French language Q&A Forum

Questions answered by our learning community with help from expert French teachers

14,557 questions • 31,498 answers • 945,595 learners

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level

Victor L.A2Kwiziq community member

Confusing Sometimes when to change the definite article in "avoir besoin de"

I understand when to use "de" as well as "de l" for vowels, however i also noticed sometimes "du" gets used which is confusing. Came across one of the posts by Tom in the comment section: j'ai besoin de soutien - I need support (general)

J'ai besoin du soutien du gouvernement - I need government support (specific)

How come this is still correct which still contains the word "support" with a different article: j'ai besoin d'un soutien financier and NOT j'ai besoin du soutien financier,

This actually confuses me the most:
j'ai besoin de soutien and NOT j'ai besoin du soutien. Last i checked, le soutien est masculin.

Asked 5 years ago

Like0Answer1

G B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Laisser used in example

Why is laisser included in the following? : -

ATTENTION:
Verbs in -ETTER, -ELLER and -E(xx)ER (errer, blesser, laisser etc.) are not included in this rule: they follow the regular pattern.

Asked 4 years ago

Like0Answer1

Kathi W.C1Kwiziq community member

Il y a vs c'est

I am confused about the difference between c'est and il y a. I thought (perhaps incorrectly) that il y a was used for general things (il y a un tour), but c'est used for specific things (c'est le tour Eiffel). Where am I going wrong?

Asked 2 years ago

Like2Answer2