I would have thought (and did!) that it should be "ces héros ont souffert de la discrimination" rather than "ces héros ont souffert de discrimination"; in the same way that "ces héros ont subi de la discrimination" was noted as a correct answer.
Is there something specific to "souffrir de" that causes the article to be dropped?
Why is there no article in "ces héros ont souffert de discrimination"?
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John C.Kwiziq community member
Why is there no article in "ces héros ont souffert de discrimination"?
Asked 7 months ago
John,
yes, it is that the verb expression ‘ souffrir de.. ‘ has a prepositional ‘de’ as part of the verbal structure and no article is used when such verb structures are followed by unmodified nouns. ( Exceptions to this are uncommon but ‘avoir peur de’ and ‘ se méfier de ‘ are noted and explained in the link).
See attached articles from Laura Lawless - note especially discussion under section 4 in first link and section 1 of the 2nd link.
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/de-vs-du-de-la-des/
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/de-vs-du-de-la-des-verbs/
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