Using "de" instead of "de la"

Question

In the last sentence, the speaker says he can't eat salad without bread and "salad" is expressed as "de salade." Shouldn't it be "de la salade?"

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Joanne,
Alan's comment is correct! The sentence referred to here is in the negative form:
Partitive articles (du / de la etc) change to 'de' in a negative sentence

Je ne peux pas manger de salade -> negation / de + noun
Je peux manger de la salade -> no negation / de la + feminine noun

Follow link here: the-partitive-article-in-negative-sentences
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

It is not a specific salad he can't eat, it is salad in general. In this case, no definite article.

Answer

I suppose the question is whether the partitive article "de la" should change to "de" in a negative sentence. I'm not sure exactly what the text is in the dictation, but I expect it will be similar to the examples given in this thread, where both sentences are correct.

Je n'aime pas manger de salade.

Je n'aime pas manger de la salade.

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/fr-ne-pas-aimer-manger-boire-de-article-partitif-du-de-la-des-d%C3%A9fini-le-la-les.679904/

Answer

Hi Céline,Do you agree that changing the partitive article to "de" is optional in this case, since it is pouvoir that is being negated, rather than manger?I see that the Académie Française says it depends on usage, but they don't say what happens with pouvoir.https://www.academie-francaise.fr/questions-de-langue#64_strong-em-partitif-et-dterminant-em-strong...Cependant, lorsqu’un verbe à l’infinitif est le complément de verbes ou de locutions verbales, c’est généralement l’usage qui décide du maintien de l’article en tournure négative. Ainsi, on dira plutôt avec l’article : "Il n’aime pas faire du ski" ; "Il n’a pas envie de manger de la choucroute". Mais on pourra dire indifféremment, avec ou sans article : "Elle ne souhaite pas manger de choucroute" ou "Elle ne souhaite pas manger de la choucroute" ; "Elle ne veut pas avoir de chien" ou "Elle ne veut pas avoir un chien", etc.

Answer

Bonjour Alan,
You can use the partitive article in a negative sentence only if there is an opposition that is more or less made clear:

clear opposition: Je ne bois pas du vin, mais de la bière = I don’t drink wine, but beer
no opposition: Je ne bois pas de vin = I don’t drink wine   
underlying opposition: Je ne bois pas du vin tous les jours = I don’t drink wine everyday  (I drink something else too)

After an infinitive (which, in this case, is the object of the main verb), you can use the partitive article as well as 'de' on its own, when it is about food:

Il ne peux pas manger de la salade = He can’t eat saladwhat you are saying is: ‘il ne peux pas manger quoi?’(he can’t eat what?)                                          → answer: de la salade
Il ne peux pas manger de salade = He can’t eat saladwhat you are saying is: ‘il ne peux pas quoi?’ (he can’t what?)                                                        → answer: manger de salade

I hope this clarifies your query.
Bonne journée !