Il a parlé avec colère.

Breakdown of Il a parlé avec colère.

il
he
avec
with
parler
to speak
la colère
the anger

Questions & Answers about Il a parlé avec colère.

Why doesn't this sentence use the subjunctive if it expresses an emotion?
The subjunctive is triggered by specific expressions of emotion followed by que (like être en colère que). Here, we just have a simple statement describing how he spoke using the preposition avec followed by a noun (colère). There is no dependent clause introduced by que, so there is no place for the subjunctive.
Is avec colère the normal way to say angrily in French?
Yes! French often uses avec plus a noun instead of an adverb ending in -ment to describe how an action is done. While the word coléreusement exists, avec colère is much more common and sounds more natural in everyday speech.
How would I use colère in a sentence that DOES trigger the subjunctive?
You would use an expression like être en colère que (to be angry that). For example, Il est en colère que tu partes (He is angry that you are leaving). Because it expresses an emotion and uses que to introduce a new subject, the verb partir must take the subjunctive form partes.
Why is there no article before colère here? Shouldn't it be avec de la colère?
When using avec followed by an abstract noun (like an emotion or a personal quality) to act as an adverb, French generally drops the article. So it is simply avec colère (with anger), just like avec joie (with joy) or avec patience (with patience).

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