"WIthout water, I'm sure these plants are going to die."

Translation: Sans eau, je suis sûr que ces plantes vont mourir.

[Andre872035]

Why not "sans l'eau" ?

[Seattle_Scott]

You would only say this if you knew which water we're talking about. Like we're in a desert, there is a plant, and one glass of water. Otherwise water is a general term, without water....

[LSadun]

How about sans de l'eau? "Without water" and "without some water" are synonymous.

[Jojo553168]

Sans eau → Without water
Sans l'eau → Without the water

[AshokKanet]

Jojo, how about sans d'eau, without (some) water?

[MegM955792]

Yes, that works too!

[tshamilton]

Sadly not accepted as of 30/10/2020

[MegM955792]

Because that would mean without the water, which implies that you are talking about a particular kind of water.

[speedy1]

Sans de l'eau ??

[AshokKanet]

Apparently, sans is not followed by an article.

[commediadellarte]

Why is it not 'd'eau' though? in the exercise before that we had a tree dying park qu'il n'a pas assez d'eau - why 'sans eau' but 'assez d'eau'?

[cheesemom]

Why not "sans d'eau"?

[Lisaskier]

Hi cheesemom, I think there is a rule that the article is dropped after "Sans".

[cheesemom]

Thank you! Should have known that.

[Don_Martino]

I am a little confused, because the article is needed in "la pollution", "la nature", and "l'Homme" when we are talking about these things in general. Then why no article before "eau" when we are talking about water in general?

[toutine55]

Si c'est une fille qui parle on peut écrire je suis sûre !

[Jean676242]

If there is a rule about dropping the article when "sans" is used, s

[lakehouse3]

What? Wlthout that is not correct, should be without. Please fix it.

[BoSwicegood]

Ha! I didn't even notice that, and I used to be an awfully good editor

[JamesPyrah]

Why sur and not sure when used with feminine here?

[JamesPyrah]

Sorry I confused myself, both sur and sure accepted. I was confusing with sur meaning safe!