Je ne mange pas de poisson.

Question

If le la les don't change with negation, should the above general statement  have   'le poisson ' instead of 'de' ?
 
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/what-to-use-when-speaking-about-generalities
Just found the above link which answers the above query. To save time, a few sentences on this subject would enhance this lesson considerably.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Andrea,
You are correct that when generalising you still use "le, la, les" even in a negation (see the examples below):

J'aime le poisson = I like fish -> general statement of opinion
Je n'aime pas le poisson = I don't like fish -> general statement of opinion

However, "je ne mange pas le poisson" isn't a generalisation - see below:

Je mange le poisson = I eat the fish -> this fish right here
Je ne mange pas le poisson = I don't eat the fish -> this fish right here

Instead, if you wish to say you eat or don't eat a type of food, you follow the pattern below:

Je mange du (de + le) poisson  = I eat (some) fish 
-> all types of fish - partitive article / unaccountable although it is a general statement
 
Je ne mange pas de poisson = I don't eat fish 
-> no fish whatsoever - partitive article / unaccountable although it is a general statement

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

yes it would be 'de'  instead of 'le poisson'.