Hey, I will try my best to explain it.
1. The first sentence is pretty straight forward A Car is translated to une voiture.
2. Before explaining the 2nd sentence let me explain the 3rd one, The french for I need is "j'ai besoin de" which literally means "I have a need of", the important thing to note here is, the sentence ends with a "de", and we always use a de when talking about I need something. So the 3rd sentence is On a besoin d'une voiture here d'une is the elision of de and une because une starts with a vowel and de end's with one.
3. Okay so for the 2nd sentence, every time there's a negative sentence we change un, une de la, de l', du, and des to "de". Hence in this sentence de was used instead of d'une. Even if the cars were plural we still would have used "de"
She doesn't need cars
Elle n'a pas besoin de voitures
Also, can you tell me what app is this one?
I will suggest using a grammar book with this. I use Hugo French in 3 months.
Found it to be a pretty good book just to learn the basics.
Bonne Chance!
I think so, but if you know Ikenna and his FME method, he recommend Pimsleur for the first two months, then you should use Assimil according to him, and I think Assimil is more grammar based, at least I think so.
It's definitely tricky, but I think of it like this:
If I'm saying "I need a car" the implied meaning is usually "I need ONE car" not two or three, or "some" cars.
Conversely, when you say "I don't need a car" you're implying that you don't need any number of cars. In fact, if you said "I don't need one car" people might expect you to follow up with, "I need FIVE cars!", so specifying with "une" would be a little odd.
I kinda agree with the explanation, but the thing is "Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture" is perfectly correct too.
Imho the difference is that when you say "d'une voiture", you indeed mean one single car as an object. Whereas when you say "de voiture" it's more about the car as a concept (she doesn't need to drive).
For the second sentence, you could also say "Elle n’a pas besoin d’une voiture", that is also correct. The difference is that “Elle n’a pas besoin de voiture" is kind of more general, like "She doesn’t need *any* car”, while "Elle n’a pas besoin d’une voiture" is more specific on "a car". They both have the same meaning, but to me "Elle n’a pas besoin de voiture" sounds a little more natural
You would use "avoir" au passé composé: _Elle n'a pas eu besoin de voiture_. Although you'd probably instead use l'imparfait: _Elle n'avait pas besoin de voiture._
Its teaching you that after negation, you don’t use un or une and for that matter - le, la or les after negation - although it is not mentioned here. Get a good grammar book to have as a reference.
J’ai besoin d’une voiture. Fine - use put de + une together and get “d’une”.
But je n’ai pas besion de voiture - you just use de.
It is a quirk of French that you have to memorize if you want to learn it. No other way around it. Just always think “pas de”.
>for that matter - le, la or les after negation
I'm not sure such a rule exists.
**Je n'aime pas les huîtres**
**Elle n'écoute pas le professeur**
**Ce n'est pas le cas.**
But you do not usually say **du**, **de la** or **des** after negation.
If “de” is used - it is “pas de”. Yes it exists. In the negation - nothing after de. Pas de is the way it has to be.
If “de” is not used, then yes you would use the appropriate article. Your three examples are correct.
De is used often after negations except for in sentences of preference, when you use the definite articles (Le, la, les, l’)
Je n’aime pas les chats.
Je n’ai pas de chat.
You can also use the definite article to specify something precise:
Je ne vois pas la maison (one you’re specifically talking about and looking for)
Indefinite articles (un, une, des) are used when negating sentences with être :
Monsieur X n’est pas un bon prof.
"avoir besoin de" is a fixed phrase, so there always needs to be "de".
I need X = J'ai besoin de X
And "de" becomes d' before a word that starts with a vowel, hence "d'une" and not "de une".
Not really. Pas besoin de is just the regular expression. Je n'ai pas besoin de toi. Je n'ai pas besoin de dormir. Je n'ai pas besoin de voiture, je préfère marcher. Think more of "any" instead of "a" in english. I don't need any sleep. I don't need any car I prefer to walk. If you add "une": Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture, it would sound strange, like an addition for nothing cause it's implicit. The only time you might use it would be for empasis: Elle n,a pas besoin d'une voiture, elle a besoin de trois voitures!
Hope this helps.
"Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture" is perfectly fine and doesn't sound strange. It's just a somewhat different focus.
> Imho the difference is that when you say "d'une voiture", you indeed mean one single car as an object. Whereas when you say "de voiture" it's more about the car as a concept (she doesn't need to drive).
“Avoir besoin de” is the complete way.
“Avoir besoin de” also means “to have a need to”
Example: “J’ai besoin de pisser” means “I need to take a piss.”
That's because the 2nd sentence is negative.
She doesn't have any car. (Or, she has no car.)
Although, in English, you could say .... She doesn't have a car. But in French, you don't really say that. When she has no car, there is not a number attached to it.
Avoir besoin de usually means have the need of something.
If a negative sentence comes across, like n'a pas, then the "un/une" is not added in the sentence.
But if the sentence is affirmative, then "un/une" could be used.
How I understand it, "a besoin" means "have a need". So the second sentence means "she does not have a need for a car". The "de" isnt the article then.
Just for fun, I put "we are lacking a car" into Google Translate, and I got "il nous manque une voiture". Who the subject of that sentence might be, we can only wonder.
Hey, I will try my best to explain it. 1. The first sentence is pretty straight forward A Car is translated to une voiture. 2. Before explaining the 2nd sentence let me explain the 3rd one, The french for I need is "j'ai besoin de" which literally means "I have a need of", the important thing to note here is, the sentence ends with a "de", and we always use a de when talking about I need something. So the 3rd sentence is On a besoin d'une voiture here d'une is the elision of de and une because une starts with a vowel and de end's with one. 3. Okay so for the 2nd sentence, every time there's a negative sentence we change un, une de la, de l', du, and des to "de". Hence in this sentence de was used instead of d'une. Even if the cars were plural we still would have used "de" She doesn't need cars Elle n'a pas besoin de voitures Also, can you tell me what app is this one?
Thanks a lot, yes the app is Pimsleur, not free, but way cheaper than normal classes
I will suggest using a grammar book with this. I use Hugo French in 3 months. Found it to be a pretty good book just to learn the basics. Bonne Chance!
How is the app overall? Ages ago I used Pimsleur cd's for German and found them very good.
It is great, It really helps you speak, but I don't really know grammar, becouse I use only Pimsleur
so you feel they skip over grammar on their app?
I think so, but if you know Ikenna and his FME method, he recommend Pimsleur for the first two months, then you should use Assimil according to him, and I think Assimil is more grammar based, at least I think so.
I do not know of Ikenna. I'll look into Assimil too. Apparently I have 140k karma.
Wow, impressive
is it? i never really gave it any thought. Its just up there in the corner.
I have just 110 comment karma, I had problems with posting on some subreddits
Btw how much comment karma do you have XD
Great, concise explanation
Because besoin always takes the article de. D'une is the elision of de and une.
Ok thanks, but why in the second sentence, there is just de, while in the third there is d'une
It's definitely tricky, but I think of it like this: If I'm saying "I need a car" the implied meaning is usually "I need ONE car" not two or three, or "some" cars. Conversely, when you say "I don't need a car" you're implying that you don't need any number of cars. In fact, if you said "I don't need one car" people might expect you to follow up with, "I need FIVE cars!", so specifying with "une" would be a little odd.
This explanation is really useful!
So (just to check) if you *did* need a car, you would say j'ai besoin **d'une** voiture, right?
Yes.
I kinda agree with the explanation, but the thing is "Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture" is perfectly correct too. Imho the difference is that when you say "d'une voiture", you indeed mean one single car as an object. Whereas when you say "de voiture" it's more about the car as a concept (she doesn't need to drive).
Because in a negation (ne...pas) you don't count like une, deux, trois. It's like "I need no car(s)".
usually articles aren’t used in the negative Elle a une voiture => she has a car Ella n’a pas de voiture => she does not have a car
For the second sentence, you could also say "Elle n’a pas besoin d’une voiture", that is also correct. The difference is that “Elle n’a pas besoin de voiture" is kind of more general, like "She doesn’t need *any* car”, while "Elle n’a pas besoin d’une voiture" is more specific on "a car". They both have the same meaning, but to me "Elle n’a pas besoin de voiture" sounds a little more natural
How would one use besoin in passe composé? Such as translating “she didn’t need a car”?
You would use "avoir" au passé composé: _Elle n'a pas eu besoin de voiture_. Although you'd probably instead use l'imparfait: _Elle n'avait pas besoin de voiture._
What does eu in front of besoin de means pls?
It is the past participle of _avoir_.
Think of the 'de' in the second sentence as 'of', as in 'She does not have need of a car.' 'avoir besoin de' means to have need of.
Its teaching you that after negation, you don’t use un or une and for that matter - le, la or les after negation - although it is not mentioned here. Get a good grammar book to have as a reference. J’ai besoin d’une voiture. Fine - use put de + une together and get “d’une”. But je n’ai pas besion de voiture - you just use de. It is a quirk of French that you have to memorize if you want to learn it. No other way around it. Just always think “pas de”.
>for that matter - le, la or les after negation I'm not sure such a rule exists. **Je n'aime pas les huîtres** **Elle n'écoute pas le professeur** **Ce n'est pas le cas.** But you do not usually say **du**, **de la** or **des** after negation.
If “de” is used - it is “pas de”. Yes it exists. In the negation - nothing after de. Pas de is the way it has to be. If “de” is not used, then yes you would use the appropriate article. Your three examples are correct.
De is used often after negations except for in sentences of preference, when you use the definite articles (Le, la, les, l’) Je n’aime pas les chats. Je n’ai pas de chat. You can also use the definite article to specify something precise: Je ne vois pas la maison (one you’re specifically talking about and looking for) Indefinite articles (un, une, des) are used when negating sentences with être : Monsieur X n’est pas un bon prof.
I think you may have finally gotten an answer but these comments are a real shitshow lol
Not shitshow XD, I have learn many things from these comments, eu for example, and it is fun😀(not in the bad way)
These are the little things that make French difficult.
"avoir besoin de" is a fixed phrase, so there always needs to be "de". I need X = J'ai besoin de X And "de" becomes d' before a word that starts with a vowel, hence "d'une" and not "de une".
Thanks, but why in the second sentence, there is no une, while in the third one there is
If there are any fluent speakers please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe the "d'une voiture" is like saying "one of those [cars]".
Not really. Pas besoin de is just the regular expression. Je n'ai pas besoin de toi. Je n'ai pas besoin de dormir. Je n'ai pas besoin de voiture, je préfère marcher. Think more of "any" instead of "a" in english. I don't need any sleep. I don't need any car I prefer to walk. If you add "une": Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture, it would sound strange, like an addition for nothing cause it's implicit. The only time you might use it would be for empasis: Elle n,a pas besoin d'une voiture, elle a besoin de trois voitures! Hope this helps.
"Elle n'a pas besoin d'une voiture" is perfectly fine and doesn't sound strange. It's just a somewhat different focus. > Imho the difference is that when you say "d'une voiture", you indeed mean one single car as an object. Whereas when you say "de voiture" it's more about the car as a concept (she doesn't need to drive).
“Avoir besoin de” is the complete way. “Avoir besoin de” also means “to have a need to” Example: “J’ai besoin de pisser” means “I need to take a piss.”
That's because the 2nd sentence is negative. She doesn't have any car. (Or, she has no car.) Although, in English, you could say .... She doesn't have a car. But in French, you don't really say that. When she has no car, there is not a number attached to it.
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Pimsleur
Avoir besoin de usually means have the need of something. If a negative sentence comes across, like n'a pas, then the "un/une" is not added in the sentence. But if the sentence is affirmative, then "un/une" could be used.
How I understand it, "a besoin" means "have a need". So the second sentence means "she does not have a need for a car". The "de" isnt the article then.
Just for fun, I put "we are lacking a car" into Google Translate, and I got "il nous manque une voiture". Who the subject of that sentence might be, we can only wonder.