In French the phrases de France and de la France both mean from France. In certain cases, de France is used and in other cases, de la France is used. Sometimes both are used, but the meaning is different.
The phrase the cheeses of France is les fromages de France. However, in the phrase the geography of France, the translation is la géographie de la France. With political, economical and geographical concepts, it is natural to include the definite article.
Let us now look at two sentences. They are 1) J'ai un souvenir de France and 2) J'ai un souvenir de la France. They best translation for the first sentence is I have a souvenir from France, and the best translation for the second sentence is I have a souvenir of France. The first souvenir was bought in France, but it is not necessarily a really French souvenir. However, the second souvenir was not only bought in France but is a souvenir that really represents France.
The French phrases de France and de la France are similar. In certain cases, only one is normally used, but it can also be the case that both are possible. Howver, when both are possible, there is a nuance in meaning.
No comments:
Post a Comment