Differences between De and Le
I am having trouble with the french articles like "du", "de", and "le". The article "du" is basically a combination of "de" and "le", right? And what is the difference between "de" and "le"? I sometimes think that "de" means the same thing as the english work "of" but when I read a sentence like this: "Je n'ai pas de lait," I do not know how to understand it. Does the meaning of "de" depend on the content of the sentence?

Question

Differences between De and Le
I am having trouble with the french articles like "du", "de", and "le". The article "du" is basically a combination of "de" and "le", right?   And what is the difference between "de" and "le"? I sometimes think that "de" means the same thing as the english work "of" but when I read a sentence like this: "Je n'ai pas de lait," I do not know how to understand it. Does the meaning of "de" depend on the content of the sentence?

Answer

de and le are different. de is a preposition and le is an article. la and les are also articles.

de + an article means "from the", "of the" or "some of".

de + le = du
de + la = de la
de + les = des
de + l' = de l'

Milk is masculine, le lait - some milk is de + le lait = du lait.

Je n'ai pas du lait  EDIT: This is wrong! See comment below

That means "I do not have some milk" or more naturally "I do not have any milk"

EDIT: I just checked and Je n'ai pas de lait is also correct. So now I am a bit confused too.

Answer

Ah! I'm so confused. T.T

Answer

No, de is not an article!!! It's a preposition.

Answer

je n'ai pas de lait

translation, I don't have any wilk

de is an "article" like "the"

Answers · 6

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