Du or de
Answered! Jump to accepted answer.

Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
12/06/18
Hi Arndís,
If you mean in the sentence :
Je n'ai pas assez de lait.
it is because of the 'pas' . (always pas ...de )
Hope this helps!
Chris
Kwiziq community member
12/06/18
Whenever you relate to a specific quantity, you don't use the article and du/de la/des turns into de. And not having something, i.e., having zero of it, is also a specific quantity. Hence in negations you just use de.
J'ai du lait. -- I have milk. (no specific quantity, hence du)
J'ai un peu de lait. -- I have a bit of milk. (un peu is a specification of quantity, hence de).
Je n'ai pas de lait. -- I don't have milk. (no milk is also considered a quantity, hence de).
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Arndis
Kwiziq community member
12/06/18
Your answer
Don't have an account yet? Join today

Think you've got all the answers?
Test your French to the CEFR standard
find your French level »
Arndis
Kwiziq community member
11 June 2018
3 replies
Du or de
Why isn't it "du lait" instead of "de lait"?
This question relates to:
French lesson "Ne ... pas assez (de) = Not enough (of)"