Okay, srs question cos duolingo doesn't explain this at all.
Why is du sometimes used before a noun and not other times?
Like "We are eating chicken" doesn't have an article, but I have to use du anyway?
@spiderrobotpig actually, "du" is for masculin, and "de la" would be the feminim form.
This is use for indeterminate (undisclosed) quantity you are consuming.
je mange du chocolat.
je mange 100g de chocolat.
@Bigkafka That is so weird to my English speaking brain.
And even weirder to my Japanese speaking brain.
@spiderrobotpig well, du = "de le", vs. de la.
de is a bit like 'of'.
a quantity of ...
@Bigkafka I'm really glad you're helping me with this, because despite all of the good of Duolingo, it does jack shit for explaining the grammar rules
@spiderrobotpig
well, to be honest, I haven't listened to a grammar lesson in 20 yrs, so I might be missing yummy exceptions, and I might also generalize too quickly...
@Bigkafka Honestly, just a basic rundown at least lets me understand why that's a thing.
I can figure the rest out eventually. that was just really messing me up haha
@spiderrobotpig glad I can help.
Not sure I'll be able to follow on mastodon all the time, but you can always (try to?) tag me on questions...
@spiderrobotpig never encountered the :3 emoji.
Read-up about goofy face.
but it looks like a french cow: fat nose..
@Bigkafka I've always seen it as a cat or a bunny face, but cow face also sounds adorable
@spiderrobotpig @Bigkafka Might be useful to think of it as a bit like "some" in English? "We are eating (some) chicken."
@benhamill @Bigkafka Yeah, that's what I've been hearing and that it going to help a lot :3
@spiderrobotpig
Je mange du poulet
could be for a forkful or a plateful.
Je mange une cuisse de poulet
(cuisse = thigh) is exactly one thigh/drumstick.