Learn French: J'ajoute un peu de poivre et beaucoup de sel. - I add a little pepper and a lot of salt.

J'ajoute un peu de poivre et beaucoup de sel.

I add a little pepper and a lot of salt.

Breakdown of J'ajoute un peu de poivre et beaucoup de sel.

Questions & Answers about J'ajoute un peu de poivre et beaucoup de sel.

Why is it un peu de poivre instead of un peu du poivre?

When using quantity phrases like un peu (a little) or beaucoup (a lot), they are always followed by a simple de (or d' before a vowel). Even though salt and pepper are masculine and normally take du, the word de is locked in after these quantity words.

Why does the sentence start with J'ajoute instead of Je ajoute?

The pronoun je (I) drops its e and uses an apostrophe whenever the action word immediately after it starts with a vowel or a silent h. Because ajoute starts with an a, they merge into j'ajoute to make it smoother to say.

Does this rule for beaucoup de apply to plural things too?

Yes! A very common beginner mistake is saying beaucoup des for plural things. But the rule is strict: after beaucoup or un peu, you always use de (or d'). So if you were adding a lot of tomatoes, it would be beaucoup de tomates, never beaucoup des tomates.

Do I need to use de for both ingredients in the sentence?