FR: faire du/de la + sport/activité / faire le/la + activité

[FatimaSpanishTeacher]

I am having trouble grasping when we use

faire de + activity and faire + activity

e.g. we say faire du foot; faire de l'histoire; faire de la chasse; faire des boules.

but why do we say faire la vaisselle; faire la lessive etc and not faire de la vaisselle etc??

Moderator note: multiple threads merged to create this one

 

[pointvirgule]

The issue here does not really concern the verb faire ; it has to do with the usage of definite and indefinite articles, which follows the same basic principles in French as in English or Spanish, for instance.

Concerning the examples you posted:
Faire la vaisselle, faire la lessive are the same as do the dishes, do the laundry.

Faire de la chasse : ne se dit pas en français -> aller à la chasse ou faire la chasse à. Nous allons à la chasse au canard samedi prochain. Le chat fait la chasse aux souris.

Faire du foot : on dit plutôt jouer au foot.
Faire de l'histoire -> étudier l'histoire.

Hope this helps.

 

[janpol]

la vaiselle, la lessive = on lave la totalité de la vaiselle et des vêtements sales. "il fait de l'histoire" (familier) : il étudie une période historique.

 

[silie]

Bonjour!

When describing what sports you play with verb faire do you just use du/de la/ de l'/ des

e.g. Je fais de l'equitation / Je fais de l'athletisme/Je fais du velo/Je fais des sport nautiques?

merci!

 

[Oddmania]

Hi,

Yes, I can't think of any sports or instruments you could play and couldn't use de with

 

[silie]

well aren't there some sports with jouer?! le foot, le hockey etc? The above is correct yes?

 

[Oddmania]

Sure, you could use jouer too, but it's not faire and therefore doesn't require de.

Je joue au foot, au hockey, au basket-ball,... (you couldn't use it with horseriding or riding a bike, or with athletism though). And it doesn't mean the exact same thing as Je fais de + sport. Jouer au foot implies I'm playing football, or everyday I play football, but not I practise football.

 

[silie]

Ok thanks. You generally use jouer for team sports and faire for individual sports. Though I have seen je joue au hockey AND je fais du hockey
When describing sports as well am I correct in saying the adjective agrees with sport. E.g. Je n'aime pas la natation, c'est ennuyeuse. J'aime l'equitation, c'est amusante etc

 

[Oddmania]

You can actually use faire with any sports or instruments, and jouer with any instruments but only some sports. I don't think a list exists, but you've got Jouer au football, basketball, hockey, volley-ball, handball, baseball, rugby, paintball, bowling, waterpolo,... I think you're right, it's mainly used with team sports (but keep in mind that faire goes with anything!)

As for agreement, it's not correct. When you use c'est, then what follows must be neutral (thus masculine and singular). Grammatically speaking, you should make adjectives agree with sports when there is no c'est, but saying La natation/L'équitation est ennuyeuse doesn't sound very common... I can actually guarantee you will never come across it!