The use of partitive vs definite articles continues to be confusing to me, such as in this phrase in the second to last paragraph, "Un lien d'avenir, grâce à l'engagement ". It is translated as, "A link to the future, thanks to the commitment," . Why is d'avenir used and not à l'avenir? And why à l'engagement and not d'engagement?
Partitive vs definite articles
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Kwiziq community member
Partitive vs definite articles
This question relates to:French interactive reading exercise "Présentation de l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie"
Reading B1, Celebrations & Important Dates, Language & Education, Listening or Seeing B1
Asked 5 years ago
Jim J. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
I'm not aware of the text that you are quoting from but I can offer a couple of points that may help.
1) The definite article is omitted In French in forming an attributive noun (that is a noun used as an adjective).
So I'm thinking that the text "Un lien d'avenir" means "a future link" where "d'avenir" describes the link.
2) L' engagement is a contract or commitment making possible the link.
That's my input for what it is worth.
Alan (Jim)
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