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I am reading this page on Le Robert:

Cas particulier: C'est nous qui l'avons fait (et non *nous qui l'ont fait.) Lorsque qui a pour antécédent un nom ou un pronom qui est attribut du sujet de la proposition principale, le verbe de la subordonnée s'accorde obligatoirement avec l'attribut lorsque

Why is it not "... est l'attribut du sujet de..."? Attribut is a count noun if I am not mistaken and I am not aware of an adjectival form. Why doesn't it need a definite article? Also another page has:

La fonction d'attribut est occupée par un terme qui, par l'intermédiaire d'un verbe dit « attributif » (autrefois appelé « verbe d'état »), sert à préciser l'une des caractéristiques

Similarly why isn't it de l'attribut?

By the way I also don't quite understand the lorsque at the end of the first sentence. Is "attribut lorsque" is a noun phrase? If not what is lorsque doing bringing up the rear?

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  • attribut without a definite article when it is part of a general rule and no precise example is given to relate the attribut to. It would be the same with lot of case, I'm pretty sure the question has been asked before here. Commented Aug 26, 2024 at 16:32
  • Lorsque (when) is followed by a colon ⟨:⟩ and an enumeration, it has nothing to do with the word attribut. You have to understand : (Le verbe de la subordonnée s'accorde obligatoirement avec l'attribut lorsque) l'attribut est précédé de l'article défini. (Le verbe de la subordonnée s'accorde obligatoirement avec l'attribut lorsque) la proposition principale est ... Presenting the text thus avoids having to repeat what I have put between brackets. This should have been another question, one question... But this is not particular to French, you have it in lots of other languages. Commented Aug 26, 2024 at 16:42
  • The 1st occurrence of attribut in the quoted sentence has the grammatical role of an adjective; some grammarians consider it in apposition. Commented Aug 26, 2024 at 17:12
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    @desmo In English, why "he was president between 2016 and 2020" rather than "the president"? Why "the role of mayor" instead of "the role of the mayor"? Answer: you can use all of these, but they mean different things with a definite article. The phenomenon is very similar to your examples. Commented Aug 27, 2024 at 7:43
  • @guillaume31 I get your point but I think that's exactly why little and ostensibly trivial things like article usage get learners. In my very first French class I learned to say je suis étudiant and not je suis un étudiant an important note the teacher made sure to drill into our heads. But it would never be said like that in English. Later I also learned Je suis un étudiant studieux as opposed to Je suis étudiant studieux, which makes it more complex than simply "no article before professions/roles". The nitty-gritty of article use is what makes every language different. Commented Aug 27, 2024 at 19:56

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