de vs du

Question

Hi - there are a few questions regarding de vs du - but none with answers.I would like to understand - why in this sentence it is du soir and de soir.Nous profitons ainsi de la douceur du soir.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Dragana,
 
The trick to make the difference between ‘du’ (partitive articles) and ‘du’ (contracted articles) is to see if it can be replaced by ‘un peu de’:
 Partitive article / expressing a quantity:

J’ai mangé du pain - J’ai mangé un peu de pain
J’ai de la vanille – J’ai un peu de vanille

Contracted definite articles / no quantity expressed:

La table du salon - La table un peu de salon
La douceur du soir – La douceur un peu de soir
Je parle des amis de Marie – Je parle un peu de amis de Marie → parler de
Je reviens des États-Unis – Je reviens un peu de États-Unis → revenir de

See link here: article-type
 I hope this is helpful. 
Bonne journée !

Answer

Nous profitons ainsi de la douceur du soir -- We thus enjoy the softness of the evening.

Answer

Thanks Chris - but it gets confusing because du - can also mean "some/any" J'ai mangé du pain.Any suggestions where I can read up on this?

Answer

Hi Dragana,"Nous profitons ainsi de la douceur du soir.""We take pleasure / enjoy (from) the softness/gentleness of the evening"La douceur (nf)   "of the (de la) evening" --> du soir (du - definite article)Hope this helpsJim

Answer

Thanks Jim.I get the contractions but what about this:la table de salon - why not - la table du salonThis is where my confusion is - thanks for your help.

Answer

Hi again Dragana,I think that you are getting confused between the various articles (Who can blame you!)This is a very tricky area of grammar  -- suggest you revisit definite / indefinite / partitive articlesJim

Answer

Hi Dragana,the partitive article doesn't make much sense in this context. To a listener it is clear that you're talking about the softness of the evening. Without it, you'd be talking about the softness of evenings in general.

Answer

Cant it be , nous profitons ainsi de la douceur soiree

Answer

Bonjour Sheetal,
You could have 'de la douceur de la soirée' (of the evening), which is grammatically correct. Although, in this context, 'soir' is mostly likely as 'soirée' can mean 'evening party/event'.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !