Breakdown of Le cyberharcèlement détruit la vie d'autrui.
de
of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)
la vie
the life
détruire
to destroy
autrui
others
le cyberharcèlement
the cyberbullying
Questions & Answers about Le cyberharcèlement détruit la vie d'autrui.
Why use autrui here instead of des autres?
Autrui is an invariable pronoun that means 'other people' in a broad, general sense. It is more formal than les autres and is frequently used in legal, moral, or ethical contexts, such as discussing the harm of cyberbullying. While des autres would also be grammatically correct, autrui elevates the tone.
Why is it d'autrui and not de l'autrui or des autrui?
The pronoun autrui never takes a definite article like le, la, or les. It acts almost like a proper noun in this regard. Therefore, when combining it with the preposition de (of), it simply contracts to d'autrui. Because it is an invariable pronoun, it never takes an -s for plural, either.
Why is la vie singular here if it refers to the lives of multiple other people?
In French, when a group of people each possesses one of a particular thing, such as a life or a head, the singular form is often preferred. La vie d'autrui focuses on the abstract concept of human life or the individual life of another person, whereas English naturally switches to the plural 'lives'.
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