Language/French/Grammar/Omission-of-the-article-with-nouns-in-apposition
When proper nouns are juxtaposed with common nouns which identify them, the common nouns are said to be in apposition. In such cases the article is usually omitted:
- Versailles, palais de Louis XIV et son entourage
Versailles, the palace of Louis XIV and his court
- Juliette Lagrange, concierge, cherchait un nouveau poste
Juliette Lagrange, caretaker, was looking for a new job
- Chantai, fille de dentiste, a annoncé son mariage avec Jean-Michel, fils de médecin
Chantai, a dentist's daughter, has announced her marriage to Jean-Michel, a doctor's son
- Le Bergerac, vin de qualité, est vendu dans toute l'Europe
Bergerac, a quality wine, is sold throughout Europe But when the common noun is modified, for example by an adjective, the article is not omitted:
- Chantai, la fille aînée du dentiste, …
Versailles, le célèbre palais de Louis XIV …
Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Adverbs ending in —ment derived from the masculine form of an adjective & Well Better Worse.
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Use of soi
- Ordinal numbers
- Use of en
- Subject verb agreement — Agreement with more than one subject
- Measurements and comparisons Numbers with length, height, depth etc
- Nouns which exist only in plural form
- Ordinal numbers as fractions
- Sentence modifying adverbs
- Use of faire + partitive faire du, de la
- Reflexive use of me, te, se, nous, vous
- Adjectives used as nouns
- Order of unstressed object pronouns when more than one is present
- Use of stressed pronouns for emphasis
- Adverbs ending in —ément derived from adjectives ending in —e