I want to know the difference!
Hello, I'm studying french and i have one question that made me confused.

1 : J'ai achete une vest de cuir.

2 : C'est un foulard en soie.

In those sentence, 'Cuir' and 'Soie', both of them are material.

But why the first sentence used 'de' and the other used 'en'?

Do they related to gender??

Question

I want to know the difference!
Hello, I'm studying french and i have one question that made me confused.

1 : J'ai achete une vest de cuir.

2 : C'est un foulard en soie.

In those sentence,  'Cuir' and 'Soie', both of them are material.

But why the first sentence used 'de' and the other used 'en'?

Do they related to gender??

Answer

Hello,
 
Basically, both mean the same and can often be used interchangeably.

Still, I would advise to use "en", which is safe in all cases and sounds more natural as it is wide spread in every day speech :

--> une veste EN cuir, un foulard EN soie, un pot EN terre cuite, un vase EN verre, une table EN bois, un panier EN osier.

"De" usually can sound a bit more literary, is sometimes used in more figurative situations or when tradition sanctioned their use in idiomatic expressions, e.g. :

--> Il a un cœur DE pierre. (He has a heart of stone = has no feeling, is unmoved )
--> Le pot DE terre contre le pot DE fer" (= to fight a lost battle)

:)

Answers · 2

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