Breakdown of Ce pichet d'eau est en belle porcelaine.
être
to be
l'eau
the water
ce
this (before a noun)
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
beau
beautiful / handsome
en
made of (material)
la porcelaine
the porcelain
le pichet
the pitcher
Questions & Answers about Ce pichet d'eau est en belle porcelaine.
Why is it pichet d'eau and not pichet à eau?
The preposition de, contracted to d' before a vowel, tells us about the current contents. A pichet d'eau is a pitcher that is currently holding water. If you were talking about the pitcher's purpose, you would use à and say pichet à eau to mean a pitcher designed for water, even if it were currently empty.
Why do we use en before belle porcelaine instead of de?
Why is there no article before belle porcelaine?
When stating a material using the preposition en, French drops the article because the material is treated as an abstract or uncountable concept. Even with the descriptive adjective belle added, the phrase still functions as a direct description of the material itself, requiring no article.
Just as a quick refresher, why does belle come before porcelaine?
Most French adjectives follow the noun they modify, but belle describes beauty. It belongs to a very common group of short adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, or Size that are placed before the noun.
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