"Tu lui offrais toujours de merveilleux cadeaux."

Translation: You always gave him wonderful gifts.

[fH6lclhu]

Why not .... Tu lui offrais toujours des merveilleux cadeaux? Since the cadeaux are plural.

[IllparlerFrench]

Because « des » turns to « de » when before an adjective.

[blas_]

why is the "des" not accepted here?

[ShubhamSurf]

It's never "des" when plurals and adjectives (following BANG rule) comes together. Here are some examples:

de bons souvenirs = (some) good memories

de bons temps = (some) good time

de nombreux cadeaux = a lot of/numerous gifts

[branderson925]

God this rule is so énervant.
Thanks for the explanation however

[ShubhamSurf]

Is it okay if I write, "Tu l'offrais toujours...." or is it always "lui offrais" ? Any Reasons?

[--Roody--]

Tu lui offrais des cadeaux. => You gave gifts to him.

The direct object is what was given, des cadeaux. The direct object pronoun is les => them. (Which isn't used in this sentence.)

The indirect object has the action done to it (him or lui). The important thing is that in French it's a different word, lui not le.

[ShubhamSurf]

Thanks. That helps a lot!

[claude295345]

Lui = him or her . l', le , la = it . For example il a offert un livre, il l'a offert . Il lui a offert un livre, il le lui a offert.

[bdurandeau]

Why not "her"?

[MikeJarvis4]

Her is accepted.

[Bill237999]

Duo did not accept "You always gave him some wonderful gifts" and I have no idea why. Reported.

[Martyn413385]

It's wrong because you inserted "some", which isn't in the French sentence. If you leave it out then it's fine.

[Bill237999]

I often translate "de" as "some", and it's accepted. If you put "some" into the sentence in French, what word would you use?

[Martyn413385]

Perhaps it's having "always" and "some" in the same statement that makes it odd. If it is "always" then that means all the presents were wonderful, not just some of them.

[GraemeSarg]

You usually can insert "some" where "des" (or a non-negated "de") is used, it is only "toujours" that logically prevents it here.

[GraemeSarg]

"… some wonderful gifts" would be "quelques merveilleux cadeaux", not "de merveilleux cadeaux". But the sentence wouldn't make much sense because of the clash with "always", which means they must all have been wonderful gifts.

[Maria555493]

You gave him always wonderful gifts. (not accepted). Why? It's just a different emphasis.

[Bill237999]

Always does not modify wonderful gifts in the English translation.

[solaodut]

same answer not accepted! I don't know why

[Ren831076]

"de" merveilleux or "des" merveilleux. The pronunciation is poor. Either way, we can say either one or the other

[GraemeSarg]

Technically, that is not true. Only "de" is grammatically correct. But "des" is a common error, even amongst native speakers.