"You have a chocolate sandwich and a fish sandwich."
Translation:Tu as un sandwich au chocolat et un sandwich au poisson.
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"a <ingredient> sandwich" is a sandwich containing a specific ingredient, to be translated in "sandwich à" + definite article + ingredient:
- sandwich à la viande (meat sandwich)
- sandwich au chocolat/saumon : au is the contraction of à-le
- sandwich aux crevettes/anchois (shrimp/anchovy sandwich) : aux is the contraction of à-les, feminine (une crevette) or masculine (un anchois)
the way I'm tentatively thinking about the use of noun + à + le/la + noun is as a way of combining two nouns in a descriptive fashion. In English, we just shove them together--chocolate sandwich, power shovel, steam engine, electric light--but I'm guessing (hoping) that French consistently does things like sandwich au chocolat, poisson au citron, machine à vapeur (I looked that one up, don't know why there's no definite article).
Very interesting question, actually.
We will use prepositions "à" or "de", depending on the meaning:
-
une machine à vapeur, une tasse à thé, un fer à repasser = usage, function
-
un sandwich au fromage = addition of an ingredient
-
une feuille de papier, un mur de pierre(s), une tasse de thé, un litre de lait, une heure de réunion = material, content, measure, duration
That is when there is no adjective available: une lumière électrique (and not une lumière d'électricité), du riz épicé / aux épices (you have the choice here)
Interesting! Does the following pattern always apply?
"a <container>" (typically empty) vs "a <container filled with its expected contents>"
"a teacup" = "une tasse à thé" vs "a cup of tea" = "une tasse de thé"
"a wine bottle" = "une bouteille à vin" vs "a bottle of wine" = "une bouteille de vin"
If I wanted to say (because I have run out of mugs, so I am giving you your coffee in a teacup, perhaps) "a teacup of coffee" I could translate it as "une tasse à thé de café"?
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Why is "du" not correct? Doesn't it mean "of the"? And doesn't "à + le = au" mean "to the"? I keep getting these confused.
Well, I had the right idea. I was thinking of a sardine sandwich (In British English I could just as well say 'sardines sandwich'.), with individual sardines, so 'aux poissons' would be the correct translation. If I had been thinking of tuna chunks instead of sardines or anchovies, I'd have put 'au poisson'. Thank you!
It is above, though.
We use the prepositions "à" or "de", depending on the meaning:
-
une machine à vapeur, une tasse à thé, un fer à repasser = usage, function
-
un sandwich au fromage = addition of an ingredient
-
une feuille de papier, un mur de pierre(s), une tasse de thé, un litre de lait, une heure de réunion = material, content, measure, duration
A fish sandwich is a sandwich in which the primary ingredient is fish. The fish isn't being added to the sandwich. It is the sandwich. I could understand the logic here if we were talking about lettuce, cheese, mayonnaise, or some other secondary ingredient that one might add to a sandwich, but in this case, that's not what we are talking about. I understand the distinction that you're making between a and de, but I don't see how it applies in this case. Thanks for your reply!