"We write the women's names."

Translation: Nous écrivons les noms des femmes.

[TaylorMacAwesome]

Can someone explain to me why "des" is necessary in front of "femmes"?

[Sitesurf]

In English, you have a possessive case built as such: owner + apostrophe + owned thing.
but it basically means : the names of the women.

In French, there is no possessive form other than: owned thing + de + definite article + owner.

• le nom de la femme
• le nom de l'homme, le nom de l'amie (le/la is elided in front of a non-aspired H or a vowel)
• le nom des hommes/femmes (contraction of de-les)

[wylderust]

I'm slightly confused. I thought it was this:
le nom de la femme = the name of the woman,
le nom des femmes = the names of the women,
le nom de femme = the woman's name,
and
le nom de femmes = the women's name,
(i.e. the 'de' does not become des)

[200709709]

how about "nous ecrivons des noms de les femmes"

[Sitesurf]

"de+les" has to be contracted to "des"

[friday81]

Is dames really just too formal instead of femmes? Would using the word dames in French be strange in conversation? I'm pretty sure it's on a lot of toilet doors in France..

[Sitesurf]

"une dame" is certainly more formal than "femme", but it translates back to "lady", so we remain strict on registers of speech.