"I bought a lot of clothes at the department store."

Translation: デパートで服をたくさん買いました。

[Kolbe170754]

Why can't it be たくさんふく ？

[kzulu92]

When you put たくさん in front of the noun you should also put particle の, eg. たくさんのふく.

[DashAlex22]

Interestingly enough, my answer as たくさん服 without the particle の was accepted. Even though I think using the particle sounds more natural, Duolingo in some examples just keeps excluding it and I still haven’t gotten an answer why.

[Alex425703]

デパートでたくさん服を買いました is also accepted

[Rat.Waren]

Can I invert the order in this example?
ふくをデパートでたくさんかいました。

[DanicaBescae]

デパートでふくをたくさんかいます。

Or, more accurately, "By going to the department store, I bought a lot of clothes." It's easier to think of the logical order and also know about particle placement:

(noun)を(action on noun)

(place/noun)で(action performed on/at noun/place)

In the section instance, ふく and たくさんかい work as the action (buying lots of clothes)

ふくをデパートでたくさんかいます。

Or, more accurately, "My clothes were put in the many department stores I bought."

This is the closest readable translation into English.

Unlike other languages, rearrangement isn't easy with the basic level of learning Duolingo gives us. Usually, を goes near the end of the sentence.

[MarcMcWilliams]

This is a very detailed explanation, thanks for the post. I'm not sure I follow how

服をデパートでたくさん買いました。

translates to "my clothes were put in the many department stores I bought" since the を particle indicates that the clothes were bought regardless of if the order is incorrect.

Perhaps you mean the above translates more like "I bought clothes in many department stores"?

[kittycat2223]

What is the difference between に and で？ I'm still confused.

[deactivated user]

で is used to indicate the place /where the action is performed/. に is mostly used to indicate movement towards a place (plus other uses)