Partitive vs definite articles

Question

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?

Answer

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)