In French, it can be tricky to know when to use the indefinite adjectives d'autres or des autres to express others. 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:
-> 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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