Learn French: Voici une assiette de soupe chaude.

Voici une assiette de soupe chaude.

Here is a plate of hot soup.

Breakdown of Voici une assiette de soupe chaude.

of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)

la soupe

the soup

Questions & Answers about Voici une assiette de soupe chaude.

Why do we use de here instead of à (une assiette à soupe)?

This relates to our current lesson! Une assiette de soupe tells us about the contents: it is a plate full of soup. If you used à (une assiette à soupe), it describes the purpose of the object: a soup plate, which could be completely empty in your cupboard.

Why is it just de soupe and not de la soupe?

After nouns expressing a container or quantity (like une assiette, un verre, or un litre), the preposition de is used entirely on its own. The partitive article (la) is dropped, so it is always une assiette de soupe.

Does the adjective chaude agree with assiette or soupe?

It agrees with soupe because the soup is what is hot. Here, both assiette and soupe are feminine singular, so it is spelled chaude either way. But if you used a masculine container, it would still be feminine to match the soup: un bol de soupe chaude.

Why say une assiette (a plate) instead of un bol (a bowl) for soup?

In France, soup is traditionally eaten from a wide, deep plate called une assiette creuse (a hollow plate). Bowls (les bols) are mostly reserved for drinking coffee or hot chocolate at breakfast!