#de or des

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

blissful portalBOT
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Please be patient

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de or des

hot flame
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Because you're not referring to specific potatoes.

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Donnez-moi un kilo de pommes de terre
Give me a kilo of potatoes.

Donnez-moi un kilo des pommes de terre
Give me a kilo of these specific potatoes.

coarse prism
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Huh, I always thought "des" was just plural of "de". Then what is the difference between "Donnez-moi un kilo des pommes de terre" and "Donnez-moi un kilo ces pommes de terre"?

versed merlin
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More generally, whenever you're dealing with a quantity of something, unless you're talking about a specific something, you just use "de"

beaucoup de voitures
peu de personnes
un tas d'œufs
cent kilos de farine

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in order to use "du"/"de la"/"des" in those circumstances you'd need to have already mentioned the thing your talking about or go on to further specify the things you're talking about

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this is pretty much in line with English usage fwiw

hot flame
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I was just about to mention the similarities. :D

versed merlin
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il y avait beaucoup de voitures -> there were a lot of cars
il y avait beaucoup des voitures dont je t'ai parlé -> there were a lot of the cars that I talked to you about

hot flame
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A lot of these cars (specific).
Beaucoup des voitures.

coarse prism
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Wow, thanks a lot to both. That clears it up. Just to follow up: If I'm referring to an unspecific amount of something, I've learnt to use "Du".

Give me some wine -> Donnez-moi du vin
Give me a liter of wine -> Donnez-moi un litre de vin

Is this right?

coarse prism