Topic: French
https://www.duolingo.com/jakesail

"De nouveaux manteaux"

    January 1, 2013

    12 Comments

    https://www.duolingo.com/jakesail

      can someone explain why it's de instead of des?

      January 1, 2013
      https://www.duolingo.com/siebolt

        because of the adjective between the partitive article and the noun. It would have been "des manteaux jaunes" It is not a cast iron rule, but use it and it will save a lot of irritation with duolingo.

        January 1, 2013
        https://www.duolingo.com/wataya

          Yes, it's best to go on like siebolt said. We had a lengthy in detail discussion of the topic some months ago with lots of quotes from all sorts of dictionaries. Unfortunately, I can't find it anymore.

          January 2, 2013
          https://www.duolingo.com/siebolt

            I got my "rule" from that discussion.

            January 2, 2013
            https://www.duolingo.com/anders.knudsen

              I don't understand the rule here. Can anyone elaborate?

              March 1, 2013
              https://www.duolingo.com/wataya

                I found our former discussion: http://duolingo.com/#!/comment/27813 Happy reading ;-)

                March 1, 2013
                https://www.duolingo.com/amuzulo

                  Why isn't "De nouveau manteau" correct? Is the pronunciation different?

                  January 27, 2013
                  https://www.duolingo.com/jakesail

                    The pronunciation of de (da) and des (day) is slightly different

                    January 27, 2013
                    https://www.duolingo.com/amuzulo

                      Ah, of course, just like le and les. Makes sense... thanks so much!

                      January 27, 2013
                      https://www.duolingo.com/martinkunev

                        Why plural? What's wrong with "De nouveau manteau"?

                        January 24, 2013
                        https://www.duolingo.com/reyzvolution
                        • 15

                        I'm wondering about this, too. The pronunciation of nouveau manteau and nouveaux manteaux is the same (at least to my ear). How are we supposed to know which form (singular or plural) follows de?

                        Or is it because de here means "some"? That if it's singular it would be un nouveau manteau?

                        June 23, 2013
                        https://www.duolingo.com/jakesail

                          I think since manteaux is plural. The singular form would be manteau

                          January 24, 2013
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