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Il a habité dans un appartement austère, sans électricité ni chauffage.

Il a habité dans un appartement austère, sans électricité ni chauffage.
He lived in an austere apartment, without electricity or heating.
From Lesson 356:Negative coordination (sans... ni...)·French

Questions & Answers about Il a habité dans un appartement austère, sans électricité ni chauffage.

Why do we use ni instead of ou for 'or' in this sentence?
In French, when you list multiple things after the negative preposition sans (without), you must connect them with ni (nor/or) rather than ou. This creates a negative coordination, meaning he lacked both things.
Why are there no articles before électricité and chauffage?
After sans and ni, partitive articles (like de la or du) and indefinite articles (like un or une) are dropped. Because the sentence describes a complete absence of these things in a general sense, you simply say sans électricité ni chauffage without any articles.
Could we say Il a habité un appartement without using the word dans?
Yes, both are correct. The verb habiter can be used directly as a transitive verb (habiter un appartement) or with a preposition (habiter dans un appartement). Adding dans just puts a slight emphasis on being inside the physical space.
Why is the adjective austère placed after the noun appartement?
Austère describes a specific, descriptive quality (strict, bare, or severe). Since it doesn't fall into the short, common BANGS categories (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size) that usually precede nouns, it follows the standard French rule and comes immediately after the noun it modifies.

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