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- "You read the little girls' l…
"You read the little girls' letters."
Translation:Tu lis les lettres des petites filles.
February 10, 2013
12 Comments
Here it is different because it is a possessive case: the letters belong to the little girls. therefore, the construction (adjective or not) is de+definite article, with usual contractions:
- la lettre du garçon (contraction of de+le)
- la lettre de la fille
- les lettres des garçons (contraction of de+les)
- les lettres des filles (contraction of de+les).
Teddybear71
2498
But I have seen sentences with possessive construction that use "de" and not "des" as long as there is an adjective in between. I'm sure that what you say is correct, but it is a very confusing rule/excpetion...
The English possessive case, built with <the OWNER's OBJECT>, to mean <OBJECT of the OWNER> does not exist in French.
Therefore, "the little girls' letters" meaning "the letters of the little girls" only translates in "les lettres des petites filles", where "des" is a contraction of DE+ LES:
- la lettre de la petite fille (no contraction needed)
- la lettre du petit garçon (contraction of de-le)
- la lettre des petits enfants (contraction of de-les)