Why isn’t there an infinite in the above phrase ?
Il faudra aussi de délicieux lardons
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
As Chris says, "il faut" can also be followed by a noun. It's explained in this lesson:
I don't agree that "de" means "of". Surely it's the partitive article, meaning "some". "Des" followed by an adjective becomes "de" as explained here:
Il faut de délicieux lardons. -- It takes delicious bacon. / One needs delicious bacon.
There is no infinitive because what follows is a noun construction, non a verbal construction. Literally, the translation is: One needs *of* delicious bacon. It's the the same "of" that, in English you would use in "a slice of" or "a piece of". Except, in French, you use it without the "a slice" or "a piece".
Alan, I didn't mean to say that the French de is equal to the English "of". It has the partitive meaning, similar to "of" in English, such as in "a slice of bacon", "a liter of milk", "none of that". Without a specific quantity you'd use "some" in English, but in a slightly antiquated literary English, it used to be (and sometimes still is) "of". As in, "could I have of that bacon, please?"
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level