"There are small jackets."

Translation: Il y a de petites vestes.

[Spinchip]

Why only de petites vestes and not des? Can anyone help?

[Liza687187]

When there is an adjective before the noun, 'de' is used instead of 'des'. So for example, it is 'des vestes blanches' (adj. after noun) and 'de petites vestes' (adj. before noun).

[CJ.Dennis]

Another way of saying this is that "des" is only used immediately before the noun:

• des personnes - some people
• des personnes importantes - some important people
• de grandes personnes - some tall people
• de grandes personnes importantes - some important tall people

[FrenchByte]

When should I use 'de' and when should I use 'des'?

[Liza687187]

When there is an adjective before the noun, 'de' is used instead of 'des'. So for example, it is 'des vestes blanches' (adj. after noun) and 'de petites vestes' (adj. before noun).

[SwapnilVer13]

Why is it 'Il y a de petites vestes' and not 'Il y a des vestes petites'??

[Liza687187]

There are some frequently used adjectives that go before the noun in stead of after. E.g. Haut, gros, nouveau, bon, and also petit. You can look these adjectives up on the internet.

[mzala2]

Why is "Il existe de petites vestes" not correct?

[CarolJA1]

I used 'vestes' but DL marked it wrong and says I should have put 'blousons'. This word has not come up before. On the Comments page it gives the answer as 'vestes'.

[deactivated user]

When this happens, please copy/paste the entire sentence you typed. The error message suggests one of many possible answers, not the only possible answer. There may have been an error elsewhere in your sentence which had nothing to do with your choice of noun.

[GauravSing6]

Also what's wrong in using ce sont

[MisterTwister]

"Ce sont" means means "these are."

If you want to get philosophical about the difference between "there are" and "these are", I'd say it's the difference between whether or not you have something to point at.