Why is "de" necessary in, "Les plantes produisent de l'oxygène?"

Susan C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Why is "de" necessary in, "Les plantes produisent de l'oxygène?"

This question relates to:French lesson "Using le, la, l', les before nouns when generalising (definite articles)"

Asked 5 years ago

AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Susan !

In this sentence, it's because we're considering that oxygen is not a countable thing (i.e. "Plants produce some oxygen."), therefore you need to use the partitive article, i.e. de l' .
However, I agree that in this case, plants produce oxygen in general, therefore it would be more accurate to say : "Les plantes produisent l'oxygène.".
Thanks to you, I edited the example.

Merci et à bientôt !

Like15 years ago

Susan C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Bonjour Aurélie! Thank you for your very thorough answer. À bientôt! s.

Like05 years ago

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