"les poupées" vs "des poupées"

Question

I guess I fell into the trap of considering "play with dolls" to be a general statement and used "les poupées".

Is this not a general statement? Should "some" be implied here and thus the use of "des poupées"?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Herb,

J'aime jouer avec la poupée = I like playing with the doll -> this one here (in my hands for example) - specific
J'aime jouer avec les poupées = I like playing with (all) the dolls -> general statement
J'aime jouer avec des poupées = I like playing with dolls -> any kind of dolls

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

As an aside: the use of the definite article to refer to specific instances does NOT apply with verbs like aimer:J'aime les poupées. -- I like dolls (in general).