Ssbief (zebi)

[mint moth]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[elfin hedge]

ni is a special word and you can use it with or without articles

Without articles makes it sound a bit more fancy

[vestal scroll]

The indefinite article disappears after ni but the definite one doesn't.

[elfin hedge]

Hmmm
With viande and fromage in the examples above I’d count it as the partitive, I think

[vestal scroll]

Yep, partitive articles also disappear.

[velvet ether]

Yes but why is it that café and chocolat used la and le, while viande and fromage used well not la and le? I know the rule with ni ni, but I just don’t get why viande and fromage wasn’t used with le/la like café and chocolat when they were all used in a general sense

[vestal scroll]

When you like or dislike food, you do that as a whole concept, not some part of it. So the definite article is used.
On the other hand, when you eat/drink something, you do not eat/drink the whole thing that can exist in the whole universe (that would be impossible), you can only eat/drink some amount of it, so the partitive article is used.