Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise:
1) "les distances de sécurité"
2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"
Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"
Hi Drew,
As Chris says the first example is just an example of the preposition 'de' linking two related nouns meaning, safety distances .
Other examples would be -
'maison d'hôte', 'palais de justice', 'arrêt d'autobus', etc.
The second example, however, is more interesting as the 'de' there is called 'une préposition vide' , meaning an idiomatic preposition as it is not really required as the link between the two words is non existent as in,
rien de nouveau = nothing new
Hope this helps!
Hi Drew,
in the first sentence, sécurité is a noun: distance of security.
So, then why is it "quelque chose de nouveau" and not "quelque chose de nouvelle"?
Hi Sean,
The word 'quelque chose' , or 'rien' for that matter, is neutral so a masculine adjective is used afterwards.
Here is the Académie Française explanation -
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/quelque-chose-de-speciale
Can someone please explain the logic behind the difference in adjective agreement w/ nouns after "de" in these two sentences, which both are found in the exercise:
1) "les distances de sécurité"
2) "quelques minutes de gagnées"
Why is "securité" not in agreement w/ "les distances," while "gagnées" is in agreement w/ "quelques minutes?"
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