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- "Vous pouvez avoir des canard…
29 Comments
2271
Be aware that "des" is simply the plural of "un/une". There is no real counterpart for this in English. Some people have the idea that it must be translated as "some" (through unintentional Duolingo presentations), but this "some" is almost always ignored in English. I.e.,
- un livre, des livres = a book, books (not "some books")
- une pomme, des pommes = an apple, apples (not "some apples")
Although it is used as an auxiliary and in a number of expressions where it kind of loses its meaning, "avoir" still means "posséder". The quality of your French will (eventually) be judged by how cleverly you use synonyms, to avoid "flat" speech and boring repetitions.
Sorry for the long speech... "vous pouvez posséder des canards" is very good French.
2271
It is not "better", just different, but also acceptable. As Sitesurf said, "avoir" can also be used in the meaning of "own" or sometimes even "wear" or "have on" (clothing).
901
could this be interpreted as "you can have some duck" (e.g for dinner)? that's what i thought at first listening to the sentence - not 'owning ducks' (which seems like an odd thing to do)
2271
No. Your sentence would be "vous pouvez prendre du canard", where "du" is a partitive article referring to an undetermined amount of something. https://www.thoughtco.com/du-de-la-des-1368977