French language Q&A Forum

Why is it « nouvel » and not « neuf » when the raincoat would be brand new from the store? I thought neuf is for new, never been used, and nouvel is for been used but still pretty new.

Why was this marked incorrect for "I am five minutes late" ?   According to the lecture, can use either "Je suis en retard"  (de 5 minutes) or  "J'ai (5 minutes) de retard"   

What is the difference in meaning between l'article partitif (du, des) and l'article contracte (du, des)?

On the ainsi que lesson there is the following section:

ATTENTION:

Ok, we know that: '' Partitive articles, du, de la, & de l' (some/any) are used with mass nouns. Definite articles (le, la, l', les) and indefinite articles (un/une/des) are used with countable nouns.

Then what partitive ''des'' is used for? What is the difference between those two ''des''? The indefinite ''des'' vs the partitive ''des''. Are not there any uncountable nouns that have any plural form or something like that?

Chanson douce = lullaby :-)