Négation pluriel

Question

"We don't eat baby rabbits" -> "Nous ne mangeons pas de lapereau" selon un quiz. Je sais que 'des' devient 'de' dans les phrases négatives, mais pourquoi pas 'lapereaux'?

Accepted Answer

"un"and "une" also become "de" in negative sentences, see: https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/un-and-une-become-de-or-d-in-negative-sentences-indefinite-article

Answer

Bonjour Joakim !

In French, you could use either, with a slight nuance of meaning:
"On ne mange pas de lapereau." would mean "We don't eat baby rabbit" in general, as a type of meat here.
If you consider the baby rabbits as countable elements, then you could also use the plural: "On ne mange pas de lapereaux."

I hope that's helpful!