In French, it can be tricky to know when to use the indefinite adjectives d'autres or des autres to express other [things]. Here's how to make the difference.
Learn when to use d'autres or des autres in French
Look at these two sentences in English:
When you need to express other [things] in French, you will use either d'autres or des autres.
Here's how to know when to use which !
1- When it is the plural of another [thing] :
(some) other [things] = d'autres [choses]
The indefinite adjective [un/une] autre - another + [singular noun] - becomes d'autres in the plural form.
-> Here the partitive des follows the rule of becoming de or d' in front of an adjective (See "Des" becomes " de/d' " in front of adjectives preceding nouns (French Partitive Articles)), hence d'autres [choses] and not des autres [choses].
ATTENTION:
You will never use autres on its own, i.e. without an article, to express X other [things] or some other [things] :
-> J'ai autres chaussures.
You can never use des autres to express some other [things]:
-> J'ai des autres chaussures.
2- When "other [things]" is used in expressions involving de (se servir de = to use; avoir besoin de = to need; avoir envie de = to feel like, etc)
Here look at these two examples:
des autres is the contraction here of [de + les autres] (about/of the others), so it implies that we're talking about specific things here (the others),
whereas using d'autres here is the contraction of [de + autres] (about/of others) is less specific ([some] others).
Here are more examples:
La politesse, c'est s'inquiéter du confort des autres.Politeness is to concern oneself with others' comfort [lit.comfort of the others].
-> The structure for possession in French is de + [article défini].
-> Here the structure to say to use [something] is se servir de [quelque chose].
See also L'autre/Les autres = The other one(s) (French Indefinite Pronouns)
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