you said that we use des only with countable nouns, does that means that uncountable nouns are treated as singular in french ?

renwa f.A1Kwiziq community member

you said that we use des only with countable nouns, does that means that uncountable nouns are treated as singular in french ?

Asked 6 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Renwa,

You will use du, de la, de l' (some) for uncountable nouns which are singular articles: 

J'ai de la confiture d'abricot, si vous préférez? = I have some apricot jam if you prefer?

Il y a du bon chocolat dans le placard. = There is some good chocolate in the cupboard.

Nous avons de l'argent à changer en arrivant. We have some money to change on arrival.

Hope this helps!

June C.A2Kwiziq community member
What about "des fruits"? is "fruits" here countable or uncountable? 
CécileKwiziq team member

That's an interesting question June...

In French fruit is very countable -

We say for instance:

"Tu veux un fruit?"  which would translate in English as, "Do you want a piece of fruit"

or

J'ai des fruits comme dessert I have (some) fruit for dessert

Hope this helps!

Luthien T.A0Kwiziq community member

Wait...

Why is du here? ''Il y a du bon chocolat dans le placard.''

isn't ''bon'' an adj. qualificatif? so in front of it shouldn't be just ''de''?

CécileKwiziq team member

Hi Luthien, 

il y a un bon dessert dans le placard

Il y a des bonnes florentines dans le placard

Il y a de la bonne huile d'olive dans le placard

il y a du bon chocolat dans le placard 

 

There is some .... which is the partitive 

 

you said that we use des only with countable nouns, does that means that uncountable nouns are treated as singular in french ?

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