Use of "de" in phrase "les fantômes de peintures précédentes"

Question

I used des rather than de in the phrase "the ghosts of previous paintings" since it is used in the context of a plural noun: "les fantômes des (rather than de) peintures précédentes".  Since there is no adjective in front of the noun, why is the singular de used?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Helena,
Chris's answer is correct! However, if you look more closely at the text, the English sentence is 'the ghosts from previous paintings' where 'from' means 'de' -> talking about a source

J'ai reçu une lettre de mon oncle = I received a letter from my uncle
J'ai reçu un appel téléphonique de mon comptable = I got a phone call from my accountant

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Chris Wirt · Answer

Les fantômes de peintures précédentes. -- The ghosts of previous paintings. (general)Les fantômes des peintures précédentes. -- The ghosts of the previous paintings. (specifc)

Blaise Pascal · Answer

Hello Chris,

Thanks for the explanation. I have a couple of questions on the same point:

1. I also used des in this case, but in the sense of partitive (some previous paintings), because more often than not the nouns (countable/uncountable) in French come dressed with partitive articles.

2. This is just for knowledge: We know that des becomes de in front of an adjective followed by a noun. Does the same rule apply when a noun is followed by an adjective?

Thanks in advance!