Questions & Answers about L'absence de Marie rend Paul triste.
Why is it l'absence and not just absence?
In French, nouns usually need an article more often than they do in English. Here, absence is a feminine singular noun, so the basic form is la absence. But French avoids la before a vowel sound, so it contracts to l'absence.
So:
- la absence → l'absence
This is called elision.
Why do we say de Marie?
De Marie means of Marie or Marie's.
French often uses de where English uses 's:
- l'absence de Marie = Marie's absence
- le livre de Paul = Paul's book
So this is a very normal French way to show possession or relationship between two nouns.
Why isn't there an apostrophe-s like in English, as in Marie's absence?
French does not use the English 's possession pattern. Instead, it usually uses:
- noun + de + person/thing
So English Marie's absence becomes French l'absence de Marie.
This is one of the most common structural differences between English and French.