What article can I use to refer to a thing correctly?

Question

Which of the two sentences is correct (and why):

Elle se cogne contre de table.

or

Elle se cogne contre la table.

Just out of curiousity : why would you use the first (erroneous) sentence? Knowing why you actually make the mistake is actually more helpful than giving you broad rules about what the correct form is. — Alexis Pigeon, Aug 21 '13 at 14:52
Thanks Alexis, I'll remember your useful advice. Basically I thought of «de» as corresponding to «the» in English. — Abhimanyu Arora, Aug 21 '13 at 14:58
@AbhimanyuArora Prepositions vary a lot between language, but de as a preposition is often translated by the. In a partitive article, it would be de la followed by an uncountable noun which table isn't. — Gilles 'SO nous est hostile', Aug 21 '13 at 21:19
@Gilles, Merçi. Yes indeed as preposition :-) as in «Je voudrais reserver des billets de train, svp». Well clarified by your comment. — Abhimanyu Arora, Aug 21 '13 at 22:08

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '13 at 16:45

3

The second sentence is correct

Elle se cogne contre la table.

La or le or les are definite articles. De isn't.

edited Aug 21 '13 at 16:45

Stéphane Gimenez

answered Aug 21 '13 at 14:51

Toto

1 Answers1