Use of de

Question

Are there any other times apart from the negative (saying you don’t have any), when de is used eg d’huile, de pan. I know we say de also before plural nouns with an adjectives preceding the noun

Accepted Answer

Yes, there are. For example, when you say what things are made of:
Cet anneau est fait d'or. -- That ring is made of gold.
Or when you make reference to the general instead of the specific:
J'ai vu d'autres films que vous. -- I saw other films than you.
I don't think I can provide an exhaustive list of instances for when to use de instead of des, though.

Answer

Another question I had: When do we say des erreurs or d’erreurs?

Answer

As mentioned, you use d'erreurs when you use to unspecified, general errors, and des erreurs when referring to specific errors (that might have been mentioned previously in the context) or just "some" errors, i.e., an unspecified number of them.J'ai fait des erreurs bêts. -- I made some stupid mistakes.Quel est le message d'erreur? -- What's the error message?

Answer

I hesitate to contradict Chris W, but isn’t it "d’autres films" because "autres" is an indefinite adjective before a noun, thus triggering d’ instead of des?