Le verbe Différer / vt ou vi

Question

Bonjour. Je ne sais pas ce que signifie cette phrase : Le Nord d'Arabie ne différait pas beaucoup des possessions persanes.

Le verbe Différer est intransitif ou transitif dans cette phrase ? Parce que cela signifie différent, nous pouvons dire :

Northern Saudi Arabia soon accepted Iranian domination;

or

It was not much different from the parts dominated by the Iranians.

Et comment pouvons-nous comprendre qu'ici, "Des" est une article contracté ou un article indéfini ?!

Accepted Answer

Le Nord d'Arabie ne différait pas beaucoup des possessions persanes. -- North Arabia did not differ much from the Persian holdings/possessions.
 
The verb "différer" is intransitive here. You can pick up on this because there is no direct object in that sentence ("des possessions persanes" being the indirect object since it's preceded by the preposition "de").
"Des" in this context is the contraction of "de + les".

Answer

Hi Karen,Have a look here:-https://www.wordreference.com/fren/diff%C3%A9rerWhere you will see the various uses of this verb."Des" in this context will be a definite article (de + les) --> of / from the Persian possessions I assume that this is not a homework query?Jim

Answer

Lol... No... I assure you it is not ! I saw it in an article and it was confusing to me.Thank you so much