Learn French: Le collectionneur ne participera pas à l'enchère, d'autant moins qu'il n'a pas d'argent. - The collector will not participate in the auction, all the less since he has no money.

Word

Le collectionneur ne participera pas à l'enchère, d'autant moins qu'il n'a pas d'argent.

Meaning

The collector will not participate in the auction, all the less since he has no money.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

French

Lesson

Emphatic cause (d'autant plus que)

Breakdown of Le collectionneur ne participera pas à l'enchère, d'autant moins qu'il n'a pas d'argent.

avoir

to have

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

Questions & Answers about Le collectionneur ne participera pas à l'enchère, d'autant moins qu'il n'a pas d'argent.

Why use d'autant moins que here instead of just parce que (because)?

D'autant moins que translates to "all the less since" or "especially since." It doesn't just state a cause like parce que does; it emphasizes that this cause makes the main action (not participating) even more expected. It reinforces the negative statement in the first half of the sentence.

Would it make sense to say d'autant plus qu'il n'a pas d'argent in this sentence?

No, it would sound contradictory. Because the first clause is negative (ne participera pas), the reason reinforcing that negative outcome requires d'autant moins que (all the less). If the main clause were positive—for example, il évitera l'enchère (he will avoid the auction)—then you would use d'autant plus que (all the more).

Why is the preposition à used in participer à l'enchère instead of dans (in)?

In French, the verb participer (to participate or take part) must always be followed by the preposition à, even though English uses "in." You will never use dans with this verb.

Quick refresher: why is it pas d'argent and not pas de l'argent?

This is the rule of negative quantities. In a negative sentence, partitive articles (like de l', which you would use in the positive statement il a de l'argent) change to simply de or d'. It acts like the English word "any" in "he doesn't have any money."