# FR: I ate a little fruit



## zapspan

How would one translate "I ate a little fruit / a little bit of fruit".

Normalmente, to translate this type of sentence, with a mass noun in English, I would use "un peu de" in French.
However, since one usually uses "fruits" in French, I imagine that one might have to say "J'ai mangé quelques fruits" rather than "J'ai mangé un peu de fruit(s)".

Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez?

Merci.


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## MarcusK

"J'ai mangé un peu de fruits" is "I ate a little fruit / a little bit of fruit", whereas "J'ai mangé quelques fruits" would imply a few separate fruit.


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## zapspan

Is it possible to write 'un peu de fruit" [i.e., "fruit" in the singular]?


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## MarcusK

Not really, because "fruit" in the singular would refer to a single piece of fruit.


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## Lemon12

"J'ai mangé un peu de fruit" would be understood, but that's not something a native would say naturally.


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## Vektus

"Fruit" is uncountable in English, but not in French, right? You're using it in relation to one single piece of fruit.

Lemon12, so how would a native say? Using "quelques fruits"?


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## Maître Capello

_J'ai mangé un peu de fruit*s*_ = I ate a litte fruit
_J'ai mangé quelques fruit*s*_ = I ate some fruit*s*


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## Lemon12

Vektus said:


> "Fruit" is uncountable in English, but not in French, right? You're using it in relation to one single piece of fruit.
> 
> Lemon12, so how would a native say? Using "quelques fruits"?



Yes you got it. "Quelques fruits" would imply that you ate several fruits, which is not what "a little fruit" means. Honestly I don't know how I would say it, I think I'd try to avoid the problem and say it differently using the name of the fruit directly.


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## Vektus

Lemon12, merci!

Actually, I think that when you want to say "a little bit of fruit" or "some fruit" in English, the main idea is that you don't want to specify them.


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## zapspan

Just to make sure / along the same lines, would it be wrong to say "J'ai mangé du fruit" [as in, chopped up fruit]?


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## Maître Capello

Unlike English where _fruit_ is typically uncountable, French uses it as a countable noun. It is very unlikely less likely to use it as a mass noun.

_I chopped up fruit_ → J'ai coupé *des* fruit*s*


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## zapspan

Thank you, Maître Capello. 

If you wanted to say "they served chopped fruit", would you then say "Ils ont servi des fruits coupés"?

 Also, you suggested "_J'ai mangé un peu de fruit*s*_" (your post #7 above), and yet you explain that "fruit" is a count noun in French rather than a mass noun.  Is it common to use "un peu de" with a count noun?  I am not at all questioning you  - I am just trying to wrap my brain around how this noun works in French.


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## Maître Capello

zapspan said:


> If you wanted to say "they served chopped fruit", would you then say "Ils ont servi des fruits coupés"?


Yes, this is correct.

(We would however be more likely to say, _Ils ont servi une macédoine de fruits_ or _des morceaux de fruits_ or _des fruits en morceaux_ depending on context.)



> Also, you suggested "_J'ai mangé un peu de fruit*s*_" (your post #7 above), and yet you explain that "fruit" is a count noun in French rather than a mass noun.  Is it common to use "un peu de" with a count noun?


_Un peu de_ is indeed used only with non-count nouns. _J'ai mangé un peu de fruits_ would indeed be natural in some specific contexts, e.g., if talking about mashed or chopped fruit, or if used along with _légumes_.

_J'ai mangé un peu de fruits et légumes_.


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## zapspan

Maître Capello, thank you very much.  This is very interesting and helpful.


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