Notre génération doit utiliser ________ la précédente.

Thalia C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Notre génération doit utiliser ________ la précédente.

In the above sentence, why is the correct answer "moins d'énergie que" and not "moins d'énergie que de"?  I added the "de" based on this rule: "When expressing there are more/fewer/as many-much [thing/s] than/as [other thing/s], you need to add de after que".  

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi T,

In this example, the 'de' is not needed as it means -

Notre génération doit utiliser moins d'énergie que (ne l'a fait) la géneration précédente.

But if you said -

Notre génération doit utiliser moins de gazole que d'essence.

Here the 'de' is required.

moins de ... que de ...

I hope this is clearer.

 

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

This is a case of have/use 'less (things) than', rather than 'less of this than that' - each generation has to use less energy than the one preceding. Therefore it fits the moins de ... que, rather than moins de ... que de context.

Notre génération doit utiliser ________ la précédente.

In the above sentence, why is the correct answer "moins d'énergie que" and not "moins d'énergie que de"?  I added the "de" based on this rule: "When expressing there are more/fewer/as many-much [thing/s] than/as [other thing/s], you need to add de after que".  

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