Concordance "de"

Question

The use of "de" truly escapes me. In this exercise, why does the "de" after "profiter des jouets" becomes "des" but in "plateau de fruits de mer" it does not? I thought that when the structure requires a "de" (as in profiter de qch or beaucoup de), the "de" didn't change to du or des (like un plauteau de qch), whereas when it doesn't require it, you use it like "some" and it does change to agree with the noun (like here with commander qch becomes "commander des pizzas").

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Patricia,
Here, "des" is the contraction of "de + les" (the preposition de + the definitive article le) because you are talking to specific toys, i.e. "les jouets qu'ils ont reçus la veille au soir"). With verbs such as "profiter de, se souvenir de, parler de, avoir besoin de etc, you can contract the preposition de with le / la/ les :
Je profite du beau temps pour sortir = I am making the most of the good weather to go out
Nous nous souvenons des enfants de la rue = We're remembering the children from the street
Ils parlent des vacances qu'ils ont passées = They're talking about the holidays they've had.
 
Take a look at the great links mentioned by Jim and Maarten.
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Jim Jones · Answer

Bonjour Patricia,This is indeed a tricky aspect of French grammar.This difficulty has been raised many times in the past.https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/glossary/article-type/french-partitive-articles-les-articles-partitifsPlease review the link above  --  I think that it will help you.Bonne continuationJim

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Patricia, this link to Laura Lawless site, together with  its hyperlinks, gives a good coverage of the questions you have : https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/de-vs-du-de-la-des/