I think the statement was "Je bois du..." And the options were eau, vin, and alcool. Only vin fits because it starts with a consonant and du ends with a vowel. Ex: du eau is just d'eau. Du alcool is d'alcool.

To my ear Elle and Elles sound the same before boit and boivent. The difference I hear is in boit and boivent, with there being the slightest v sound in boivent, letting me know it is plural. You can get an idea of this if you go to translate.google.com and type in the two sentences "Elle boit du vin," and "Elles boivent du vin," and listen to them both one right after the other.

When Elle and Elles are followed by a word that starts with a vowel, there is a slight z sound connecting Elles and the following word, such as with "Elles ecrivent." Again, translate.google.com will let you listen to both and hear the difference.

That's how I'm telling them apart, but I'm a beginner and not a native speaker, so ... don't hold me to it. :)

'Elle' and 'elles' sound the same but 'boi' and 'boivent' are pronounced differently. 'Boi' is pronounced as 'bua' wheras 'boivent' is pronounced as 'buave'.

Always listen carefully to how the following verb is conjugated. Works for me!

Yes, because of how vowel-consonent pairings work in french. "On", "En", "In" and...I think there's a couple of others that are all nasal, which means that they sound different than they should. Specifically for the letter "i", it tends to sound more like an open "a" or an "ee" sound. For vin, because it's a nasal i, it sounds like van.

The correct partitive for alcool would be "de l'alcool", because "alcool" starts with a vowel sound.

You can't use « du le » because « du » already means « de » + « le ».

If it's plural, use « des » : « Je mange des fraises » - "I'm eating [some] strawberries"
If it starts with a vowel or mute "h", use « de l' » : « Je bois de l'eau » - "I'm drinking [some] water"
Otherwise, if it's masculine, use « du » : « Je bois du vin » - "I'm drinking [some] wine"
If it's feminine, use « de la » : « Je bois de la bière » : "I'm drinking [some] beer"
If you got here, you missed a rule. Go back to the start and try again.

« du » is the mandatory contraction of « de » + « le », and « des » is the mandatory contraction of « de » + « les ». « de » is neither masculine nor feminine. It's also not plural or singular. It's the next word that determines the number and gender, and two out of the three articles combine with « de » to form a different word.

Please focus on the V in "boiVent".

Yes, essentially. The girls would be les filles, and the women would be les femmes.

The French love their articles and they also have articles that English does not use: partitive articles.

Partitive (= part of something) articles are required when the meaning is "some" in front of a mass noun. They are formed with the preposition "de" and a definite article: "le", "la" or "l'"

• ils boivent du vin ("du" is the contraction of the preposition "de" and the masculine definite article "le")
• ils boivent de la bière ("la", because "bière" is a feminine noun)
• ils boivent de l'eau ("l'" because "eau" is a feminine noun starting with a vowel sound)
• ils boivent de l'alcool ("l'" because "alcool" is a masculine noun starting with a vowel sound).

This is fully explained in the Tips and Notes in the lesson that you can access at anytime during your lessons, provided you work with the online version of Duolingo.

"du" is a partitive article (masculine, singular) and "des" is the plural indefinite article (that English does not have).

About partitive articles that are used with mass nouns, please read the above comment.

About "des", it is the plural for "un" or "une" and it means "more than one".

• singular: je mange une fraise (I eat a/one strawberry) -- plural: je mange des fraises (I eat (some) strawberries)

Not necessarily. "elle" can be "she" or "it" and "elles" in plural is "they".

The sentence does not say if the people who drink are women or girls.

In general, the personal pronouns "elle" and "elles" refer to any feminine noun (people, animal, things).

"partitive" articles are about "part of something uncountable", "some + mass noun" or "an undetermined quantity of something". That is for the meaning.

• I drink beer OR I drink some beer = je bois de la bière: bière is a feminine noun, "de la" is the feminine partitive article.

• I eat bread OR I eat some bread = je mange du pain: pain is a masculine noun, "du" is the masculine partitive article.

If the noun starts with a vowel sound, "du" and "de la" are changed to "de l'":

• I drink water OR I drink some water = je bois de l'eau: eau is feminine

• I drink alcohol OR I drink some alcohol = je bois de l'alcool: alcool is masculine.

elle boit = [el bwa]

elles boivent = [el bwaV]

the wine = le vin: specific wine -> definite article.

"the wine" and "(some) wine" are different in English and in French as well:

(some) wine = du vin (an undertermined quantity of a mass thing)

the wine = le vin (specific)

When the subject is 3rd person plural (ils, elles = they), the verb ending is always -ent, and it is mute.

The last sound you hear is that of the previous consonant:

• ils/elles boiV(ent) = bwav

In singular, the last consonant is not heard either:

• il/elle boi(t) = bwa

The computer-checker can be dumb sometimes.

Even I have once faced the same problem

"they" can translate to "ils" if the subjects are all masculine or a mix of masculine and feminine people (or animal/things), or to "elles" if the subjects are all feminine.

"Elle" and "Elles" are indeed pronounced the same because there is no liaison with the next word to prompt a Z sounding liaison.

But the verb does not sound the same: boit vs boiVent