Why are vin et eau without articles, yet le fromage et le lait are with?

Stuart B.B1Kwiziq community member

Why are vin et eau without articles, yet le fromage et le lait are with?

Asked 8 years ago
AurélieNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
Bonjour Stuart ! It depends on the meaning of the sentence: If you say "neither the wine nor the water", then it will be "ni le vin ni l'eau"; however, if you mean "neither wine nor water" in a more general context, then you will use "ni vin ni eau". I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !
Terri R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I am really confused! In the lesson above, it says "Also note that when using 'ni', you omit the article after 'ni', unless you're talking about general things and using le, la, l', les." But here you are saying '"neither wine nor water" in a more general context you will use "ni vin ni eau"' (without the articles). What am I missing? Or am I being obtuse? Thank you for your help! Terri
Stuart B. asked:

Why are vin et eau without articles, yet le fromage et le lait are with?

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