Spotted a strange use of DU (Duolingo).

Haiyang B.B2Kwiziq community member

Spotted a strange use of DU (Duolingo).

The phrase I saw: 

Je suis tout à fait satisfait du cadeau que j’ai trouvé pour Sarah. Je l’ai emballé dans DU JOLI PAPIER et je lui donnerai ce soir.


Here the "du joli papier" I thought it is not preceded by any "de" preposition. "emballer dans" is the preceding phrase. So why is DU used here? A mistake?

Asked 1 year ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Bonjour Haiyang,

"Papier" is a non-specific (uncountable) noun.

The text is making reference to "some pretty paper"

"Du joli papier"   --> some pretty paper where du is a partitive article.

Hope this helps to explain for you.

Bonne continuation

Jim

Spotted a strange use of DU (Duolingo).

The phrase I saw: 

Je suis tout à fait satisfait du cadeau que j’ai trouvé pour Sarah. Je l’ai emballé dans DU JOLI PAPIER et je lui donnerai ce soir.


Here the "du joli papier" I thought it is not preceded by any "de" preposition. "emballer dans" is the preceding phrase. So why is DU used here? A mistake?

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