are de and des the same when it comes to plural denotation?

Patrick R.A0Kwiziq community member

are de and des the same when it comes to plural denotation?

for example, is combien de livres Y a-t-il dans votre sac the same as combien des livres Y a-t-til dans votre sac?
Asked 7 years ago
Ron T.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Patrick, Typically "de" is singular and "des" is plural, After reviewing the lesson, Il y a beaucoup de chats the beaucoup de is a "fixed" expression, if you will meaning a lot of followed by the plural noun chats. J'espère que ma réponse vous aiderez. Ron
AurélieNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
Bonjour Patrick ! In the cases of "combien de, beaucoup de..." , "de" is actually the preposition "of" and as it's not followed by the article "les", it simply doesn't contract in "des". As you know "des" in French can be both the plural of "un/une": un chat / des chats = [some] cats or the contraction of the preposition "de" (of/from) + "les" (the): la mère des enfants = the mother of the children Il vient des États-Unis = He is from the United States I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !

are de and des the same when it comes to plural denotation?

for example, is combien de livres Y a-t-il dans votre sac the same as combien des livres Y a-t-til dans votre sac?

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