# FR: des/les bananes et du riz



## agueda

Le Sénégal ne produit ni blé ni pommes mais il produit des bananes et du riz.
 
Le Sénégal ne produit ni blé ni pommes mais il produit les bananes et du riz.
 

If "bananes" and "riz" are used in a general sense, do I use "les" or "des"? 

Thanks very much...


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## Nil-the-Frogg

Your first one is good. The second would imply than Senegal produces all the bananas.


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## marget

You should use "des" for bananes and "du" for riz.


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## agueda

Ah, I see the difference...
Again, thanks so much to both of you.
This forum is extremely helpful... :-D


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## Orientale

agueda said:


> If "bananes" and "riz" are used in a general sense, do I use "les" or "des"?


Can I say "il produit la banane et le riz" ? Thanks for your answers


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## jouesgentils12354

I think that one would be for a really specific banana or rice.  When it comes to food using "de" is used most of the time.


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## agueda

jouesgentils12354 said:


> I think that one would be for a really specific banana or rice. When it comes to food using "de" is used most of the time.


Does that apply even when I say, "He likes fruit (in general)"?
I thought in this case I might use "Il aime le fruit"... But I guess it could be "Il aime de fruit"... Wait, or would it be "Il aime du fruit"? 
This is so confusing...


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## marget

agueda said:


> Does that apply even when I say, "He likes fruit (in general)"?
> I thought in this case I might use "Il aime le fruit"... But I guess it could be "Il aime de fruit"... Wait, or would it be "Il aime du fruit"?
> This is so confusing...


With verbs of preference, such as aimer, use the definite article.  I wonder if you should say "il aime les fruits"?


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## Nil-the-Frogg

marget said:


> With verbs of preference, such as aimer, use the definite article.  I wonder if you should say "il aime les fruits"?


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## sudest

Le Sénégal ne produit ni blé ni pommes mais il produit des bananes et du riz.
Why isn't it used *des riz *instead of *du riz* like* des banana*s?


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## LV4-26

Because rice is uncountable in French (as it is in English).


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## sudest

Ohh merci I don't know French has the subject of countable/uncountable noun like like in English but,I have not seen any subject so far about it.Could you give me any link on this matter,please?


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## jann

In French, we use the partitive with uncountable nouns.  You will find information about the partitive at virtually every grammar site listed in our Resources thread.


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## FrancophoneInTraining

agueda said:


> Le Sénégal ne produit ni blé ni pommes mais il produit des bananes et du riz.
> 
> Le Sénégal ne produit ni blé ni pommes mais il produit les bananes et du riz.
> 
> 
> I have a question related to the sentence above and would appreciate any help clarifying the usage rule for articles.  In the sentence, why does one use articles for "bananes" et "riz," but not for "blé" and "pommes?"


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## dasubergeek

Because the "not" is absolute, and the des/les (some of them/all of them) problem is irrelevant.  However, the positive side of the sentence (what they do actually produce) needs to distinguish between two things:

Il produit les bananes = It produces bananas (and bananas come only from Senegal)
Il produit des bananes = It produces bananas (amongst other countries that produce bananas)


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## FrancophoneInTraining

Aaaaah! That makes perfect sense! Thanks dasubergeek!


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