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'?

Aurélie Drouard · 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

Aurélie Drouard · 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!