French help?

Question

"Je trouve qu'il y a quelque chose de bizarre ..."

In this phrase, I don't get why there is "de" in front of "bizarre". And, is it still grammatically correct if I were to remove "de" from the phrase?

Thanks so much :)

Answer 1

Because that's just the way French works. French (and other foreign languages) don't translate directly word-for-word into English, because they all have their own unique nuances (like in German, the verb pops to the end of the sentence, in Spanish you have the inverted question mark or exclamation mark at the end of a phrase).

It would be grammatically incorrect to remove the "de" but you would probably still be understood - a bit like when people in English use txt spk - it's grammatically suspect, but it conveys the meaning.

Stick with the "proper" form ;-)

Answer 2

Yes, that is just how it is. To look at it gramatically: "I have found something of bizarre" but what it means is that the something has an element of the bizarre. Thus, the 'de'. Don't take it out if you want to sound correct.

Answer 3

the person before me is right.

Prepositions cannot be translated from one language to another. There are places where French have prepositions and English don`t and vice versa.

So, it`s not ok if you remove the "de".

here is an example where English has the "de" and French doesn`t

English: Apart from this...
French: Apart ça...(you don`t say apart de ça).

Answer 4

No, you cannot remove "de". It is like that : "quelque chose + de + adjective" : quelque chose de grand, quelque chose de beau, quelque chose d'unique... etc. (something big, something beautiful, something unique).

Answer 5

No it wouldn't be correct.
Would be like saying "there's something weird" vs "There's something somewhat weird".
Hope helps.