"Nous avons de grands chats."
Translation:We have large cats.
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When there is an adjective before a plural noun you use "de" instead of "des". If you are saying "she has apples" you would say "elle a des pommes" but if "she has pretty apples" you would say "elle a de jolies pommes." Another example "elle a de grands yeux bleus" - "she has big blue eyes."
Very good explanation. Never is enough to learn... Hold my Lingot over there! (=
Where should i focus to hear the difference between "de grands chats" and "de grand chat"?
Or i guess de grand chat doesn't make sense because it would be "un grand chat"?
I guess it could be either du or un grand chat (partitive and indefinite articles, respectively) since des (de before adjectives) could be either partitive or indefinite plural.
Don't know whether or not "Nous avons du grand chat" makes sense though. "We have big cat/some big cat"? Could someone please verify?
I'm still learning French, but from what I've seen, "Nous avons du grand chat" doesn't seem to make sense. It's like you're saying you have just a part of the cat, not the entire animal. Unless you have a part of the animal, we never know lol. "Du grand chat" might make sense if it's something that belongs to the cat, like "c'est le repas du grand chat" ("it's the food of the big cat", literally speaking).
If you go singular, it's "un chat" or "un grand chat" if you wanna give it an adjective. If you go plural, it's "des chat" or "de grands chat" (not "des"), also if you wanna use an adjective.
I hope I'm right.
And "de" is necessary! ....as i previously had the same question.
"de" (variation of "des" because of the adjective that follows) is a plural indefinite article (or determiner) that means "some".
Does this refer to "big cats" like lions and ocelots as it does in English, or does it just mean "cats of unusual size"?
Not sure, but I would say the same as in the English context. And if one is referring to a specific large cat using its species such as "un lion, un ocelot, un couguar" and so on.
Every spoken submission has been rejected. I'm sure there is something wrong with the system. I have been told by my French instructores that I have an excellent pronunciation
For GRANDS her pronounciation sounds like GO HOME - nous avons de GRANDS chats
Why is 'Nous avons de grandes chattes' not correct? We could have several female cats, right?
Why do we say " Nous avons de grands chats" and not "Nous avons des chats grands" ? I remember I've read earlier in the notes (Adjectives Lesson) that "grand" when is used in a figurative way then it precedes the noun,but when it is used in a literal way then it comes after the noun? Isn't it used literally in this case? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
Grand means tall - if the translation is large cats then the answer should be gros chats.
Grand can mean tall or large, usually when you refer to a person it means tall but in the context here it means big. A "gros" chat would be a fat cat.