While studying the usage of definite articles to improve my french, i have come across something that is really confusing me and i will try my best at explaining what i mean since i am not the best at explaining. so i know that in French when we use a definite article it is because we are trying to be specific or mean things in general, but my problem is coming from this one sentence.
“je veux de la paix” ( i want peace)
when i am thinking of translating the sentence into French i am thinking that the sentence would be spelt like this:
”je veux la paix”
i am stuck and do not understand why French is using paraitive articles to mean things in general. have i used a bad translater or am i not getting something?
partitive article = a quantity of the noun
definite article = a defined meaning of the noun
je veux de la paix = I want some peace [please...]
je veux la paix = I want peace (the whole, defined thing)
A native speaker can probably better tell the difference here, but it seems like “de la paix” would mean more “I want some peace and quiet” while “la paix” would imply something closer to “world peace” or “peace in our time.”
I could be wrong, though.
Your intuition is correct but there's some idiomatic use of the definite for the "peace and quiet" sense ("fichez-moi la paix", "il va enfin avoir la paix", etc.). You might say that in those cases it does mean total peace, but for one person. In particular OP's sentence "je veux la paix" sounds fairly natural to me in the "quiet" sense.
Just like in English vague speech can be puzzling.
If some unspecified character says "I want peace", without any context to assist us, we can only imagine some vague state of peace.
If Stephen King enters a hotel and says to the desk employee "I want peace" it's obvious what it means. He's a famous book author. He wants quiet time to write.
If Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks at a press conference and says "I want peace" everybody will know he's talking about the end of the war in his county.
Context is crucial.
"Je veux la paix" is similar. Without context it's hard to say if we're talking about capital P Peace, abstract peace or some localized state of calm and quiet.
Most of the time it's the latter. It's some peace and quiet.
If someone was talking about a difficult divorce they're going through and they add "je veux la paix" they're probably talking about something specific. The end of a whole series of events, not just a few hours of quiet.
Vague language can be vague. More words and more context always helps.
"Je veux de la paix" isn't impossible but wouldn't be my first choice whatever the context.
”je veux la paix” is correct.
"je veux de la paix" would mean you want to receive peace, which does not make sense for "peace". You want peace to exist, to be present, not to be given to you.
"Je veux la paix" can mean that you want to be left alone or that your want peace in a conflict.
"Je veux de la paix" simply means that you want some peace and quiet.