Feb 12, 2012 - 06:26 PM
A way to look at it that really helped me is to think of french as a language all its own (which it is of course) and not a translation of English. So, the way we say things in english might not translate word for word to french. I think the use here is similar to the french word "de" . As Sonia explains, when we want something like water, the idea is that we want "some" water, not all the water in the world, so we say "Je veux d'eau" I want some water rather than how we might say it in english .... "I want water". There's probably a better technical explanation, but I look at those things as being just how they say it in french.