Indefinite plural vs partative plural

Question

I understand that the partative article is used for uncountable amounts. e.g. 'je mange des pâtes'. It is clear that pasta is never going to be counted, so it makes sense it would be partative des.

However if i say 'je mange des carottes', I could mean a big plate of chopped up carrots which are uncountable, which would be partative des.

Or I could mean I am eating 3 whole carrots which are definitely countable. So would this be indefinite des?

Is it the context that would define which article is used?

Accepted Answer

When using countable nouns, context and what you're trying to emphasis will determine everything.
Je mange des carottes (this means you're eating an unspecified quantity of carrots)
Je mange trois carottes (this means you're eating 3 carrots)
 
If you can put 'a/an' before a noun and have it make grammatical sense, then that means you can use numbers before the article.