mangé du pain avec mon café = I ate some bread with my coffee
As to your other example, look at the difference between -

La porte du jardin = The gate of the garden/ The garden gate 
(the garden you are talking about) 
Cette porte de jardin est très ornée = This garden gate is very ornate 
(this gate is for any garden )

Not easy to explain on this medium but hope this helps!

Mon reste de ragoût and La porte du jardin

Mon reste de ragoût and La porte du jardin

Mon reste de ragoût and La porte du jardin

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