Breakdown of Ils veulent éviter la démolition du château.
ils
they (masculine/mixed)
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
le château
the castle
vouloir
to want
éviter
to avoid
la démolition
the demolition
Questions & Answers about Ils veulent éviter la démolition du château.
How does the nominalization in this sentence help us avoid a more complex grammar structure?
By using the noun phrase la démolition, we avoid having to use a subjunctive clause. If we used a verb phrase instead, we would have to say something clunky like éviter qu'on démolisse le château (to avoid that one demolishes the castle) or éviter que le château ne soit démoli (to avoid that the castle be demolished). The noun makes it much more concise and elegant!
Why is it du château here, whereas with a verb it would just be démolir le château?
Could I just use an infinitive and say Ils veulent éviter de démolir le château?
You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. Using éviter de + infinitive requires the subject of both verbs to be the same. It would mean that they are the ones who would do the demolishing, and they want to avoid doing it themselves. The noun la démolition leaves the doer of the action unspecified, meaning they want to prevent the event from happening at all, regardless of who swings the wrecking ball.
Is there a rule to know that démolir takes a -tion ending to become a noun?
There isn't a single foolproof rule. French uses several suffixes to nominalize verbs, such as -tion, -ment (like développer to développement), or -age (like laver to lavage). You generally have to memorize the noun forms, but the good news here is that démolition matches its English equivalent perfectly.
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