cirqeu

[subtle gulch]

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[regal lotus]

I understand that “de” is used eg, Non, il n'a pas de voiture. But when is the silent h used?

From what i can understand its before any vowel. But whats a mute h

[tame rivet]

h in french is never pronounced, however there are two different kinds of h.

mute h acts just like a vowel and doesn't block ellision or liaison -> l'horloge

aspirated h on the other hand, while still totally silent, prevents these things from happening -> le haricot

it's entirely dependent on the word itself. there's no evident rule for when h is mute or aspirated, you just have to memorize it

[regal lotus]

So it can appear even out of negative sentences?

[tame rivet]

correct

je hais les pommes
je ne hais pas les pommes

for example

[regal lotus]

Is it the same with de? Or is de strictly negative sentences only

[tame rivet]

nope, all the time

je manque de haricots

for another example

[regal lotus]

What im basically trying to understand is Indefinite articles un and une become de or d' (in front of a vowel or mute h) after a negative expression (ne...pas / ne...jamais / ne...plus ... etc.) in order to express no / any.

[tame rivet]

right, so the mute h phenomenon isn't tied to negative expressions

[regal lotus]

Its also tied to express no/any?

[tame rivet]

no, it's tied to the word itself
in some word, h acts like a vowel
in other words, it acts like a consonant

[regal lotus]

Okay so, when theres a vowel at the start of a word you would use “d’”?

Im not educated enough to be able to make a sentence example but if orange was in the sentece and you wanted to say i have an orange, would you say d’orange here?

[tame rivet]

i have an orange -> j'ai un orange
i don't have an orange -> j'ai pas d'orange

the thing that's tripping you up here isn't the H. it's the fact that in a negative expression, the indefinite article becomes "de"

[atomic karma]

Haïr is definitely a choice

[tame rivet]

it was the only verb that came to mind

and in most places the h is aspirated

[atomic karma]

Ye

Just funny

Je ne veux pas de haricots
Je ne veux pas d'horloges

[regal lotus]

I think i get it a little more. So when its NEGATIVE and theres a mute h in a normal sentence you would change the h to a d’?

[atomic karma]

Huh

[tame rivet]

no the h stays h

[regal lotus]

Ehh

[tame rivet]

it's the article that changes in negative expressions, and the letter following it has no bearing on that, other than potential ellision

[regal lotus]

Alrught sorry for this but theres some words i dont understand😭 whats article, im guessing un/une. And i have no clue ehat potential ellision is

[tame rivet]

yes, and ellision is when words like le and la become l' in front of a vowel or mute h

[regal lotus]

so would heurs count as a silent h?

So what would heurs be in a negative sentence?

[tame rivet]

heures is a mute h

heures does not change in a negative sentence

[regal lotus]

Why so?

[tame rivet]

no noun changes in a negative sentence

[regal lotus]

I found an example

Tu as un animal de compagnie ? - Non je n'ai pas d'animal de compagnie.
Do you have a pet? - No, I don't have a pet.

[tame rivet]

the noun remained the same

[regal lotus]

Why is animal d’animal but not de animal?

[tame rivet]

un was replaced by de

de in front of a vowel like a must become d'

[regal lotus]

So basically de is used when theres no vowel, d’ is used when a vowel is present

[tame rivet]

yes

[regal lotus]

How come d’orange would be incorrect then

😭

[tame rivet]

it's not, in a negative construction

i have an orange -> j'ai un orange
i don't have an orange -> j'ai pas d'orange

[regal lotus]

Ohhh i see

So if it were a negative

It gets a d

Thank you so much