ELONIO
Log inSign up

Je ne veux pas de boue sur mes bottes ou mon sac de couchage.

Je ne veux pas de boue sur mes bottes ou mon sac de couchage.
I do not want mud on my boots or my sleeping bag.
From Lesson 267:Precautions (au cas où)·French

Questions & Answers about Je ne veux pas de boue sur mes bottes ou mon sac de couchage.

Why is it pas de boue instead of pas de la boue?
When a sentence is negative, partitive articles like de la (some) change to simply de or d'. Because of the negation ne ... pas, the phrase de la boue (some mud) must become pas de boue (no mud / not any mud). This is a strict rule in French that often trips up learners!
Why does this sentence use de in sac de couchage?
In French, de is frequently used to link a noun to its purpose or what it is made of, because French doesn't stack nouns together to describe things like English does. The word couchage refers to sleeping or bedding, so a sac de couchage literally translates to a "bag for sleeping."
Could I leave out mon and just say mes bottes ou sac de couchage?
No, you must repeat the possessive adjective before every single noun in a list! You also have to make sure it matches the gender and number of each specific noun. That is why the sentence uses the plural mes for bottes and then switches to the masculine singular mon for sac.

Learn Je ne veux pas de boue sur mes bottes ou mon sac de couchage and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →