jajaja. «corrigez-moi svp»

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[scarlet jetty]

Hi ^^ the verb 'manquer' here is followed by 'de', technically the entire verb is 'manquer de'.
So, "Ça manque de poivre" means "It misses (some) pepper" where the amount of pepper is not specified.

If I say, "Ça manque du poivre" then it means "it misses the pepper", because here du is a combination of de and le (de was already there because it's manquer de).

I hope this explains it ^^°
Maybe a native or green member can explain it better.

There are other examples yes. For example « j'ai besoin de poivre » means I need some unspecified amount of pepper, but « j'ai besoin du poivre » is I need the pepper.

This happens with verbs that are followed by de.

Contrast it with 'manger', which is not followed by de, so you can't say anymore "je mange de poivre". Now you do say du poivre to mean an unspecified amount (and le poivre to mean a specified amount. After all, there's no de here to combine into du).

If anything is not clear, please dont hesitate to ask about it ^^"

[patent geyser]

So all verbs that are learnt with a "de" following them immediately do not require any additional article before their objekt ?

Would I say: Je vis de pain
?

[scarlet jetty]

What are you trying to say here in english? ^^`

[patent geyser]

I live off of bread

It's a verb, vivre de

I think I got it right, eg see this quote:

L'homme vit de pain et de mots, or on oublie parfois de lui offrir ces paroles qu'il prend plaisir à recevoir...

Voir sur https://citations.ouest-france.fr/citation-madeleine-chapsal/homme-vit-pain-mots-or-4463.html

[scarlet jetty]

Ah i see! Then yes, you're right, because you don't talk about any specific bread ^^°

[scarlet jetty]

Ah very nice that you found that ^^

[patent geyser]

Now that I think about it I've had a question about this sort of thing before. There's some sort of expression like changer de main

[scarlet jetty]

If I talk about specific bread (for example the bread from the bakery), then you do say du pain because de + le = du
"Je vis du pain de la boulangerie" (I live off of the bread from the bakery)

[scarlet jetty]

I don't know that one, i'll look it up, one moment ^^°

Ah I see, when talking about buildings and stuff ?

[patent geyser]

Ah yeah, even in "Je change d'avis."

None of these feature an article after de. Seems to be a strict rule

[scarlet jetty]

Bertie is on the scene, i'll leave it to him ^^°

[ebon kestrel]

The idea here is that when the partitive (du, de la, des) meets the preposition « de », it disappears which is why you just have the bare preposition.
« J’ai besoin de + du pain -> J’ai besoin de pain »

[scarlet jetty]

Spooky

[ebon kestrel]

What happens with the other examples is different because what comes into contact with the preposition is the definite article, not the partitive:
« J’ai besoin de + le pain -> J’ai besoin du pain »

[scarlet jetty]

"je suis / change d'avis" is more like a fixed expression ^^'

(i would say, maybe bertie can elaborate/contest that)

[ebon kestrel]

It’s more that there exists the expression « changer de qqch » meaning to alter, modify, or replace something

J’ai changé de voiture = I’ve changed the car

[scarlet jetty]

Ah ok, thank you for telling ^^

Have all your questions been answered jajaja ?