Learn French: Il n'y a pas de feu, mais elle voit la fumée sortir du conteneur. - There is no fire, but she sees smoke coming out of the container.

Il n'y a pas de feu, mais elle voit la fumée sortir du conteneur.

There is no fire, but she sees smoke coming out of the container.

Breakdown of Il n'y a pas de feu, mais elle voit la fumée sortir du conteneur.

not (used before the verb)

Questions & Answers about Il n'y a pas de feu, mais elle voit la fumée sortir du conteneur.

Why is sortir in the infinitive here? English says "coming out" instead of "to come out".

When you use a verb of perception like voir (to see), entendre (to hear), or sentir (to smell/feel) followed by an object performing an action, that second verb must be in the infinitive. While English uses the "-ing" form ("sees smoke coming"), French requires the infinitive: voit la fumée sortir.

Why is it pas de feu instead of pas un feu or pas du feu?

In negative sentences, indefinite articles (un, une, des) and partitive articles (like du) change to simply de or d'. If the sentence were positive, it would be Il y a un feu (There is a fire). Because of the absolute negation (Il n'y a pas...), the un becomes de.

Where does the du in du conteneur come from?

The verb sortir is followed by the preposition de when it means "to come out of". Since conteneur is masculine (le conteneur), the preposition de and the definite article le combine to form the mandatory contraction du.

The English translation just says "smoke". Why does the French use instead of (some smoke)?