French · Chapter 5 · Lesson 13 · Grammar primer
Partitives and 'de' after negation and quantity
du, de la, de l', des as partitives - and the rule that turns every partitive into 'de' after a negative verb or a quantity expression.
The short version
Quantity words take bare de
After any expression of quantity the article vanishes and de stands alone: beaucoup de pain, un kilo de pommes, un verre d'eau, trop de travail. Beaucoup du pain is wrong. The one holdout is la plupart, which keeps the article: la plupart des étudiants, la plupart du temps.
Elle boit beaucoup d'eau.
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