"Sorry, I'm out of white socks."

Translation: Désolé, je n'ai plus de chaussettes blanches.

[dandiephouse]

Why de and not des chaussettes blanches?

[CommeuneTexane]

In the negative ne + verb + pas/plus/jamais/rien, the partitive articles (du, de la, des, de l') all become de or d'.

Tu as des pommes ? / Non, je n'ai pas de pommes.
Nous avons du lait. / Nous n'avons pas de lait.
Vous buvez de la bière ? / Non, nous ne buvons jamais de bière.
Tu vois des artichauts ? / Non, je ne vois pas d'artichauts.

• Note for countable objects like chaussettes and pommes, the plural form remains. For uncountable things like lait or bière, they are not plural.

• This does not apply to negations with the verb ÊTRE, they keep their partitive articles. (And Aimer, Adorer, Détester, Préférer, Apprécier since they refer to nouns in general or in the abstract: j'aime le chocolat. / je n'aime pas le chocolat. There are possibly other verbs as well... because French.) In general use de or d' with negative statements, and mind the exceptions!

[Marie282520]

Je n'aime pas de pommes? Je n'aime pas des pommes? Which is correct.

[CommeuneTexane]

Je n'aime pas les pommes. You are speaking about apples in general and with the verb aimer, you would keep the partitive article, les.

[PatriciaHu469877]

Why not "dommage" instead of "Désolé"?

[Marie282520]

Dommage: what a shame; what a pity.
Désole: Sorry.

[carolsmith17484]

Why not" je suis hors de...."? "I do not have any" is not the same as "I am out of". It might mean the same but is not expressed in the same way. Any one enlighten me please?

[CommeuneTexane]

Je suis hors de... means that I am physically or figuratively outside of something. It doesn't work to describe no longer being in possession of a certain item.

Je suis hors du bureau. = I'm out of the office.
Je suis hors de contrôle. = I'm out of control.

[Alex545843]

"Je suis hors de" is the hint for whatever reason. I thought it sounded funny.

[CommeuneTexane]

Yes, the hints are attached to certain words or grouping of words, rather than the sentences themselves. Since words and groups of words can have multiple meanings, sometimes a hint that works in one context does not work in another.

[Matthias1414]

Well, the Eighties are over.

[Marie282520]

They are?

[edmonton911]

What's wrong with 'Pardon, je n'ai plus de chaussettes blanches'? Duolingo corrected this to 'Navrée, je n'ai plus de chaussettes blanches.' Haven't even come across Navree yet!

[Rosa_Magana]

same...why not Pardon?

[CommeuneTexane]

I suppose that would work too. Added.

[Banshee1967]

What's wrong with I don't have je n'ai pas

[CommeuneTexane]

Je n'ai pas de... means I don't have. Here the sentence "I'm out of" suggests that I had white socks but now I no longer do. "Ne...plus" or "no longer" is the best negation to convey that idea.

[TJTitmus]

Thanks CT - this answered my same question that arose just now.

[CommeuneTexane]

De rien ! :-)

[Pramod454198]

Je n'ai pas ! I already got the answer below! Merci CT for the explanation :)

[charles751522]

So why 'de' and not 'les'? Since the speaker isn't out of 'some white socks' but rather 'the white socks'...

[CommeuneTexane]

There isn't any indication in the English sentence that this is referring to specific white socks.

J'ai des chaussettes blanches. — I have white socks.
J'ai les chaussettes blanches. — I have the white socks. (specific)
Je n'ai plus de chaussettes blanches. — I (no longer have/am out of) white socks. (general)

If the English sentence were I no longer have the white socks, then you could make the case for "les". However, I'm out of white socks means white socks in general.

Most negations in French are not specific and you would use de or d'.

[tkgray55]

I am such a beginner at this. The shown French translation to me is saying "Sorry, I no longer have white socks." So, to translate from English "Sorry, I'm out of white socks." to the French... Where does the NO Longer part come in?? "Out of" means "no longer" to somebody at Duo? It seems very arbitrary, like I need to guess how they want it translated. I'm out, I don't have, There are no white socks here...etc,
Very frustrating....

[CommeuneTexane]

Ne... plus means "to no longer have" "to not have any more" or "to have no more left". Basically the idea is you once had "some" but now you have none left.

"To be out of something" in English conveys the same idea, but that isn't very clear when translating it back to the original French. I've changed the best translation in the reverse exercise to "sorry, I have no more white socks" in order to make this a better exercise when translating into French. It may take a few days to update here. When it does, "out of" should no longer appear above.

Thanks for signaling and I hope this exercise is less frustrating in the future.