"Where are you going to throw away these things that you're getting rid of?"

Translation: Où vas-tu jeter ces trucs dont tu te débarrasses ?

[5EarlofIckenham]

Is there a rule or some guidelines about when to use "dont" and when it's OK to just use "que"?

[relox84]

dont replaces de + quoi

je me débarasse de ces choses -> les choses dont (= de quoi) je me débarasse

je jette ces choses (no 'de') -> les choses que je jette

[5EarlofIckenham]

Thank you.

[JodyBen]

I still don't get it. Why de quoi? I've never seen de quoi...so cant figure out when to use it let alone its contraction. Wish one didn't have to be grammer whiz in two languages to actually learn how to speak french.

[fH6lclhu]

Perhaps you can see the answer to my similar question below by Roody-Roo... in this discussion. He/she explained it to me.

[Miknairb]

I wrote "choses" instead of "trucs" and got it wrong. Why is that?

[Sophia187495]

I believe "trucs" means things in a more physical sense - like junk - whereas "choses" is more abstract. For instance, you wouldn't say "J'aimerais faire tous les trucs que j'ai envie", because you don't do a thing in the same way that you would throw out a thing.

Sorry if that was a little confusing, but I hope that helps.

[LenReed]

I think that la chose can be used almost anywhere but le truc isn't used for abstract things. Miknairb's posting is 7 months ago, and one poster below said ces choses was accepted a month after that. Maybe Duo added choses, or maybe Miknairb made some other error.

[Lynn660801]

Still not accepted

[Iain76154]

Où vas tu jeter ces choses dont tu te débarrasses
was accepted

[SamSuitt]

OK, I get that vas-tu is one way to structure the interrogative. But Duo has heavily taught that adding voice inflection to the declarative is also valid. So why is rejected, as it is?

[LenReed]

You'd need to post your proposed sentence. The interrogative adverb où makes using that form tricky. For short sentences you can put it at the end: Il est où ? (It's informal.) That isn't going to work well in a long sentence like this one, though.

[Fred.duo]

Où allez-vous jeter ces trucs dont vous vous débarrassez --> Also accepted

[rickmcgrath]

Ces choses?

[TonyFromKiwiLand]

I wrote "ou est ce que tu vas jeter ces trucs que tu te dèbarrasses?" And was marked wrong. Can someone emligjten me whether it is wrong or not? Many thanks

[Poef9]

Presumably, because you used "que" instead of "dont".

[SheilaNorton]

I also used 'est-ce que' but used 'donc' - still marked wrong. I'd love to know what the objection is to 'est-ce que'. Is it considered old-fashioned now? We used it all the time in French lessons at school!

[LenReed]

It would help if you shared exactly what you wrote. You should be using dont not donc in this exercise.

[SheilaNorton]

Sorry, yes I meant 'dont' not 'donc'! I wrote 'Ou (with accent of course!) est-ce que tu vas jeter ces trucs dont tu te debarrasses?' But of course, if I stupidly wrote 'donc' instead of 'dont' that would certainly explain why I was marked wrong! Sorry, Duo. :(

[cheesemom]

Couldn't one say "toutes ces choses" as well as "ces trucs"?

[ColinCanuck]

I think you could say "ces choses", but "toutes" adds in an "all" , which isn't in the English.

[fH6lclhu]

Can I say the following without dont.... Où est-ce que tu vas jeter ces trucs que tu te débarrasses?

[--Roody--]

No, you have to use dont because the construction uses de.

(Dont = de que = of which)

• Tu te débarrasses de ces trucs.

• Dont tu te débarrasses

• -> Où est-ce que tu vas jeter ces trucs dont tu te débarasses ? = Where are you going to throw the things which you are getting rid of?

[fH6lclhu]

Thanks, I learned something.

[ShubhamSurf]

Just so I know, "que" is translated as "what" and "quel" as "what/which", why is "de que" translated as "of which" and not "of what"? Am I missing something from the past lessons?

[LenReed]

The words what, that, whom, and which don't map one-on-one with que and quel(le)(s). You simply can't translate a word in isolation. Which can become que, quelle, quoi, dont, auxquels and more. You have to understand the French grammar and apply its rules. It's hard, to be sure.

Consider that "The thing that I'm dreaming of" is the same as "The thing I'm dreaming of" is the same as the more formal "The thing of which I'm dreaming." But French insists on that last form: La chose dont je rêve.

[ChrisJudge1]

What's wrong with "Ou-est-ce que tu vas jeter ces trucs dont tu te debarrasses"

[LenReed]

I can't say for sure exactly why DL rejected that. (You don't actually say it was rejected, though.)

You're missing the accent on Où. DL usually lets accent problems slide with a warning, but they are considered misspellings in nearly all French classes. This one is particularly important since ou and où are different words. You also missed the accent in débarrasses, but DL wouldn't mark you wrong for that.

More importantly, your first hyphen should not be there. DL is picky about hyphens. I strongly suspect that that alone would cause DL to mark you wrong.

Finally, using est-ce que after an interrogative adverb is wordy and is considered poor usage by many educated French people. Sitesurf has certainly taken than position. Est-ce que is fine in general, but not so much here. Où vas-tu is much more elegant than Où est-ce que tu vas. OTOH, RoOodie implies above -- but does not state outright-- that the est-ce que form is accepted in this exercise, and certainly you'll hear French people using it in this way.