"les poupées" vs "des poupées"

Herb C.C1Kwiziq community member

"les poupées" vs "des poupées"

I guess I fell into the trap of considering "play with dolls" to be a general statement and used "les poupées".

Is this not a general statement? Should "some" be implied here and thus the use of "des poupées"?

Asked 2 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Herb,

J'aime jouer avec la poupée = I like playing with the doll -> this one here (in my hands for example) - specific

J'aime jouer avec les poupées = I like playing with (all) the dolls -> general statement

J'aime jouer avec des poupées = I like playing with dolls -> any kind of dolls 

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

As an aside: the use of the definite article to refer to specific instances does NOT apply with verbs like aimer:

J'aime les poupées. -- I like dolls (in general).

"les poupées" vs "des poupées"

I guess I fell into the trap of considering "play with dolls" to be a general statement and used "les poupées".

Is this not a general statement? Should "some" be implied here and thus the use of "des poupées"?

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