des

«des» in Mova's school dictionary: «some» before a plural noun: «des pommes» is «some apples» — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

article and preposition (French «des» = some / of the); name (Des, short for Desmond) — not an English word

meaning for a pupil

1) (French) «Des» means «some» before a plural noun: «des pommes» is «some apples». tree →

2) (French) «Des» also means «of the» or «from the» for plural things: «la maison des enfants» is «the children's house». tree →

3) (a name) Des is a short form of the man's name Desmond. tree →

4) To an English ear French «des» sounds like «day». tree →

5) In old Southern speech, des means just or simply. tree →

sense in the lessons

In French lessons «des» is learnt with «du» and «de la» (some): «je voudrais des frites» (I would like some chips). It appears in French place names and phrases English borrows: «Champs-Élysées», «Jardin des Plantes». In Ireland and the UK «Des» is a familiar nickname. Also «des res» (UK, informal, jokey) means a «desirable residence», a nice house.

examples

• In French, «j'ai des bonbons» means «I have some sweets». tree →
• «Le jardin des plantes» means «the garden of the plants». tree →
• «Des» sounds like «day» in French. tree →
• My uncle Des runs the corner shop. tree →
• In French, «un chat» is «a cat», and «des chats» is «some cats». tree →
• Mum joked that the new house was a real «des res». tree →
• Hit's des like I tell you. tree →

note

As a word, French, not English; the «s» is silent unless the next word starts with a vowel («des amis» sounds like «day-zah-mee»). In English «des-» at the start of a word is a prefix, as in «describe». As a name it takes a capital: «Des».

In the corpora

• marron (brown) and orange never change, not even in the plural: des chaussures marron (brown shoes).
• Il fait un temps de chien ! means the weather is awful; Il pleut des cordes ! means it's pouring.
• une veste is a jacket and des baskets are trainers; both are false friends.
• des chaussures noires means black shoes: the noun takes s and the colour takes e (feminine) and s (plural).
• des frites are chips (French fries) and des chips are crisps.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «des» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.